Project Scope:
Electrical Connector Assembly and Inspection Machine
SDC was presented with a challenge by a connector manufacturer to design and build a completely new concept of a field-terminable plug contact assembly machine that would be quicker, less-expensive, and have a smaller footprint than the customer’s existing contact assembly machines.
Vertical indexing dial
Servomotor driven motions
PLC based machine controls
Vibratory parts feeding
Pinch-roller infeed of contact strips
Magnified vision inspection system
Pneumatic trigger spring-eject part release
Precision slide-away subassemblies for maintenance & tool change accessibility
Complete machine safety system
The Solution:
This slide arrangement allows an off-dial ball-screw precision actuator to advance each gripper to each insertion position and then return before the dial indexes to the next stations, which include cleaning and multi-directional vision inspection stations. The two alternating types of gold-plated contacts are reel-fed and are singulated by a compact insertion press with easily-serviceable tooling.
The resulting increase in performance, lower cost tooling, smaller machine footprint, and reduced tool-change and maintenance times exceeded the expectations of the customer. Their new SDC machine significantly reduced the manufacturing costs of their plugs; improved their quality with 100 percent inspection, part tracking, tooling tracking, and automated part-sorting software; and improved process energy efficiency.