Tips for Tool design

I will provide some tips but this is not a tutorial. I want you to figure this out. It is important to struggle a
bit because that is when you find new ways to do things.

Step 1

 Create a new geometrical set and call it tool design.

 Switch to Generative Shape Design workbench.
 Use the Multiple extract command to “pull” the surface of the solid part. You have to “pull” the
bottom surface as shown below.
 Hide your solid part.

Step 2

You have to fix the holes and cut outs in the new surface that you created. In this part it is not always
straight forward and there are probably several different strategies available. We could fill all the small
holes on one edge but this is time consuming. It is easier to create a plane and cut a piece of the edge
off and then extrapolate it back out. Remember how much you cut off and add this length to the 3
inches that the tool needs to “grow”.

 Create a plane and cut off the edge shown below.

 Extrapolate the edge (cut off length + 3 inches)

 Repeat this process for side with all the holes.

 The other long side has a little channel which tends to create issues when trying to extrapolate
but it works if you change the settings in the extrapolate window to tangent.
Step 3
 Fill in the small holes on the surface. It works best if you first use a Multiple extract to outline
the hole and then fill it. Sometimes when you use the fill command directly it will cause
problems later when you try to join all the surfaces.

Step 4

 Fixing the large hole on top. This could be a challenge. My advice is to use a piecemeal approach
and start making same surfaces to simplify the geometry. Just using a fill function didn’t work for
me. Some screen shots below might point you in the right direction. Remember there are many
different ways to get this done.