Inventing a new cost-effective process for manufacturing stepped pins for aircraft connectors.
A company specialising in aeronautical connectors wanted to have a connector made with stepped metal pins. In other words, the pins would have two different diameters (0.80 mm and 0.50 mm) along their total length of 30 mm, giving them an appearance somewhat reminiscent of miniature bowling pins. They would also have to comply with the exceptionally strict standards of this demanding sector.
Although bar-turning technology can produce such pins, the amount of material that must be removed to achieve the specified dimensions makes this option expensive.
So it would seem a solution must be found elsewhere. Building on our prowess in welding wire for diode connections, Delta Neo proved we could provide a more cost-effective product and still guarantee tolerances down to a hundredth of a millimetre with a pin strength equivalent to a bar-turned product.
Designed to be joined to the body of the connector by a glass-to-metal seal, the metal pins would have to be made of Iron-Nickel alloys compatible with the sealing process. Yet another challenge!
Using machines designed by our engineering department, Delta Neo relied on capacitor discharge welding to bond 2 wires of different diameters to create a rough pin that still needed finishing work. Delta Neo’s technical teams decided to carry out a specific tribofinishing process on the welded pins to attain the final shapes and dimensions required without deforming the parts. This delicate process, during which the pins are mixed with abrasives, requires a high degree of accuracy with regard to the quantities of each of the components and the operating time required.
The confluence of extensive capacitor discharge welding experience and a fine-tuned tribofinishing process has led to the production of hundreds of thousands of pins that withstand the formidable stresses encountered in aeronautical and aerospace environmental conditions.
Our considerable capacity for innovation founded on our mastery of a wide spectrum of processes has enabled us to satisfy this client’s very comprehensive specifications, with substantial cost-savings too. This is the Delta Neo mindset!