The production process of the connector

There are many types of connectors, and they are used in a wide range of industries. But its production process is basically the same.

Generally divided into four steps: stamping, electroplating, injection molding, assembly.

1 stamping

The manufacturing process of electronic connectors generally begins with stamping pins. Electronic connectors (pins, terminals) are stamped from thin metal strips by large high-speed stamping machines. One end of the large coil of metal strip is fed into the front end of the punch press, and the other end is rolled into the take-up wheel through the hydraulic table of the punch press, and the metal strip is pulled out of the take-up wheel to roll out the finished product.

2 Electroplating

After the terminals and pins are stamped, they should be sent to the electroplating section. At this stage, the electrical contact surfaces of the connector are plated with various metal coatings. During the process of feeding stamped needles into electroplating equipment, the needles can be twisted, chipped or deformed. Such quality defects can be easily detected by the detection techniques described herein.

However, for most machine vision system suppliers, many quality defects in the electroplating process remain a "no-go zone" for inspection systems. Electronic connector manufacturers need inspection systems that can detect a variety of inconsistent defects, such as small scratches and pinholes on the plated surfaces of connector pins. Although these defects are easily identified on other products, such as aluminum can bottoms or other relatively flat surfaces; due to the irregular and angled surface design of most electrical connectors, visual inspection systems are difficult to obtain enough to identify these subtle defects desired image.

Since some types of pins require multiple layers of metal plating, manufacturers also need inspection systems that can differentiate between the various metal coatings to verify that they are in place and in the correct proportions. This is a very difficult task for vision systems using black and white cameras, since the gray levels of images with different metal coatings are actually similar. Although the cameras of the color vision system can successfully distinguish these different metal coatings, the problem of lighting difficulties remains due to the irregular angles and reflection effects of the coating surface.

3 Injection molding

The plastic box seat of the electronic connector is made in the injection molding stage. The usual process involves injecting molten plastic into a metal tire membrane, followed by rapid cooling to form. So-called "Short Shots" occur when molten plastic does not completely fill the film, a typical defect that needs to be detected during the injection molding stage. Other defects include full or partial plugging of the sockets (these sockets must be kept clean and clean to properly mate with the pins during final assembly). Machine vision systems for post-injection quality inspection are relatively simple to use, as missing cartridge holders and blockages of connecting jacks can be easily identified using the backlight.

4 Assembly

The final stage of electronic connector manufacturing is finished product assembly. There are two ways to connect the plating needle to the injection box seat: single plug-in or combined plug-in. Single pair insertion refers to inserting one pin at a time; combined pair insertion means that multiple pins are connected to the box holder at the same time. Regardless of the mating method used, manufacturers require that all pins be checked for missing and properly positioned during the assembly stage; another routine inspection task has to do with measuring the distance between the mating faces of the connector.