CAEDSInjectionMouldedPartDesign

Backdraftandzerodraftconditions
TampereUniversityofTechnologyTuulaHk

Adraftisacertaindeclinationinamouldcavitysurface.Thedeclinationisseteither
tothedirectionofpartremovalormovingcoremovement.Thepurposeofthedraftis

to ease part removal. If the mould cavity surfaces are parallel to the part pulling
direction,itislikelythatthepartwillsticktothemould,especiallylikelyontomould
coresurfaces.Althoughthedraftcanbeunderstoodasapartofthemouldfunctional
ity, it has to be designed to the part, because the mould designers design mould
cavitiesexactlyaccordingtothepartmodel.Theydonotadddraftangles.
Abackdraft(undercut)isbasicallyadrafttoawrongdirection.Therearetwobasic
occurrences:
Unintentionally,bymistakesetbackdraftcondition.Forexampleifthede
signerwishestosetuniversalwallthicknesstoacoredholeinaboss.
Backdraftbydesign.Usuallyahole,acavityoraprotrusioninadirectionof
amouldpartingsurface.

Azerodraftcanalsobeseteitherbymistakeorbydesign:
Typicallytheunintentionallysetzerodraftconditionoccursintheendofa
curvedwall.Itisalsotypicaltoforgettodraftsomefacesorendwithzero
draftedwallsasaresultofcomplexcornerroundingoperations.Thedesigner
shouldbeespeciallycarefulwhendesigningtexturedsurfacesorworking
withstickymaterials.Aluminumhighpressurediecastingscanalsobevery
sensitivetoazerodraftcondition,becausealuminiumreadilystickstothe
mouldcavitysurfaces.
Sometimesthepartrequireszerodraftwalls.Inthiscaseitiscommontoplate
mouldcoresurfaceswithlubricatingplating.

Thefollowingimagespresentsomeexamplesofthezeroandbackdraftconditions.

Backdraftcondition Properlydraftedfaces

Image1. Unintentionallysetbackdraftinsideaboss.Thefirstbossisdesignedwithaback
draft.Thebosshasanequalwallthickness,butthedesignismoldableonlywithsoftandnon
stickymaterials.Thebossinthemiddlehasunequalwallthickness,butthedesigniswell
moldable.Thelastbossisequippedwithathroughhole.Thewallthicknessisequalandthe
designiswellmoldable.

Backdraft1
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Faultysketch(above)
Green:Cavitysurface
Red:Coresurface
Yellow:Zerodraftarea Correctsketch(right)

Image2. Zerodraftconditioninapartingline.Donotshapetheoutersurfaceswithafull
circle.Usetwohalfcirclesanddraftedlines.

Green:Cavitysurface
Red:Coresurface
Yellow:Zerodraftarea

Image3. Unintentionallysetbackdraftconditioninthejointbetweenapananditshandle.
Unintentionallysetzerodraftconditionintheroundribonthebottomofthepart.

Green:Cavitysurface
Red:Coresurface
Yellow:Zerodraftarea

Image4. Intentionallysetbackdrafts.Backdraftsareforsnapfasteningsystems.

Backdraft2
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Green:Cavitysurface
Red:Coresurface
Yellow:Zerodraftarea

Mainpullingdirection Corepullingdirection

Image5. Draftdirectionsinmainpullingdirectionandcorepullingdirection.Rememberto
checkbothifyourpartrequiresmovingelementstothemould.

While modeling, check the drafting with your CAD software draft analysis tools.
Checkfrequentlyenoughinordertoavoidunnecessarydifficultrepairingoperations.
Itisusuallyeasiertomodelafewfeatures,checkdraftingandrepairifthereissome
thingtorepairthanstartthinkingofdraftanglesafterfinishingplentyoffeatures(or
thewholepart).

Backdraft3