Norstan's Electrical Contact Manufacturing Blog

The auto-wire weld assembly process develops a metallurgical bond between the precious metal piece (wire) and Substrate (Terminal).  The weld can be achieved horizontally or vertically.  The amount of precious metal utilized for the finished good can be reduced significantly because overall contact height can be achieved by embossing the substrate (Terminal) to some specific…

Precision Metal Stamping Metal stampers are using high-speed presses and stamping dies to form metal strip into more precise complete and semi-complete parts than ever before. New developments in precision metal stamping can quickly and accurately accomplish complicated stamping applications by using several drawing, folding, stamping, and piercing techniques to their advantage.  The Benefits of…

Correlation of Surface Contamination Introduced by Feeding Equipment on Electrical Contact Resistance Abstract Contact degradation caused by austenitic stainless steel feeder bowls has raised concern among manufacturers of electrical contacts. The surface contamination of three contact materials fine silver, silver cadmium oxide (90%Ag 10%CdO) and a silver alloy (75%Ag 24.5%Cu 0.5%Ni) with 15 microinches (Ra)…

The Effect of Various Deburring Media Containing Mineral SILICON (SiO2) OR ALUMINUM OXIDE (A1,0.) ON CONTACT PERFORMANCE  Summary Particle fragmentation and embedment of mineral silicon (SiO2) or aluminum oxide (A1,0,) introduced by deburring electrical contacts inhibit metallic conduction. The relationship between the concentration of mineral particles embedded on the rivet’s surface and contact performance was investigated.…

Electrical contact or connection failure can spell disaster for your facility or appliance’s operations. Issues with these systems can cause costly damage to capital equipment, not to mention injury or loss of life. Maintaining well-functioning electrical contacts is an important element to ensuring the performance and safety of your electronic equipment and components. An electrical…

The resistance welding process is commonly utilized in budget projects because it requires no additional materials outside of the metal that’s being joined. Fortunately, the cost-effective nature of the process doesn’t translate to a less reliable weld. While differing welding methods vary in cost, the appropriate method is largely chosen by what is best suitable…

What’s the Difference Between Soldering and Furnace Brazing? Furnace brazing joins metals by melting a filler metal developing a metallurgical bond between substrates. This process works well in mass production applications because it produces strong joins without requiring a high degree of precision. It is also very flexible. The metallurgical bond developed between substrates has…

Imagine if your automobile had rope steering, like an old-fashioned go kart. You could steer it, but not very accurately. Chances are, you’d be running into things and endangering other drivers. That’s what it’s like when you’re trying to work with an electrical contact supplier that has limited product knowledge. You’ll get to your destination…

Proper design and selection of materials can have a big impact on the longevity of your electrical contacts. Designing long-life contacts involves a number of important considerations and trade-offs, as well as iterative testing and sampling, to achieve an optimal performance for your electrical contacts. Keep these factors in mind when performance and reliability are…

When it comes to electrical contact selection for your switches, are you content to roll the dice? If so, you may be gambling with the reliability of your customers’ equipment. No one can afford to do that. There are many factors you need to consider when sourcing electrical contacts for switches. Many of them require…