To facilitate the work of designers and provide them with the best possible support, HASCO, as a leading international supplier of standard parts for tool and moldmaking, began making parametric data available for design purposes some time ago. Close cooperation with reliable software partners has enabled the standard parts required to be implemented in the most common CAD systems in a user-friendly manner. After Siemens NX and Catia, native data is now available for SolidWorks® too. All the data is perfectly tailored to the needs of modern moldmaking. Numerous additional advantages and digital services ensure that users benefit from considerable time and cost savings over the entire value-added chain for moldmaking.
HASCO offers a number of attractive tools for optimising the design of injection molds. The internationally operating standard component specialist thus gives its designers and customers rapid and easy access to detailed information for all its standard components. The HASCO website contains technical data for more than 100,000 products from the company’s overall portfolio, and the corresponding 3D data records for design can also be called up. These are normally loaded directly into the customer’s CAD system via an exchange format. Parameters and information for individual products can be lost during the transfer process,
however.
Using native data ensures all the parameters stay with the product
“It’s like a German talking to a Dutchman in English,” explains Daniel Dirksen from Technical Marketing at HASCO. “They understand each other but, depending on their respective command of English, a certain amount of information will always be lost”. The same thing happens when an exchange format like Step is employed. When using native data, however, all the parameters and information remain with the product and can be seamlessly further processed. “We then speak the same language, to use the same metaphor,” Dirksen emphasises, “and it couldn’t be easier or more reliable”.
The HASCO native databases are specially tailored to the users of the CAD software in question and are directly available in the system. Native data was initially made available for Siemens NX and Catia, and has now been provided for SolidWorks® too. The standard components contain the parametric structure of all the parts and are always up-to-date thanks to the maintenance performed by HASCO and competent CAD partners. Manuel Müller, owner of the Müller Engineering Office in Müschenbach/Germany, is also delighted with this new option: “Thanks to the parametric CAD data for my SolidWorks®, any changes that are necessary can be implemented with virtually no delay,” says Müller, for whom HASCO has been a firm concept since he was a child. At the age of 16, he helped to introduce CAD in his parents’ design office. “These new options using native data are definitely a unique selling point for HASCO”, Manuel Müller adds.
Native data offers significant advantages
A product has a large amount of data associated with it. This is both information on the product group as a whole and product specific data. In the latter case,
the dimensions or order designations relate solely to the particular variant of the article in question. The attributes or characteristics that relate to all the variants of a product group are inherited from the reference product and transferred to the selected size. The material properties, supplier and designation, by contrast, are assigned as information to all the variants of a product group.
Automatic generation of parts lists for maximum process reliability
The designer can make direct use of all this information. The attributes can be transferred automatically to parts lists and do not have to be entered manually. The time consuming process of entering the attributes into the CAD system is avoided, thus considerably facilitating the ordering process. The automatic generation of parts lists ensures a very high level of process reliability, while categorically preventing any incorrect orders. The largely automated ordering process permits punctual delivery right on time for the start of assembly, rounding off the overall process in the perfect manner. With the information link between the product family and the article, individual standard parts can be exchanged very rapidly. If a longer guide column is required, for example, the designer can change the article by simply clicking on it and selecting the new size. All the product groups will then be adjusted accordingly. The use of HASCO native data offers designers a wide range of other options. Since many customers set up their own databases in their CAD systems, HASCO provides individual advice and support in the implementation of the native data. Alternatively, the databases of the relevant system partners can be used. The leading CAD software suppliers provide tools for the design of injection moulds to this end. In these tools, native HASCO components with a large number of features provide considerable support for the injection mold design process.
Installation spaces linked to the product also change associatively
When working with parametrised standard components from HASCO, users can remain in their CAD system and do not have to access a web portal or external
software. The installation spaces available in the databases are also linked to the product and change associatively. The installation spaces are supplied directly via the pockets required for component installation and considerably facilitate the design process. Designers do not have to check the mounting instructions for the product or know what the pocket should look like. They simply subtract the installation space from the plate and store the desired milling operations. If the design data, with the added value of the installation environment, is then fed directly to the machining centre, further potential savings are also possible in the downstream CAM segment.
Manuel Müller: “I have certainly appreciated the advantages of HASCO for us designers for many years not only on account of the range of products offered and the strictly logically structured configurator for mold units, but now also because of the parametric CAD data that has been provided for my SolidWorks®”. The CAD specialists at HASCO are available at all times to assist SolidWorks® users and also the users of Siemens NX and Catia with the implementation of the database in their individual systems.
