3D CAD – Product Design

April 4, 2021 by 3D Prototype Designer

What is a Draft Angle or Draft for Plastic Injection Molding Design

A Draft Angle or Draft for Plastic Injection Molding Design is a technical design term for simply adding a draft angle of 1½ to 2 degrees on a product design for a mold that is used in product manufacturing

The advantages of using a design draft angle for plastic injection molded parts:

Helps to reduce the chance of damage to the part due to friction while part is being released from the mold.
Helps promote less wear and tear and less hands on physical removal of part the from the mold.
Helps to maintain a uniform, smooth, unscratched finish where desired.
Helps maintain the integrity and uniformity of textured or non-smooth designed surfaces.
Helps to eliminate the need for unconventional ejection of the part from the mold.

The above draft angle design advantages in most plastic injection situations will lower production cost.

Positive Draft vs Negative Draft

Positive draft: A positive draft means the angle of the face, with respect to the direction of pull, is more than the reference angle. A positive draft is the amount of taper for molded or cast parts perpendicular to the parting line allowing for a single mold.

Negative draft: A negative draft means the angle of the face, with respect to the direction of the pull, is less than the negative reference angle. The manufacture of a part that incorporates zero or negative angles may require a mold that can be separated into two or more parts in order to release the casting.

What is Zero Draft Design vs Positive Draft Design vs Negative Draft Design

Plastic injection molding is a manufacturing process in which solid thermoplastic pellets are melted and injected into a mold. After this hot melt and fill process is completed the newly formed part is cooled back to a solid. During both, the injection and cooling stages, of the manufacturing process there are several design factors that may affect the quality of the final product and the consistent repeatability of the plastic injection manufacturing process.

When it comes to Manufacturing with Drafts and Radius it always best to have your manufacturer check your design to make sure it matches their manufacturing equipment tolerances and perform any design changes that may be required to achieve the highest manufacturing quality and cost advantages. Manufacturing equipment and materials will dictate the best mold design for your product parts.

Draft Angles are also used to make products or parts for stacking within each other. Stacking parts can save space on store shelf pace and warehouse storage and shipping storage containers which helps reduce the storage cost of your product. The handling cost of multiple units at one time is also reduced. Stacking your products within each other helps to reduce your overall product cost.

draft angle for stacking product for shipping and storage and handling savings — Draft Angle for Stacking Product for Shipping, Storage and Handling

A message from the 3D Printing Expert and Product Design Experts president/owner:

I’m here to assist inventors, companies and organizations with all their 3D CAD design draft angle and manufacturing questions and requirements. I will provide you with expert draft angle design service and solutions.
Thanks for taking the time to view this Draft Angle Design website.
I look forward to working with you on your draft design goals, Anthony, President/Owner

Contact Us Now at 3D Printing and Product Draft Angle Design Experts

October 1, 2018 by 3D Prototype Designer

STEP Design Files is a 3D CAD design file format for manufacturing production

STEP Design Files or STP Design Files is a 3D CAD design file format used in the manufacturing production process. A STEP design file is a file extension for a 3-D graphic file used by CAD software. STEP stands for STandard for the Exchange of Product model data. STEP files are used to store 3D image data in an ASCII format, following the standards defined in ISO.

STEP Design is a 3d design format that is supported by most CAD software and engineering software such as Solidworks.
Also; STEP design files can be read by windows notepad and be read by programmable software such as Matlab. A STEP file is not editable and the design tree of the model is not available.

A STEP file is a neutral file format that allows the transfer of files between different CAD software. STEP is more recent than IGES and seems to be more reliable. 3D models can be produced from these files and used for analysis, modeling, renderings and manufacturing drawings.

A message from the 3D Printing Expert and Product Design Experts president/owner:

I’m here to assist inventors, companies and organizations with all their 3D CAD STEP File Design and Manufacturing Pricing. I will provide you with expert STEP file design service and solutions.
Thanks for taking the time to view this 3D CAD STEP File Design website.
I look forward to working with you,
Anthony
President/Owner

Contact Us Now at 3D Printing and Product STEP Design File Experts

October 31, 2015 by 3D Prototype Designer

What Is Product Design ?

Many manufacturers and 3d printers will request a STP, STEP or IGS, IGES or STL file product design drawings for designing molds or for pricing manufactured parts for production of your invention or product or to build a 3d print prototype.

IGES or IGS Files (design file format used in the manufacturing production process) stands for Initial Graphics Exchange Specification and is a file format which defines a vendor neutral data format that allows the digital exchange of information among Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems. An IGS file is composed of 80-character ASCII records, a record length derived from the original punched card era. It can be used by many CAD programs as a standard ASCII text-based format for saving and exporting vector data, and can store wireframe models, surface or solid object representations, circuit diagrams, and other objects. The IGS format has become the default standard file format for transferring 3D model files between the different CAD software packages. Once a user has created a model file in one specific software to send it to another user who does not have that same program without any concern whether or not the recipient will have the ability to open or view the file.

