Micro Fasteners

Branded Micro Fasteners for Eyeglasses

A manufacturer of premium fashion eyewear sought a means of incorporating branding and functionality into fasteners used on their products.

They required a clearly defined logo that would also function as a driver to be designed onto a .1090” screw head. MW provided the optimal solution in four ways:

• Logo integration for brand protection
• Drive functionality of branded fastener head
• Versatile tool package to reduce future lead time and cost
• Improved part strength and quality through cold heading

Critical Tolerances:

• Clear logo on the screw head
• Head diameter of .1090” ±.0020”
• Fully formed, lap free #0-80 thread
• Material with sufficient strength to use the fastener head as a driver

Unique Benefits:

• Brand identification
• Versatile tool mitigates future lead time and cost
• Work hardening enhances component durability and product life cycle
• 100% Net Shape – No material scrap

Micro Fasteners for Aerospace

This CRES fastener for an airframe latch involved three different geometric challenges: a convex head, a reverse hex extrusion, and a rolled thread over a backward extrusion.

We created the convex head and hex-shaped reverse extrusion by cold forming. As a result of the cold forming process, the hex created by the reverse extrusion created a stronger part than would have been possible by other methods, like machining which could have significantly weakened the part. MW set up a secondary process to thread-roll the part without collapsing the hex cavity.

Material: Incoloy A-286

Manufacturing Method:

• Cold Heading
• Extrusion
• Reverse Extrusion
• Annealing
• Roll Forming

Critical Tolerances:

• Inset Hex Depth and Concentricity
• Head Height and Radius
• 8-32 Thread to AS8879, UNJC-3A

Advantages:

• 100% Net Shape - No material scrap
• Work hardened head-to-shank interface
• Work hardened threads per AS8879
• Final tensile at 130,000KSI, from original material tensile of 85,000 KSI
• Burr and silver free condition without mechanical secondary operation
• High throughput, low-cost alternative to machining

Connector Component in High Brake Auto Assembly

Use: Connector component in high brake assembly - auto.

Material: Brass alloy CDA 260 - unleaded brass.

Manufacturing Method:

• Multi-Die cold formed

Notable Features:

• CDA 260 Brass (NO LEAD) contributes to reducing the lead content in the assembled device
• HEX-shaped major OD containing counterbore ID
• Extruded minor OD

Advantages:

• Material waste is minimal: NO LEAD.
• Production speeds are high allowing for low production costs. Much faster than machining.
• Concentricity of all diameters is near perfect: TIR approx. .002".
• Surface finishes are smooth. No machining marks/spirals/inclusions are present.
• Completely CLEAN counterbore. No detritus from a (machining) broach (usually found at the bottom of the counterbored ID when machined).

Surface Mount Rectifier Component

Material: CDA 102 copper (oxygen-free high conductivity copper).

Manufacturing Method:

• Cold-formed on an MW proprietary header machine from coiled round copper wire

Notable Features:

• Double-headed configuration
• Conical tip for die attaches surface
• Very small - micro size

Advantages:

• Production speeds are high allowing for low production costs.
• The double-headed feature provides a lock-in feature to hold the molded plastic and a long leak path that provides protection of the die from moisture leaking in from the mounting surface.
• A conical-headed shape with a precise tip surface provides a precise target for brazing the die.

High Power Micro Wave Heat Sink Fastener

Material: CDA 102 copper (oxygen-free; high conductivity copper)

Manufacturing Method:

• All diameters plus rectangular tip formed in multi-station cold header machine
• Threaded OD formed in automatic, hopper fed, rolling machine.

Notable Features:

• Rectangular tip
• Sharp cornered outside head diameter
• Smooth top head surface (RMS 32 and better) with zero voids or inclusions or folds on the braze surface

Advantages:

• Material waste is minimal. The part is formed from copper round wire.
• The rectangular tip is extruded from the copper blankie-no machining (no waste) or secondary used.
• Production speeds are high allowing for low production costs.

Headed Shoulder Pin Connector

Manufacturing Method:

• Produced from coiled wire .101" diameter.
• Manufactured complete from cold forming, no secondary processes required on a slide machine
• Tooling designed & built in-house.

Notable Features:

• High thermal conductivity while resisting thermal softening at high temperature (or high radiation)
• Maintains strength at high temperatures
• Part combines a cold headed flange with a flattened area for wire bonding
• Surface finishes better than 32 RMS
• Burrless

Advantages:

• No machining lines or cut-off deformations present.
• The headed portion is used as a stop for insertion into a circuit board and the flattened area is to provide a pad for an electrical connection (ie: wire bond). Incorporated into a one-piece design.

Pharma Drug Delivery System Insert Screw

MW collaborated with a Fortune 500 global pharmaceutical services leader to design and produce a replacement stainless steel insert screw meeting these goals:

• Improving adjustment control
• Mitigating contamination
• Increasing component part geometry and tolerance
• Supplying in excess of 100,000,000 pieces/year

Material: 302HQ Stainless Steel

Manufacturing Method:

• Cold Heading
• Upsetting
• Micro Threading
• Proprietary Thread and Concentricity Detection System

Advantages:

• 100% Net Shape - No Material Scrap
• Six Sigma in-process controls
• Work hardening enhances component durability and product life cycle
• Custom contamination-free manufacturing cell

Spring-Loaded Connector Pin Used in Printers

Material: CDA 260 brass (unleaded brass)

Manufacturing Method:

• Multi-Die cold formed
• Manufactured as a complete part on proprietary designed & built cold form tooling

Notable Features:

• Symmetrical (identical) contact points on both ends
• Precise shape to the spring stop-headed portion of the pin

Advantages:

• Formed from wire with no machining required
• Production speeds are high, allowing for low production costs, and making the process much faster than machining or turning.

Micro Headed Button with Double Counterbore

Material: CDA 102 copper (high conductivity and oxygen-free copper)

Manufacturing Method:

• Multi-Die cold formed

Notable Features:

• Notable counter-bore feature on both sides of the button
• Wall thickness on c-bore is approx. .005" thick (.125 mm)

Advantages:

• Material waste is minimal.
• Cold forming eliminates the presence of spiral machining lines or draw lines in drawn tubing.
• Production speeds are high, allowing for low production costs, and making the process much faster than machining or turning.
• Burrless
• Very small part with precise features made inexpensively

Diode Mount & Heat Sink for Surge Protector

Material: CDA 102 oxygen-free copper/high conductivity

Manufacturing Method:

• Multi-Die cold formed
• Manufactured as a complete part on proprietary designed & built cold form tooling

Notable Features:

• Micro dimples (.010", .3mm) on minor OD
• Sharp corners on pedestal edges

Advantages:

• Formed from wire without machining
• Production speeds are high allowing for low production costs. Much faster than machining or turning.

Double Diameter Connector Component

Material: CDA 102 oxygen-free high conductivity copper

Manufacturing Method:

• Produced from coiled wire
• Manufactured completely from cold forming machine-no secondaries
• Tooling designed & built in-house at MW

Notable Features:

• Surface finishes better than 32 RMW
• Concentricity of major OD to minor OD is .001" TIR.
• Burrless
• Large reduction from major OD to minor OD.

Advantages:

• No machining lines or cut-off deformations present.
• This one-piece design is meant to supplant the usual two-piece brazed/welded assembly normally a part as this would be manufactured by brazing/welding the smaller diameter terminal lead onto the larger OD.
• Therefore this design eliminates the welded assembly and replaces it with a single one-piece part.
• Near perfect concentricity of terminal lead to major OD.
• Very good thermal and electrical conductivity since there is no or weld on the part.