Commands : MDTools 730 manifold design software from VEST, Inc.

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< Manifold Design

MDTools 730 makes manifold design easy. The software is menu driven and easy to use.

The MDTools toolbar, panel bar, and drop down menu give you quick access to all the commands. (MDTools 730 on Autodesk Inventor 2009)

Draw / Modify Block

Draw Block	Automatically draw the manifold block in Autodesk Inventor based on: - Required manifold length, width, and height. - Required material cross section from an existing material, X- section database, and the corresponding length.

Modify Block	Modify the manifold block size during the manifold design process based on: - Required change in manifold length, width, and height entered. - Required material cross section from an existing material X-section database.

Insert Cavities

Insert Cavity (from Schematic)	Automatically read a HyDraw® created schematic drawing and insert all the required cavities with the connectivity information. (Schematics Interface)

Insert Cavity (from Library)	Insert a selected cavity/footprint from the standard cavity/footprint library. Precisely position the cavity: - With reference to either an edge of the block or an existing cavity - Maintaining minimum wall thickness with an existing cavity

Insert Offset Hole	Insert an offset drill hole into a cavity on the manifold.

Insert Mounting Holes	Insert four mounting holes on a selected manifold face at a specified distance from the edges.

Insert UnderCut	Create an undercut in a cartridge valve cavity port. Undercut increases the port area to handle the increased flow.

Insert Slot	Create a slot into a cavity at the specified depth from the manifold surface. Increased flow requirements often require the use of slots within the cavities.

Insert O-ring Groove	Create an O-ring groove around a bore hole on a manifold surface. MDTools inserts an O-ring groove in a cavity according to the specification provided.

Insert Orifice Plug	Insert an orifice plug cavity at the center of a cavity on the manifold. MDTools automatically updates the spot face depth of the orifice cavity so that the cavity starts from the bottom of the main cavity.

Edit Cavity

Edit Cavity	Change the design-specific cavity dimensions inside Inventor. Select a tool (Drill or Spot face tool) from the tooling knowledge base. This helps avoid the use of non-standard drills and spot faces.

Edit All Cavity Parameters	View and change the entire cavity dimensions and other parameters inside Inventor. Select a tool (Drill or Spot face tool) from the tooling knowledge base.

Replace Cavity	Replace a cavity located on the manifold with any other cavity from the MDTools library. The new cavity is inserted at the location of the existing cavity.

Replace All	Replace all the cavities of selected type inside a manifold with any cavity in the MDTools library . The new cavity replaces all the original cavities at the same position on the manifold. It also updates the selected properties .

Delete Cavity	Automatically delete the complete cavity/footprint. All the features used to create the cavity/footprint in Inventor are automatically deleted.

Delete O-ring Groove	Automatically delete the selected O-ring grooves.

Edit O-ring Groove	Edit or change all dimensions used to create the O-ring groove. MDTools recreates and modifies the existing O-ring groove according to the new specifications.

Edit Slot	Edit or change all the parameters used to create the slot. MDTools modifies the existing slot according to the new specifications.

Edit UnderCut	Edit or change all the dimensions used to create the undercut. MDTools modifies the existing undercut according to the new specifications.

Modify Cavity

Stretch Drill	Stretch the drill and change its depth by clicking and dragging the cavity to the required depth.

Match Properties	Automatically match the properties of two or more cavities. Match drill diameter, drill depth, drill tip angle, spot face/LS depth, cavity inclination (Alpha and Beta), net name, and cavity machining information.

Add Drill	Automatically add a drill to an existing cavity. MDTools adds the machining operation in a user-specified row in the machining sequence.

Add Counter Bore	Automatically add the counter bore to an existing cavity.

Flush X-drill Plugs	Automatically flush the construction plugs below the manifold surface by increasing the spot face depth of the cavity. Flush a single selected cavity or all the cavities on a selected face.

Rotate Footprint	Rotate the inserted footprint on the manifold surface. The footprint is rotated by the angle specified, about the center of the main cavity of the footprint.

