Over the years, 3D CAD systems such as SolidWorks have become more and more integrated into the design and manufacturing processes. Plastic injection molding is no exception. Industrial designers use 3D CAD to make ergonomic and aesthetic contours which would be next to impossible to communicate in 2D drawings. Modern toolmakers must use 3D models to make the mold cavities. Also, most rapid prototyping machines accept only 3D files to create parts.
Rebling Plastics has extensive experience using SolidWorks and CADKEY to design parts for plastic injection molding. While formats are constantly changing, we have successfully imported from and exported to virtually all other CAD programs, including Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA, Solid Edge, Inventor, and AutoDesk/AutoCAD. In addition, we use universal formats such as IGES, STEP, DXF, DWG, parasolid (x_t), STL, and many others.