Managing cooling planes

A cooling plane needs to be created before you can model any part of a cooling circuit. Once created you can edit or delete cooling planes, and add new cooling planes. You can also specify properties such as the name and depth of the cooling planes.

Tip: Use the ViewCube to display the model in bottom view, which is the best orientation for working with cooling planes.

1. Click (Geometry tab > Cooling System panel > Cooling planes).

   The Cooling planes dialog appears in the Tools tab.

2. To add a new cooling plane, in the Cooling planes area, click Add. A new cooling plane name appears in the list of planes, and the new cooling plane is displayed in the model, in green.
   Note: Cooling planes are always parallel to the X-Y plane.
3. To edit an existing cooling plane, select a cooling plane from list in the Cooling planes area, and edit the Plane properties as described below:
   • To change the name of the Cooling plane, edit the text in the Name text box in the Plane properties area.
   • To specify the Z depth of plane use one of the following methods:
     • Click Top or Bottom.

       The cooling plane will be moved to the top or bottom of the cavity.

     • Enter a value in the Z depth of plane text box.
     • Click and drag a green marker up and down the screen, and then release the mouse button when you are satisfied with the cooling plane location.

       The value in the Z depth of plane is automatically updated.

       Note: If you selected the Snap to grid option in the Grid settings area, the location that you select will move to the nearest gridpoint.
4. To delete a cooling plane, in the Cooling planes area, select a cooling plane from the list of available cooling planes, then select Delete.

Note: If you have defined a parting plane or specified a three-plate mold with a split plane, these planes will appear in the list of cooling planes for reference, but you cannot use the Cooling Planes tool to edit or delete the parting plane or the split plane.