Week 9 - Challenge 3 - Bumper

DRAFT ANALYSIS REPORT OF BUMPER

Introduction:

Draft Analysis is the process of analysing the designed plastic part if it has the drafting angles as per the requirement. In CATIA, draft analysis is done by the tool called Feature Draft Analysis. It shows the different draft angles available at different parts and says if it meets the requirement or not by various colour codes. In this example, a Bumper class A surface is taken for the draft analysis study.

Objective:

To perform the draft analysis of a class A surface & bumper using CATIA.

Steps involved to do draft analysis:

1. Creating the tooling axis:

The given part is first checked for its boundary to find if there are any gaps or openings or discontinuity in the boundary. If there is any boundary you need to close the boundary before go to further.

After completing the boundary check insert a point at almost the symmetric centre of the part and insert a coordinate system at the point. The coordinate system should be facing in all directions the same as the default coordinate system.

Before actually creating the tooling axis, we need to create a dummy tooling axis on the class A surface at a point we created earlier. With that point choose line command to extend it on X direction. Then do draft analysis with that dummy tooling axis created earlier, if the drafting condition is ok.

Then fix that dummy tooling axis as main tooling axis. It can be made bold and the colour can be changed for its better visibility.

2. Perform Draft Analysis

Now, perform the draft analysis for the Bumper. To do so, go to tools > analysis > Feature Draft Analysis. This tool has three groups of options namely mode, display, and direction. First, the second icon from the direction group is selected and the red dot in the compass is clicked and dragged to the part to be drafted. The line in the dragged element is matched with the tooling axis and it is locked using the first icon in the direction group. It will define the tooling axis direction and lock it. Then click the Bumper. It will turn green or with green and red based on the draft angles. It will create different colours on the main part. If the part is in green colour, it shows the draft angle is ok, if it is not in the sense then do check the tooling axis and main component to correct it. In our case the draft angle of the part is completely ok and satisfied. Thus, the final result shows that all areas in the bumper should maintained a thickness of 3mm with under minimum draft angle 3 degree.

Screenshots of the Draft analysis report for the given Class-A surface

Screenshots of the Draft analysis report for the completed Bumper

Screenshots of the solid model with the proper colour code of the draft angle in various orientations with tree structure (isometric, Front, Side, and Top View)