Interplex Junction - The Place to Connect

Cold Forging is an "impact forming" process that deforms a billet of raw material plastically, under high compressive force, between a punch and a die using a Horizontal or Vertical Cold Forging press. 

Cold Forging efficiently forms all the existing material into the desired shape thereby maximizing material utilization; whereas Volume-In (billet) = Volume-Out (product). It also greatly increases production throughput rates compared to other manufacturing methods - this can be over 100 times faster in some instances.

Drivetrain components must endure very high forces (torque, coupling, internal pressures, etc.) and handle instantaneous changes in force over the lifetime of the vehicle. Also, the ever-increasing complexity of the drivetrain component design, is creating new manufacturing challenges.

For creating automotive drivetrain components, Cold Forging offers the following advantages:

• Improved Strength and Component Integrity
• Higher Material Utilization Rates
• Cost-Efficient High-Volume Production

This new Tech Bulletin details the advantages that Cold Forging provides for makers of various critical high-strength components used throughout automotive drivetrains. 

Click here to download the Tech Bulletin.

Led by sales of glucose monitoring devices, the In Vitro Diagnostics testing segment has rapidly become one of the prominent sectors in the overall Life Sciences & Medical industry.  

Due to the disposable nature of the diagnostic test strips employed by these medical devices, the interfacing interconnects that read the strips represent a significant technical challenge for achieving volume production levels, stringent quality control requirements and low-cost assembly objectives.

The new Interplex Tech Bulletin on this issue outlines the basics of test strip interconnect design and shows how advanced manufacturing methods combine continuously stamped leads, reel-to-reel over-molding, fully-automated inspection and assembly to enable cost-effective high volume production of interconnects.

Key topics include:

• Test Strip Design Basics
• Component Design and Continuous Manufacturing
• Continuous Automated Assembly and Inspection

To learn more download the Medical Test Strip Technology Bulletin.

Sometimes an application requires ultra-fine micro features and tolerances that cannot be achieved with even the best controlled metal stamping process.  That is where chemical etching comes into play, with the ability to create highly-repeatable, burr-free components with complex features as small as 1.2x of the material thickness.

Using a tightly-controlled reel-to-reel process enables these micro-features and intricate metal designs or shapes to be produced on a continuous metal strip using a wide variety of ferrous and non-ferrous materials, thereby facilitating the use of reeled components within automated production environments.

Cold forging is a displacement process that forms the existing material into the desired shape whereas conventional machining uses a removal process to take away material in order to create the desired shape.

Over multiple decades of evolution, precision metal stamping processes have been repeatedly refined and expanded to encompass a wide range of tight-tolerance, close-pitch, high-precision and light-gauge metal components as well as thicker gauge, larger metal components and assemblies. However, ultra-thin foil material continues to present special challenges that go beyond mainstream stamping technologies.

These applications often must be controlled to the millionth of an inch, while taking into account special material characteristics, tooling concerns and consistent process control for high-volume production. Ultra-small Dimensions and Tolerances With ultra-thin foil applications, the geometries of tolerances and material-to-die clearances can quickly become exponentially challenging. For example, assuming a cutting clearance of 10 percent, when stamping material with a 0.001” (0.0254mm) thickness the punch-to-die cutting clearance would be 0.0001” (0.00254).

With ultra-thin foil applications, the geometries of tolerances and material-to-die clearances can quickly become exponentially challenging. For example, assuming a cutting clearance of 10 percent, when stamping material with a 0.001” (0.0254mm) thickness the punch-to-die cutting clearance would be 0.0001” (0.00254).

To learn more about the challenges and key process control issues involved with metal stamping and forming ultra-thin materials, read the new tech bulletin.

Insert molding is an integrated process in which thermoplastic injection encapsulates a part, often a metal stamping, to create a discrete component that combines structural elements and environmental protection with specific embedded interconnect functionality.

There are several applications that naturally benefit from insert molding. These include electronic modules, sensors and medical devices in which there is an internal electronic circuit or other part that has to interface with the outside world.

The key challenge is to make the packaging watertight and structurally robust to protect the internal circuitry from damage, while simultaneously providing electrically reliable connections to the outside circuitry. 

Traditionally, high-volume low-mix production has been considered the best way to achieve optimal efficiency and quality. However, for many manufacturers in the United States, meeting customer requirements mean dealing with high-variation/low-volume environments.

High-mix approaches can offer advantages such as, better tailoring to specific customer demand, improved responsiveness to changing market demands and lower finished goods inventories. However, high-mix has traditionally been less efficient because of the inherent variations.

Some of the key challenges of high-mix production include:

• Dealing with more frequent changeover of production set-ups
• Maintaining high quality levels across a mix of configurations
• Potentially more complex logistics for managing piece-part inventories

A key to success with high-mix environments is to minimize these inherent downsides by leveraging configurable interconnect technologies in order to maximize the benefits of being able to offer a wider range of options from within the same production environment.

The requirements to remove smaller and smaller particulates from advanced fluid filtration systems grow larger and larger by the day. 

Fluid Conditioning is the process by which particulates are removed from fluid in a system. Damage happens when key filtration points are ignored. It is the job of the filter to remove these particles from the flow to help prevent premature component wear and system failure. As the sophistication of systems increases, the need for reliable filtration protection becomes ever more critical.

Chemical metal etching is a subtractive manufacturing process that uses baths of temperature-regulated chemicals to remove metal for fine feature creation.  Reel-to-reel chemical etching is a highly controlled, high-volume process that delivers consistency, repeatability and cost effective production.

Cold forging is basically an “impact forming” process that deforms a piece of raw material plastically, under high compressive force, between a punch and a die using suitable equipment such as a machine press.

Compared with other competing technologies, such as machining, die casting, plastic injection molding, weldments, and metal injection molding (MIM), cold forging creates products with a higher impact strength, a higher structural integrity, and better accuracy while using less material. The process is highly productive and optimal for surface finishing.