Introduction to RotoSpider

0:59

The rotation envelope

The spider carries the molds, but the rotation envelope decides what fits. Shrink it and watch molds move to the staging area.

1:08

Arrange the molds yourself

RotoSpider gives you a starting layout. In the 3D view you can select a mold, slide it, turn it, or lift it off to the staging area and put it back somewhere else.

0:38

Straight arm or offset arm

Both arm types sit side by side. Pick the one your machine has, fill in its dimensions, and the layout follows immediately.

0:52

Your molds and how many you need

One row per mold: its shape, its size, its weight, and how many you want on the spider. Ask for more and the layout is worked out again at once.

0:33

Change Need without losing your layout

RotoSpider first keeps every mounted mold in place, then checks a full rearrangement. Undo lets you compare both results and restore the old Need.

0:41

The staging area

Molds that could not be placed wait here. Your requested quantity never changes.

0:37

Reading the result

Three places tell you how the layout went: the count above the staging area, the loaded column, and the line saying why it stopped.

0:49

Molds that are not boxes

Pick the real shape of each mold. The software fits the actual outline, not the box around it, and that is where the extra room comes from.

0:40

Clearance and the spider edge

Room for your people to reach the bolts, and whether a mold may hang past the spider edge while staying inside the rotation envelope.

0:36

Millimetres or inches, and your language

Switch the whole app between millimetres and inches, work in your own language, and send a layout to someone as a link.

0:40

Undo, redo, and starting over

Every change you make by hand can be stepped back and forward, and the whole layout can be handed back to the software at any time.

0:57

When you know better than the check

Three switches let you keep a position the strict rules would refuse, to look at an idea.

0:34

Building a mold shape you do not have

Type the real measurements of an L, a wedge or a tapered mold and use it in the layout, without drawing anything.

0:53

A shape that changes as it goes up

Some molds are not one outline at every height. Stack levels, edit each one, and RotoSpider fits the exact result.

1:18

Make your first layout

Five minutes with the trial data: pick a machine, say how many parts you need, and read the layout.

0:43

Your own mold and machine data

The desktop app keeps your molds and machines in a workbook you own, with every dimension editable in the app rather than in Excel.

1:17

Set up a straight arm

The three measurements of a straight arm and the optional load limit, on the Spider / Arm Data tab, and how to check them on the preview.

1:20

Set up an offset or L arm

The measurements of an offset arm: spider diameter, vertical and horizontal envelope, spider Y offset, the risers you own, and the load limit.

0:58

Draw the outline of an irregular mold

When a mold's outline is not one of the built shapes, draw it: a preset, dragged or typed corners, a height, and the layout fits the drawn outline.

1:12

Import a CAD file of a complex mold

A STEP file of the mold with its frame becomes the exact shape the layout uses: measure, confirm how it rests on the plate, build, and the shape stays with the mold.

0:38

Layouts you can keep

Every layout is a tab you can save, reopen and compare.

0:34

Comparing machines

Ask for the same molds, then change machine. The loaded count tells you what each arm would carry.

0:42

What if this mold were smaller

Change a mold's size inside one layout to test an idea, without touching your master data until you decide to.