Brass Terminals with In-Line Thread Tapping for Power Distribution

A switchgear components maker was buying terminals and a tapping service separately. Every late tapping job stopped the bus-bar assembly cell, and tolerance stack-up between two suppliers' parts showed up as cross-thread rejects at 1.5%.

We took the terminal onto our own tooling and added an in-line tapping station to the progressive sequence, so the thread is cut in the same run that forms the part. Single-supplier accountability, one drawing, one delivery.

Outcome

• 750,000 terminals per year, 15,000 shipped weekly
• Tightest dimension ±0.005 mm; thread verified on optical comparator (±0.002 mm capability) before release
• Cross-thread rejects at the customer's cell reported down to effectively nil
• Changeover between the two terminal variants handled as kanban releases

Specifications

260 brass (C2600) · 1.0 mm gauge · 49 mm × 10.3 mm footprint · in-line tapping · 100% in-house die · MOQ 10,000