A Step Towards Automated Design of Multi-Piece Sacrificial Molds

This paper describes a feature-based approach for design of multi-piece sacrificial molds. Our mold design algorithm consists of the following three steps. First, the desired gross mold shape is formed based on the feature-based description of the part geometry. Second, if the desired gross mold shape is not machinable as a single piece, the gross mold shape is decomposed into simpler geometric components to make sure that each component is manufacturable using 3-axis CNC machining. The decomposition is performed to ensure that each component is accessible to end-milling tools, and decomposed components can be assembled together to form the gross mold shape. Finally, assembly features are added to mold components to facilitate assembly of mold components and eliminate unnecessary degree of freedoms from the final mold assembly. We expect that our decomposition algorithm will provide a step towards the necessary foundations for automating the design of multi-piece mold and therefore will help in significantly reducing the mold design and manufacturing lead-time.