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Compression Molding
Tutorials
These examples are designed to help you become familiar with some of the major features available in SimForm.
Extracting cooling channels
In this tutorial, you will learn how to extract and define the inlets and outlets of your cooling channels directly from your mold without using physical CAD bodies.

Compression Molding
- Compression molding overview
  Use SimForm to perform a thermal cooling analysis for your plastic compression mold designs. These analyses help you identify hot spots on the plastic part and develop cooling layouts to improve the part quality and reduce cycle times.
- Setting up a simulation workflow
  You can set up and run a SimForm project by uploading your CAD file, categorizing components, selecting materials, and running simulations.
- Navigating the app interface
  The SimForm interface allows you to create and access projects and jobs, as well as add and manage users and account credits.
- Using projects and jobs
  Use projects and jobs in SimForm to manage and organize your mold design tests.
- Setting up a simulation
  Use the setup page to categorize and define your model components properties for the solver to identify them.
- Defining mold properties
  Defining mold properties based on your analysis type ensures that the SimForm solver correctly identifies the mold components in your CAD model and considers their material properties in the thermal analysis.
- Defining plastic part properties
  Categorize your plastic part components and define their materials to allow the SimForm app solver to identify them.
- Defining cooling channels
  In design projects, if your model contains cooling channels, you must define the components that represent them so the solver can identify them.
- Running a simulation
  When running a simulation, the solver relies on specific assumptions and automated processes to ensure accurate and efficient results.
- Viewing results
  The results page allows you to view and explore the thermal analysis results of your job after its simulation is completed.
- Tutorials
  These examples are designed to help you become familiar with some of the major features available in SimForm.
  - Setting up and running a conventional cooling design
    In this tutorial, you will perform a mold cooling analysis for a conventional cooling design.
  - Comparing cooling designs
    In this tutorial, you will compare the thermal performance of conformal and conventional mold cooling designs.
  - Running a feasibility analysis
    In this tutorial, you will perform a feasibility analysis for a model of a computer mouse shell plastic part design.
  - Extracting cooling channels
    In this tutorial, you will learn how to extract and define the inlets and outlets of your cooling channels directly from your mold without using physical CAD bodies.
    - Create a project
      Create a project to add and manage jobs for the all-terrain-vehicle grill mold cooling designs.
    - Create a job
      Create a job and upload the ATV grill mold design.
    - Define the mold and plastic part
      Categorize your mold components to allow the solver to identify them. You will then define their materials.
    - Define the cooling channels
      Extract the cooling channels from the mold, and identify the inlet and outlets for each channel.
    - Run the simulation
      Start the solving process.
    - View results
      Display the freeze time and the temperature distribution on the plastic part and mold to locate regions where you can improve the cooling and optimize the cooling time.
  - Running a basic mold analysis
    In this tutorial, you will learn how to set up, solve, and interpret results of a basic mold analysis.
  - Learning videos
- Glossary

Extracting cooling channels

In this tutorial, you will learn how to extract and define the inlets and outlets of your cooling channels directly from your mold without using physical CAD bodies.

You will use an all-terrain-vehicle grill mold with cooling channels drilled into the mold, which are not modeled with physical bodies. You will use the Faces selection mode to extract the cooling channels directly from the mold. This mode lets you select a channel surface, and it automatically creates a channel body by connecting cylindrical channels that are connected to the selected surface with the same color.

A mold with perforated cooling channels, and arrows indicating the locations of the cooling channel holes.

Download and extract the part files.