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MDTools 700 Series

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< Manifold Software

The MDTools 730 task-based user interface within Autodesk Inventor 2010 enhances both usability and productivity.

Click the text links below for task details.

Part Model

Drawing

Assembly

Part Model Tasks

Insert / Create

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



	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 an offset drill hole into a cavity on the manifold.

	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.

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

	Insert an undercut into a cavity on the manifold.

	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.

	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.

	Automatically read a HyDraw^® created schematic drawing and insert all the required cavities with the connectivity information.



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




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

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

	Read the input manifold data file in the XML format and create a new manifold in Inventor.

	Create the manifold data file in the XML format.

	Create the manifold data file in the XML format for CAMit.

Modify Block

	Allow the user to edit block dimensions and materials.



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

	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.



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

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

	Shade or update the shading of cavities on the manifold.

	Remove the shading of cavities on the manifold.

Modify 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 or change all the dimensions used to create the undercut. MDTools^® modifies the existing undercut according to the new specifications.

	Edit or change all the parameters used to create the slot. MDTools^® modifies the existing slot, per the new specifications.

	Edit or change all dimensions used to create the O-ring groove. MDTools^® recreates and modifies the existing O-ring groove, per the new specifications.



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

	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.

	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.

	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.

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



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

	Automatically delete the selected O-ring grooves.

	Delete the assembly envelope/outline around the selected cavities/footprints created using this command.

	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.

	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.

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



	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 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.



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

	Automatically add the counter bore to an existing cavity.

	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.



	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 a cavity either to another cavity on a manifold or to a selected manifold edge. MDTools^® automatically updates the location of a connecting hole when you relocate the main cavity. Unconstrain a cavity and relocate it independently.

	Locate cavities on the manifold.

Connect

	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.

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

Check



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

Get for All Cavities	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.

Between 2 Two Cavities	Check the wall thickness between two selected cavities on the manifold.

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



	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

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

	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.

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



	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.

Settings



	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.

	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.

	Toggle the visibility of component assembly envelopes and footprint envelopes on the manifold.

	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 .

	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.

	Sets the license server path for MDTools^® 730. Automatically check for the license and select license from the specified license path.

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Drawing Tasks

View

	Automatically create 2D views of the manifold.

Dimension

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

Drawing options



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

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

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

	Automatically display angular holes with an option to show direction.

	Automatically mark construction ports on each view in 2D drawing views.
	Automatically display the port names and footprint envelopes in 2D drawing views.

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

Create

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

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

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

	Insert a construction port table consisting of cavity/footprint name and quantity into the 2D drawing.

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

	Insert a stamping text chart consisting of text, text location, font style, and text height.

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Assembly Tasks

Assemble

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

	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 MDTools^® Assembly Library.

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Visuals

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