by Chris Blake
SimForm is a web-based application that enables plastic injection mold designers and project managers to reduce their cycle time and improve their part quality by simulating the thermal behaviour of the mold.
In this video, see Warren Baird, Product Manager for SimForm, walk you through the entire workflow of uploading a design, setting up the model, running the simulation, and deriving insights from the results. In less than 15 minutes, Warren simulates three different mold cooling designs:
- a preliminary channel planner using a basic mold,
- a conventional design with baffles
- a conformal cooling design
The demo shows how each configuration influences the mold's thermal behavior. You don’t need to wait until steel is cut to see whether your cooling strategy will work… You can actually model the performance of multiple designs up front. It only takes a quick comparison in SimForm between traditional drilled-line approaches with newer techniques like conformal cooling to see the impact and potential value.
Warren uses the side-by-side comparison tool in SimForm to compare the safe ejection times and temperature contours on the part. This allows him to select the best cooling design, balancing cycle time requirements and temperature uniformity – a strong driver of plastic part quality.
Evaluate Cooling Options, Fast
It’s a common challenge in mold design: how do you figure out whether a proposed cooling layout will perform as expected before you test it? Traditional approaches often rely heavily on experience and educated guesses, which can lead to unanticipated thermal issues once the tool is built. The conventional way of doing things can also require weeks spent in mold trials, slowing development. And mold designers and manufacturing technicians sometimes make mistakes, too.
SimForm is designed to eliminate this uncertainty for teams by letting them simulate and refine mold cooling even before they commit to a design.
It only takes small upfront changes in cooling strategy to have outsized measurable effects on part temperature, sink marks, warpage, and total cycle time. SimForm quantifies these differences quickly in a less complex, more intuitive interface than late-stage CAE tools like Moldflow. This helps designers validate their instincts with data and prevents costly revisions down the line.
Thermal Simulation from the Start
Throughout the video, Warren highlights how SimForm helps answer key questions for mold designers:
- Will this design cool evenly across the part geometry?
- Is the safe ejection time acceptable for our target cycle time?
- Can we justify the added complexity or cost of a conformal cooling layout?
The visual heat maps and performance metrics in SimForm make it easy to understand tradeoffs, even for non-CAE experts.
One of the unique features of SimForm is its ability to simulate thermal performance even before a final mold design is available. By starting with a “no mold” configuration, users can generate preliminary cooling strategies based on the part alone. This flexibility will get your team quoting jobs faster and empower them to recommend early design changes.
Early-stage simulation is also valuable for sales and quoting teams. Conversations with customers can involve more realistic timelines and pricing and sales personnel can more proactively identify parts with challenging thermal characteristics. Designers can also use the simulation results to back up DFM (design for manufacturability) recommendations with visual, objective insights.
Conventional vs. Conformal Cooling: Take a Closer Look
When Warren introduces the conventional cooling scenario, he shows how baffles affect the thermal profile of the part and where they fall short in terms of uniformity. Then, in the conformal cooling scenario, the simulation reveals improved temperature consistency and shorter cooling times…but it may also raise questions about cost and manufacturability. SimForm makes it possible for your team to have grounded, data-driven conversations around those tradeoffs before you select the best cooling design for your part.
In most shops, conformal cooling is reserved for particularly complex parts or tight-tolerance projects (given the current cost of 3D-printed inserts). However, SimForm gives designers and project managers a way to move past assumptions and assess whether those costs are justified based on actual cooling performance. It also makes it easier to communicate the value of higher-end tooling to customers who may not otherwise see the benefits.
Ultimately, you’re getting transparency and alignment between molders, toolmakers, and OEMs. Everyone has a shared understanding of the design’s performance expectations before manufacturing begins.
Side-by-Side Comparison for Better Decision Making
Finally, Warren shows that the comparison mode offers a powerful way to evaluate each approach in context. The side-by-side display of cooling time, thermal gradients, and safe ejection estimates helps stakeholders agree on the most efficient and feasible solution. Pitching a premium tool design to a client? Validating changes before mold manufacturing? Whatever the scenario, these demo shows how these simulations provide a credible, visual argument.
The ability of SimForm to overlay different simulations and highlight changes makes it easy to iterate and improve designs on the fly. Teams can compress “what if” comparison scenarios that used to take days or weeks (according to some industry CAE users) into mere minutes. The faster project cycles and greater confidence that come from that sort of speed are a “wow” factor for industries where precision and part quality are non-negotiable, like medical device manufacturing, automotive components, and consumer electronics.
Achieve the Best Cooling Design With Data-Backed Insight
Molders and OEMs can now evaluate additive tooling or complex part geometries in short order, before steel is cut. For conformal cooling — often used with 3D-printed inserts to improve cooling on challenging features — SimForm helps validate whether those advanced strategies actually deliver a return on investment.
The audit trail of design decisions available in SimForm, alone, can be a huge boon in optimizing internal processes. Use the data of your early thermal simulations to justify quoting assumptions and streamline communication across teams.
Contact us for a more in-depth demo, or sign up for your free trial.