CastingDie.PDF

Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2002) 19:821–829  2002 Springer-Verlag London Limited Feature-Based Parametric Design of a Gating System for a Die- Casting Die S. H. Wu, K. S. Lee and J. Y. H. Fuh Department of Mechanical Engineering, The National University of Singapore, Singapore This paper presents a semi-automated approach for designing is received, the die designers will determine the gating system the gating system of a die-casting die. This approach combines used for the specific die-cast part based on their own experi- the P-Q2 technique and feature-based parametric design for ence, calculate the related dimensions and parameters, and then achieving the automatic generation of the geometries for the start modelling the geometry of gating elements from scratch. gating system. It also enables users to integrate their expertise When another new die-cast part file is received, the same in the design at an early stage. User-defined gating features procedures will be repeated. Furthermore, repetitive modifi- are pre-defined and stored in a gating library, and are then cations or even redesigns are required owing to the difficulty retrieved from the library and applied to the gating part with in achieving an accurate design on the first try. This trial and the desired parameters and locations during the design process. error process usually results in a long lead time and increased Algorithms based on the P-Q2 technique are proposed for cost for the die base. calculating the related parameters of the gating system. A It would be useful for the die-casting industry to have prototype design has been developed using this