Product Highlight: Reel to Reel Terminals and Contacts

At Keats Manufacturing Company, we specialize in building high-precision terminals and contacts for electrical transmission. Essential for the automotive industry and a wealth of other applications, reel to reel custom parts maximize convenience and cost effectiveness.

Reel to reel terminals are valuable for high volume orders of precision parts and are often used in customers’ automated assembly systems. Keats Manufacturing fulfills our customers’ most complex reel to reel requirements with technologically advanced equipment, providing contacts and terminals on lead frames, tape and reels, custom reel to reel terminals, and returnable/disposable reels.

How We Do It

Creating reels of close tolerance terminals and contacts requires advanced stamping techniques. We employ progressive die and four-slide/multi-slide stamping to manufacture enormous volumes of high-precision components (sometimes 20 million or more parts) with the industry’s closest tolerances, including down to ± .001”.

This process starts with the latest AutoCAD software to design custom tooling and ends with complete manufacturing, inspection, and delivery to the customer. With the use of quality materials such as copper, brass, phosphor bronze, various silver oxides, and grades of steel, our stamping processes fulfill virtually any requirement for volume and accuracy.

Progressive Die Stamping

No matter how complex or precise the final product needs to be, progressive die stamping is an efficient and accurate solution. The process itself is fairly simple: materials are fed through a series of progressive stamping stations until the final part is complete.

Though the process is fairly simple, our equipment is impressive, offering quick die change and 5 to 150 tons of die pressure to achieve tight tolerances on parts with multiple critical dimensions. The process combines premium accuracy with high volume capabilities, easily producing orders up to 20 million parts or more.

Progressive stamping is accomplished using multiple forming and cutting stations, with quality assured by high-tech digital part inspections. Fully automated and hand packaging are both available, as well as careful tape and reel packing, which ensures that all of our customers’ parts are delivered in the best possible condition.

Four-Slide Stamping

Highly efficient and cost effective, four-slide stamping employs die pressure ranging from 1 to 40 tons of raw materials in flat sheet metal form. These machines combine multiple processes into one piece of equipment, forming and shaping high volumes of parts with the utmost accuracy. Though this involves a more complex process, it is preferable for use in many types of projects.

There are numerous advantages to part production using a four slide machine. The first is lower costs: these units require less labor, less material handling, and less expensive equipment than progressive die stamping systems. Four-slide stamping machines also require no die set and are generally more productive.

Multiple Machines for Complex Requirements

Depending on the complexity and material requirements of our customers’ projects, multiple machining processes may be necessary. A full array of high-tech equipment is available in our facility in addition to our stamping machines — all of which are operated and overseen by the most experienced machinists and die-makers in the industry. These include multiple EDM, CNC machines, and more.

At Keats, our quality is unsurpassed. We ensure that every step of the design and manufacturing process is completed to meet the industry’s most stringent requirements, with final inspections performed before every delivery.

For us, efficiency is just as important as quality. We maintain fully up-to-date Kanban software to ensure our customers receive Just-In-Time (JIT) delivery whenever required — even for the highest volume orders. Whenever a question or issue arises, our highly responsive customer service team is there to help.

With our high volume capabilities and precision machinery, we are a perfect match for all customers who need reel to reel terminals and contacts.

For more information about these products and their industrial applications, check out our eBook, Design Considerations for Automotive Electrical Contacts & Terminals.

Contact us today to find out more about our precision metal stampings or to request a custom quote.