This will give us a conical face with a taper of 3 degrees, to match the tooling we have in house (the tapered ball end mill).Īfter the large fillets and draft have been created around the perimeter of the model (which will become the perimeter of the main pocket in the mold block), we can create the smaller fillets at the top of the model.

Then, while adding draft, we should select these filleted faces. Order of fillets and draft in the SOLIDWORKS model.īecause the tapered part of the tool is cutting the large corners, we should create these fillets first, before we add draft to the model. When it comes to fillets, we have to think about this 3 degree taper and we may need to consider the use of another tool-a tapered ball end mill.įigure 8. When designing parts with draft in SOLIDWORKS, you will have to consider the following question:ĭo I add the fillets first and then add draft? Or do I add the draft first and then add fillets? The answer to this question is: It depends! We have to think about the manufacturing process.Įarlier, we discussed the idea of cutting the 3 degree drafted pocket using a tapered end mill. If we leave the decision up to the mold maker, we could end up with parts which are unusable. In situations like this, it is important that we communicate to the mold maker which dimensions are critical. Sometimes the mold maker will ask for the original model, without draft. Once we edit the draft feature, the hole is both drafted at the required 5 degrees and large enough to accommodate the 9mm wooden dowel.

Since we know this hole needs to maintain the 10mm opening, we can edit the draft feature in SOLIDWORKS and change the start of the draft to the opposite face. Edit the draft and specify the top face for the start of the draft.

Solidworks draft