Development Of Cutting Die Design System On The Basis Of Solid Works

With the development of industrial technology, the industrial products are supplied to the market with more and more varieties and quatities. Not only the higher quality, but also the finer appearance of products is required. In the past more than 20 years, especially after entrying WTO, China has become a big country in using all kinds of moulds and dies, as the manufacturing centre of the world. By compared with other nations, however, there is a relatively big gap in the manufacturing capability and level for moulds and dies. The distance is even bigger especially in CAD/CAM technique development and application. With these considerations into account, this paper researched the development of cutting die CAD system based on SolidWorks. The software packages such as VB, SolidWorks and Excel were used integeratively in setting up the control interfaces, developing the relevant calculating programs and establishing the database of standard parts for cutting dies. The software CAXA was utilized to generate EDM program for working parts of dies. 3D assembly of typical cutting die was accomplished by using of the databases of standard parts and die sets. The main points of the paper are described as follows.1. According to the design process of cutting die, the control interfaces were developed with VB for the system, and the interface programs were written to carry out the communication among VB, Solid Works and Excel, etc.2. Based on the fundamental rules and methods for cutting die designing, programs were developed for process calculation, design of punches and dies, etc.. By the inteface between CAXA and Solid Works, NC codes used in EDM machine tools can be generated for the manufacring of the working parts of cutting dies.3. A database for national standard cutting die parts, including round puches,rectangle dies, punch fixing plates, die handles, screws, pins, etc., was established with the help of configuration functions in Solid Works. Based on the database, some typical assemblies were modeling including the types of fixed stripper-longitudinal feeding, spring stripper, and some die sets with different guiding forms. All the database and models can be used under the control of VB program.4. The detail design for the assembly of cutting die and its assembling process were accomplished in interactive mode, and the 2D drawings of the assembly and parts can be output in the system.Integrating all of the researches described above, a cutting die CAD system was established. By following the instruction in the system and input the parameters it, the users can obtain the 3D die parts required and then assemble them together to obtain all the relevant die parts drawings and 3D assembling drawings.