Generate Cavity Machining ID	Automatically generate machining IDs for all the cavities on the manifold based on a selected naming option. - Four naming schemes are provided. - Select the naming option based on your requirement. - The machining IDs are used in the block machining drawing and machining chart.

Suppress / Unsuppress Cavities	Suppress a cavity/footprint or unsuppress a suppressed cavity/footprint. MDTools automatically suppresses all the features used to create the cavity when you suppress a cavity.

Constrain /Unconstrain Cavities	Constrain a cavity either to another cavity on a manifold or to a selected manifold edge. Automatically updates the location of a connecting hole when you relocate the main cavity. Unconstrain a cavity and relocate it independently.

Draw Assembly Envelope	Create the outline of a valve assembly around the selected cavities/footprints.

Delete Assembly Envelope	Delete the assembly envelope around the selected cavities/footprints created.

Make Connections

Connect to Cavity	Interactively create connections between cavities. - If a connection is not possible without relocating the cavity, then MDTools automatically relocates the connecting cavity to the port center. - In case of a bottom port, MDTools relocates the connecting cavity to the full diameter depth of the second cavity.

Angular Connection	Create a connection between two cavities using an angular drill. MDTools creates an angular drill at the appropriate angle to make the best possible connection between two selected cavities.

Display Options

Assign Net	Display the nets (flow paths) with different colors inside the manifold.

MDTools Settings	Define various settings for MDTools such as, Net Color, Units, and Library Path. Share the library with all designers in your organization so that all use the same data. Easily manage changes in standards or libraries within your organization.

Net Display	Display the nets (flow paths) with different colors. Visually check the connections inside the manifold. Change the color and the visibility of nets inside the manifold.

View a Net	Locate a position or an area on a selected manifold face, where a cavity can be placed to connect with a selected net. MDTools displays the cavities/ports in the selected net in green and all other cavities/ports in the dead area color.

Show/Hide Cavity ID	Display the cavity ID at the center of cavity. - Easily identify the cavity on the manifold. - Display or hide cavity IDs of cavities on selected faces or the cavity ID of a selected cavity.

Show/Hide Cavity Center	Change the visibility of cavity center points. MDTools hides or shows all the cavity center points. The visibility of a cavity center point is controlled by the visibility of the sketch containing the cavity center point.

Show/Hide Envelop	Toggle the visibility of component assembly envelopes and footprint envelopes on the manifold.

Color Cavities	Shade or update the shading of cavities on the manifold.

Remove Color	Remove the shading of cavities on the manifold.

Move Cavity

Move Cavity	Precisely move or relocate a cavity: - Specify the X and Y values from the face origin. - Enter the displacement values, which is delta X and delta Y.

Change Face	Relocate the cavity/footprint from one face of a manifold to another manifold face. Connect the cavity with either one or two existing cavities on the block when relocating the cavity.

Align Cavity	Align two cavities on the manifold. - Two cavities on the same face are aligned on the coordinate with shortest distance. - Cavities on two perpendicular faces are aligned with reference to the common coordinate.

Move Multiple	Move multiple cavities on the manifold simultaneously, by entering the displacement along their common coordinate. - Cavities on the same or opposite faces can be moved along two coordinates. - Cavities on perpendicular faces can be moved along a single coordinate.

Swap Cavity	Interchange the location of two cavities on a manifold. The two cavities replace each other.

Copy Cavity

Copy Cavity	Create a copy of an existing cavity/footprint on the manifold. Connect the new cavity to either one or two existing cavities on the block. All the parameters including the connectivity information are copied to the new cavity.

Copy Multiple	Copy multiple cavities/footprints simultaneously by specifying the displacement along their common axes.

Design Check

Get for a Cavity (Wall Thickness)	Check the wall thickness around a single selected cavity. - Checks the wall thickness between the selected cavity and all other cavities on the manifold. - Lists the cavity names with the actual wall thickness, in parenthesis, if the wall thickness is less than the specified value.

Measure (Wall Thickness)	Measure the wall thickness between two cavities. Measure the wall thickness between a cavity and a manifold surface.

Between 2 Cavities (Wall Thickness)	Check the wall thickness between two selected cavities on the manifold.

