Parting Plane Sweep 1

[kyoung21]

I am attempting to make an automated parting line for a molded plastic tube with varying dimensions per job. The first thing I tried was Sweep, however despite getting a good cavity subtraction tool through Sweep, I always found that the parting plane line took the liberty of banking around like a drunk pilot.

How can I get the parting line to sweep and stay normal to Z so I know the mold can be separated without damaging the part? AutoCAD 14 had the ability, but I don't seem to see it in AutoDesk Inventor 2012.

For automating the system I tried things like Silhouette Curves, but they don't reliably come through to make the Sweep automated. I need something robust that won't be finicky about added or deleted edges or curves such as I have observed trying to use Silhouette Curves.

Any thoughts? I know exactly how to do this in 14 but can't seem to figure it out in Inventor 2012.

Thanks for your help.

 

[mcgyvr]

post your part.. Hard to tell exactly what you want or why you are having problems.
I've done a "parting line" on a molded part to show in the drawing before and just used a workplane and split tool. Then included that in the drawing. even just a sketch can work too

If you can do it in Autocad there is NO reason it can't be done in Inventor.

 

[rollupswx]

Did you do the Sweep with Guide Surface (perhaps using a plane as the guide)?