Stamping9 min read
Stamped enclosures and chassis parts: assembly, grounding and edges
How to design a sheet metal enclosure that closes cleanly, bonds reliably and keeps its edges safe through assembly and service.
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Sourcing notes for custom parts
Drawings, tooling, quality and landed cost, from the team that runs the programmes.
All guides, page 39
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Wireforms9 min read
Wave springs vs coil springs: height, load and cost
When the lower solid height of a wave spring is worth the premium, and when a coil spring is still the better buy.
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Wireforms9 min read
Conical springs: when a tapered spring solves a packaging problem
Tapered springs trade a linear rate for a short solid height and better stability. Here is where that trade pays and where it does not.
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Wireforms9 min read
Music wire vs stainless steel springs: cost, corrosion and life
A practical comparison of the two default spring materials, the stainless grades that matter, and the cost lines that sit outside the wire price.
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Wireforms8 min read
Spring plating: zinc, nickel, tin and passivation compared
A spring finish has to survive flex, protect the wire and sometimes carry a contact. Zinc, nickel, tin and passivation do different jobs, and one of them is not a coating at all.
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Stamping9 min read
Stamped brackets and mounts: stiffness, hole placement and finish
The design calls that decide whether a stamped bracket holds its load, fits its fixings and survives the environment.
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Wireforms10 min read
Wire clips and retaining clips: design rules for snap fits
A wire clip is a cantilever spring with a hook on the end. Deflection, strain, ramp angle and engagement depth decide whether it snaps on and stays on.
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Wireforms9 min read
Wireform tolerances: what to put on the drawing and what to leave to the process
A practical tolerance set for formed wire parts, how bend errors stack, and which calls are cheaper to control with a gauge than with a dimension.
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Wireforms8 min read
Beryllium copper springs: when the extra cost is justified
Beryllium copper gives a spring high strength and useful conductivity at the same time. That combination is worth paying for in some contacts and wasted in others.
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Wireforms9 min read
How wire diameter tolerance changes formed part dimensions
Why a few hundredths of a millimetre on the wire can move an outside dimension, a spring rate and an assembly fit, and how to design around it.
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Wireforms9 min read
Spring stress relief and shot peening: what to specify
Two post-forming processes that change spring life and dimensional stability, and the words a drawing needs to make them repeatable.
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Stamping9 min read
Stamped heat spreaders and EMI shielding: material, geometry and contact
How a stamped metal part can move heat and contain electromagnetic noise, and the design calls that decide whether it works.
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