Week 8 - Challenge 2 - Switch Bezel Design

DRAFT

Draft angle is nothing but providing some tapered portion to the part for easy removal of the component from the mold during manufacturing. This is especially done in the case of plastic component design having a complex shape. Mostly the 3-degree draft angle is provided but it can vary depending upon the component which is to be designed

In our case of Switch Bezel design, the draft angle is 3 degrees the draft analysis is done during the design of the component to check the feasibility of the product.

Before providing a draft angle we need to decide on the tooling axis also known as the molding axis considering the faces which can cause issues while manufacturing.

TOOLING AXIS 

It is nothing but the direction in which the mold opens and closes the draft angle needed to be provided by considering this tooling axis.

We can create a tooling axis by using the bisecting method.

BISECTING METHOD

This method is used for the generation of the tooling axis for that purpose first we need to decide the direction of molding and then we create one dummy tooling axis for the reference to the purpose.

In this method, we select the surfaces which can create problems and take intersections in the x and y-direction. By using these curves we draw two lines and then draw a bisecting line from these two lines in the x-direction and y-direction.

If it is done in x-direction then it is called a tooling axis clearing x-direction and if in y then tooling axis clearing y-direction.

After completing this we need to draw a final line bisecting this two tooling axis in the X and Y directions to get our final output.

Draft Analysis of the Switch Bezel

Class A surface draft analysis:

The above image shows the draft analysis in which green color surfaces shows that they are having an angle of more than 3 degrees but the surface in red color shows it is less than 3 degree that is having an angle of 2.22 degrees. These are the results of the draft analysis which are very crucial for determining the feasibility of the product.

Solid component draft analysis: