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Glossary
Describes RotoSpider Web App 0.8.13 and Desktop 0.8.13 · checked 2026-09-13 D5
The words this manual uses, in the sense the app uses them, with the Chinese term the app's Chinese edition shows. Where the trade says something else, the other names are listed too.
The machine
| Term | Also called | What it means here | 中文 |
|---|---|---|---|
| machine | rotomolding machine | The production machine whose arms carry the molds; one row per model in the workbook's machines sheet, with the measurements of its arms. | 设备 |
| arm | The rotating arm that carries the spiders through the oven and the cooling station. A machine row describes one arm. | 臂 | |
| straight arm | I arm | An arm whose tube ends in a hub between two spiders, one on each side. Both plates take molds; the straight-arm page. | 直臂 |
| offset arm, L arm | offset L arm | An arm cranked so that it carries one spider from underneath; the plate sits below the arm's axis. The offset-arm page. | L 臂, 偏心臂 |
| spider | plate, mounting plate | The round plate the molds are bolted to, whether a full disc or a spider of arms. Its diameter is the first arm measurement. | 模盘 |
| upper spider, lower spider | The two plates of a straight arm, above and below the hub in the position drawn. | 上模盘, 下模盘 | |
| rotation envelope | spherical swing limit, envelope diameter, swing diameter | The ball the rotating set is allowed to reach, centred where the arm's axis and the plates' axis meet. Every mold must stay inside it. On an offset arm the app calls it the vertical envelope. | 回转空间, 回转包络 |
| vertical envelope | The rotation envelope of an offset or L arm, entered as its diameter. | 垂直包络 | |
| horizontal envelope | usable width | On an offset or L arm, the usable diameter around the plate's axis once the crank column is allowed for; the app applies it as a cylinder the molds must also stay inside. | 水平包络 |
| center dead height | dead height | On a straight arm, the distance between the two mold-mounting surfaces, which no mold may occupy. | 中心无效空间高度 |
| spider Y offset | On an offset or L arm, how far the plate's mounting face sits below the arm's axis. | 模盘 Y 偏移 | |
| riser | riser stand, spacer | A welded steel stand that lifts every mold on an offset arm's plate by one height; the workbook lists the heights you own and the layout picks one. | 增高架 |
| maximum load | max load | The most mold weight the arm may carry; empty means unchecked. | 最大承载 |
| mounting frame | mold frame | The frame a mold is welded into and bolted to the spider with; it is the frame's size and face that the layout must know. | 安装框架 |
The molds
| Term | Also called | What it means here | 中文 |
|---|---|---|---|
| mold | tool, tooling | What you mount on the spider: the mold with its frame, clamps and mounting plate, measured closed. One row per mold in the workbook's molds sheet. | 模具 |
| product | part | What a mold makes. The app thinks in molds; a product is named so that planners recognise it. | 产品 |
| mold count | How many of a mold you own, in the workbook. It does not limit a request. | 模具数量 | |
| shape | The mold's active geometry: a box or cylinder typed into the row, or a built, drawn, stacked or imported shape kept with the mold. The shapes chapter. | 形状 | |
| outside size | envelope box, measured envelope | The smallest box a shape fits in: the footprint and height the row shows, used by tables and printed lists. The layout works with the shape itself. | 外形尺寸, 包络尺寸 |
| footprint | plan-view outline | The space a mold takes on the plate, seen from above. | 投影尺寸, 底面 |
| Levels Shape | stacked shape | A shape built from outlines at several heights, for a mold whose outline changes as it goes up. The Levels Shape page. | 多层 |
| STEP file | .stp, .step | The CAD exchange file the Windows desktop app imports for a complex mold. The import page. | STEP 文件 |
| .rotogeom, .rotoshape | published shape | The files a prepared shape is kept and carried in: a .rotogeom is the built shape, read-only; a .rotoshape is the editable package of a built shape. |
已发布形状 |
The layout
| Term | Also called | What it means here | 中文 |
|---|---|---|---|
| layout | arrangement, mold layout | Which molds sit where on the spiders of one arm, at what angle: the app's answer to a request. | 配模, 配模方案 |
| Need | requested quantity | How many copies of a mold you ask for in a layout, 0 to 99; it belongs to the layout, not the workbook. | 需求 |
| Load | loaded count | How many copies of a mold the layout placed. | 已装 |
| feasible | Every requested mold is placed with the clearance kept. The strip says FEASIBLE. |
可行 | |
| partial | Some requested molds are placed and some wait in the staging area. The strip says PARTIAL and why. |
部分 | |
| staging area | tray | The column beside the scene where requested copies wait when they found no place, and where you put a mold to take it off the spider by hand. | 暂存区 |
| clearance | mold-to-mold clearance, spacing | The gap kept between neighbouring molds on one spider, surface to surface, so that the clamps can be reached. | 净空, 模具间净空 |
| target clearance, minimum clearance | The gap you want and the gap you can live with, set once in Settings; the layout closes gaps towards the minimum only to fit more molds. |
目标净空, 最小净空 | |
| clearance scheme | clearance frontier | The layouts the app offers for one request at the target clearance and, when useful, at a relaxed one it certifies. | 净空方案 |
| clearance outline | dashed outline | The dashed line drawn around each mold in the plan view, one clearance out from its outline. | 净空轮廓线 |
| overhang | A mold's foot reaching past the plate's edge; refused unless allowed. | 悬挑 | |
| spider use | utilisation | How much of the plates' area the molds' feet cover, on the status strip. | 占盘率 |
| CG offset | balance | How far the loaded arm's centre of gravity sits from its axis, on the status strip. | 重心偏移 |
| allowance | draft allowance, edit permission | One of the three switches under the staging area that let a hand-set position break a rule and be kept with a warning. The allowances page. | 临时放宽 |
| draft warning | A rule broken by a kept position, listed under the switches; a layout with one cannot be saved. | 草稿警告 | |
| Solve anew | Compute the layout again from nothing with the current inputs. | 重新求解 | |
| Reset layout | Put back the app's most recent automatic layout, discarding manual moves. | 恢复求解结果 | |
| what-if | Edit Specs | Changing a mold's size or weight inside one layout only, with Edit Specs, without touching the workbook. |
假设分析 |
Files and services
| Term | Also called | What it means here | 中文 |
|---|---|---|---|
| workbook | master data workbook, masterdata.xlsx | The Excel file that holds your machines and molds; the desktop app and Excel both edit it. The workbook page. | 主数据工作簿 |
| layout file | saved layout | The Excel workbook Save writes for one layout: the request, the machine, the settings and the arrangement. |
配模文件 |
| recovery copy | autosave | The copy of every open layout the desktop app keeps as you work, restored on the next start. | 恢复副本 |
| support bundle | The ZIP the desktop app keeps for each session and exports for support; nothing is uploaded on its own. The support page. | 支持包 | |
| share link | The web app's address that carries a workspace's inputs to another browser. The share page. | 分享链接 | |
| MCP | Model Context Protocol | The way an AI assistant calls RotoSpider's layout engine as a tool. The MCP and WebAPI page. | MCP |
| WebAPI | The HTTPS interface your own software calls for a layout check. | WebAPI |
Comments and questions
The app's rules are our reading of the physics; where your plant knows better, the app changes.