STEP or STP Files (design file format used in the manufacturing production process) is a file extension for a 3-D graphic file used by CAD software. STP stands for STandard for the Exchange of Product model data. STP files are used to store 3D image data in an ASCII format, following the standards defined in ISO 10303-21 : Clear Text Encoding of the Exchange Structure.

STL Files / Stereolithography – Standard Tessellation Language (design file format used in 3d printing product parts and prototypes) is a file format native to the stereolithography CAD software created by 3D Systems. STL is also known as Standard Tessellation Language. This file format is supported by many other software packages; it is widely used for rapid prototyping and computer-aided manufacturing (additive manufacturing or 3D printing). STL files describe only the surface geometry of a three dimensional object without any representation of color, texture or other common CAD model attributes. The STL format specifies both ASCII and binary representations. Binary files are more common, since they are more compact.

Please keep in mind that the product design file formats stated above are usually the most popular and will work for almost all product design requirements but there are exceptions. Always check with a product design professional in regards to your specific product design project.

A message from Anthony the president/owner:

I’m here to assist and service inventors, companies and organizations with all their Product Design and Prototype needs.

September 7, 2015 by 3D Prototype Designer

3D Design Modeling Thickness Guidelines for 3D Printing Models and Prototypes With Different Material

wall thickness for 3d printing material — Wall Thickness Design For 3D Printing Material

Before you decide to 3D print (and ideally before you start to design your model), you should know the basic guidelines for your printing material of choice.
PLEASE NOTE; when 3d designing using long protrusions with counterweight without any support at one end you will probably need additional thickness than the stated below minimums to support the counterweight.

3d printing wall thickness support — 3D Printing Wall Thickness Support

ABS palstic
Minimum wall thickness 1 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 03 mm

AL or Alumide
Minimum wall thickness 1 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.4 – 0.5 mm

AG or Silver
Minimum wall thickness 0.5 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

BS or Brass
Minimum wall thickness 0.5 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

BZ or Bronze
Minimum wall thickness 0.5 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

CE or Ceramics
Minimum wall thickness 5.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 2.0 mm

HS or High Detailed Stainless Steel
Minimum wall thickness 3.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.2 mm

MC or Multi Colored
Minimum wall thickness 2.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.8 mm

PA or Polyamide
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

PG or Prime Gray
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.5 mm

RE or Printable Resin
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

RL or Rubber Like
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.5 mm

ST or Steel
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 – 3.0 mm (depending on X, Y or Z dimensions)
Minimum details on a larger support 0.9 mm

WD or Wood
Minimum wall thickness 3.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 1.5 mm

3D Printing Design and Manufacturing Design guidelines are not always the same. If you do not have experience with designing for 3D printing, minimum wall thickness is an often encountered error. In the virtual world of rendering your model you may have any dimension or be as thick or thin as you want. However; if you would like to make a model in the real world using 3D printing keep in mind the minimum thickness rules. After you build your 3d printed prototype you can go back and change the thickness on your 3d design for the manufacturing process. And of course, depending on which manufacturing production process and material you choose you will need to have your design conform to the new rules of thickness and design for the manufacturing process, material and sometimes even the particular manufacturer.

Please keep in mind that the 3d printing wall thickness guidelines stated above are only general guidelines and your 3d print design may vary from within the stated guidelines to outside the stated guidelines. Always check with a professional in regards to your specific project.

A message from Anthony the president/owner:

I’m here to assist and service inventors, companies and organizations with all their 3D Printing.

September 7, 2015 by 3D Prototype Designer

Minimum Wall-Thickness for 3D Printing ?

3D printing wall thickness may vary somewhat from 3d printer to 3d printer and another factor to be considered is material. Getting your model 3d printed just right will become much more complicated initially if the walls of the model are near or below the minimum wall thickness. You might inadvertently cause a hole in your 3d printed mesh (3d printed wall) for example. Or more commonly, make one part just a tad bit too thin which will cause it not to be 3D printed at all.

3D printing with ABS plastic is one of the more popular materials so we’ll use that material as our example 3d printing material. A wall thickness of at least 1mm minimum is a good rule thumb. Generally speaking I’d like to see closer to 2mm thickness when 3d printing especially when using minimum angle support 3d printer settings. However when using long protrusions with counterweight without any support at one end you will probably need to add thickness.

wall thickness for 3d printing design — 3D Printing Wall Thickness

Before you decide to 3D print (and ideally before you start to design your model), you should know the basic guidelines for your printing material of choice. You can find specific information about the required wall thickness for each material in our 3d modeling design guide.
Please keep in mind that the 3d printing wall thickness guidelines stated above are only general guidelines and your 3d print design may vary from within the stated guidelines to outside the stated guidelines. Always check with a professional in regards to your specific project.

A message from Anthony the president/owner:

I’m here to assist and service inventors, companies and organizations with all their 3D Printing Service Requirements.