Brief analysis of several points for attention in the design of cooling water circuit of 3D printing mold
In the traditional mold, the cooling water channel is created by cross-drilling an internal network, and the flow rate and direction are adjusted by the built-in fluid plug. The application of metal 3D printing technology in the manufacture of mold cooling water channels breaks through the restriction of cross-drilling methods on the design of cooling water channels. Now, mold design companies can design conformal waterways that are closer to the cooling surface of the mold. They have smooth corners, faster flow, and higher cooling efficiency.
So, are there any tips or precautions when designing 3D printing mold conformal cooling water channels? DiamondToolandEngineering, an American injection mold manufacturer, and its 3D printing mold partners have shared some experiences on this issue.
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DiamondToolandEngineering, Minnesota, USA specializes in manufacturing tight tolerance and multi-cavity injection molds for the medical industry. DiamondToolandEngineering has manufactured mold inserts with conformal cooling water channels for their injection molds.
DiamondToolandEngineering3D printing mold insert design and manufacturing is completed with the help of its partner 3DPrintedParts.
3DPrintedParts said that the value of 3D printing technology should be reflected in the added value of products brought by injection molds. According to the market research of 3D Science Valley, mold manufacturing users can successfully build mold cores with conformal cooling channels through metal 3D printing technology to make the temperature changes in the mold more uniform, thereby optimizing mold processing in terms of time, cost and quality The process helps to shorten the processing cycle, reduce warpage, accelerate the delivery time of injection products, and increase the flexibility of product design.
The 3DPrintedParts design team made a breakthrough in traditional insert design thinking when designing 3D printed mold inserts. 3DPrintedParts summarized several tips and experiences of 3D printed mold insert design:
In addition to designing conformal water-cooled waterways, the design team also used a lattice structure in parts of the mold to replace the original solid structure. The lattice structure means that printing materials and printing time can be saved while printing costs are reduced.
When using a metal 3D printer to manufacture a pendant structure, it is often necessary to add support to the structure at design time. For the inner cavity structure of the cooling water channel, it is difficult to remove the support later, such as leaving the support structure in the inner cavity structure. Will affect the flow of cooling medium. If these factors can be taken into consideration in the design, and the addition of support is avoided, then the influence of the support structure on the cooling performance of the mold can be eliminated. 3DPrintedParts stated that they can print the overhang structure at an angle of 25 degrees from the horizontal without adding a support structure, which means they can create a more excellent geometric structure without subsequent machining. .
Note the height to thickness ratio? Generally speaking, the height to wall thickness ratio does not exceed 15: 1.
Printing powder removal problem-During the metal printing process, the inner cavity of the cooling channel will be filled with unmelted metal powder, so this problem needs to be considered in advance in design, and how to remove the powder in the inner cavity structure .
The shape of the cooling channel? The circular spiral water channel looks good or is relatively easy to model, but the cooling effect of this design is not necessarily the most effective, and the contour of the cooling channel will be changed as needed.
3DPrintedParts said that because the design of the 3D printing mold cooling water channel and the mold core is conformal, this design shortens the cooling cycle from 35-40 seconds to 6.7 seconds, greatly improving the cooling efficiency of the injection mold. 
Editor in charge: Liu Yang
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