Set Manufacturing Precision	Change the precision for cavity location, drill depth, and the angle value of angle holes.

Quick Connectivity Check	Check the manifold design for: - Interference between working area on one cavity and dead area on another cavity - Interference between dead area on one cavity and dead area on another cavity - Unconnected cavities/ports of cavities - Broken nets - Wrong connection inside manifold

Connection Check	Check the connectivity inside the manifold. Easily find the dead area intersections inside the block. Check the quality of the connection between two cavities.

Wall Thickness Check	Check the wall thickness around all the cavities on the manifold. If the wall thickness between the cavities is less than the minimum required value specified, then it lists, in parenthesis, the actual wall thickness between the cavities next to the cavity name.

Design Report	Perform connection and wall thickness checks, and automatically create a detailed design report.

Manufacturing & Tooling	Check the manifold design for manufacturing and tooling limitations. Checks the manifold for angle holes, compound angle holes, non-standard drills, non-standard spot faces, and drills with slenderness ratio more than a specified value.

Miscellaneous Commands

Minimize Depth	Ensure minimum drill travel in empty cavity space. Reduce the drill depth to a minimum and remove any extra drilling created during the layout process.

Convert Manifold	Convert a virtual cavity design into a feature-based manifold design and vice versa.

Locate Cavity	Locate cavities on the manifold.

Shrink-wrap manifold	Remove all the internal manifold design details below a specified depth and create a new “shrink wrap” block model without any internal connection detail.

Manage Stamping Text	Create planer sketch text representing engraved text on the manifold surface. Automatically convert client graphics text (if they exist) to planer sketch text.

Import Manifold	Reads the input manifold data file in XML format and creates a new manifold in Inventor.

Export Manifold	Create the manifold data file in XML format.

License Options	Sets the license server path for MDTools 725. Automatically checks for the license and selects license from the specified license path.

Drawing Commands

Create Views	Automatically create 2D views of the manifold.

Auto Dimensioning	Automatically dimension all the cavity locations on all six views of the manifold in the 2D machining drawing.

Show Machining ID	Automatically display the cavity machining ID near cavities in 2D drawing views.

Show Component ID	Automatically display the component ID near cavities in 2D drawing views.

Show Stamping Text	Automatically display the stamping text near the cavities in 2D drawing views. Stamping text is displayed at the specified locations, when you create the engraved text in the part model using this command.

Copy Stamping Text	Create multiple copies of existing stamping texts on the manifold at specified distance from the location of selected texts. Various properties of the selected texts also get copied.

Align Stamping Text	Align two stamping texts on the manifold. - Two stamping texts on the same face are aligned on the coordinate with shortest distance. - Stamping texts on two perpendicular faces are aligned with reference to the common coordinate.

Show Angle Hole	Automatically display the angle hole top view in 2D drawing views.

Create Machining Chart	Automatically extract the machining data from all the manifold cavities and create the machining chart.

Cavity Table	Insert a cavity table consisting of the component ID, cavity name, and face name into the 2D drawing.

Show Origin & Axes	Automatically display the face origin and X/Y direction of each face in the 2D drawing.

Show Footprint	Automatically display the port names and footprint envelopes in 2D drawing views.

Mark Construction Holes	Automatically marks construction ports on each view in the 2D drawing views.

Create Machining Callout	Automatically create leader-type cavity machining callout for all cavities in the 2D drawing. Automatically extract the cavity machining detail from all the cavities and insert with the leader on the cavities.

Create Balloon	Automatically create balloons around the cavity machining ID for all cavities in the 2D drawing.

X-Drill Plugs Table	Insert a construction port table consisting of cavity/footprint name and quantity into the 2D drawing.

Assembly Commands

Assembly Interface	Automatically assemble all the components on the manifold. MDTools creates all the required constraints and assembles the components at the correct location.

Set Assembly Constraints	Set assembly constraints on all the part models to make them work with the Assembly Interface.

Assemble Plugs	Automatically assemble plugs onto all the construction (X-drill) ports on the manifold. Automatically create all the required constraints and assemble the plugs at the correct location. Specify cavity and plug file path location using the MDTools Assembly Library.

Visuals

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