Cost is an important factor in evaluating a contact mechanism for a socket or a connector. The cost per contact can range from dollars per contact to pennies per contact. That’s quite a range ! The more expensive contacts (like spring pins) are made with precision machined parts, and require careful assembly. Stamped contacts made from a single piece of metal are usually considered the lowest cost alternative (especially in volume situations). But, PariPoser® material has them all beat.
Unit costs per contact at a quantity of thousands of contacts
The reason for the low cost is the way it’s made.
PariPoser® material is made in large sheets that have millions of conductive columns per sheet.
The costly steps used in most contact manufacturing processes are not needed to make the PariPoser® sheets. There’s no stamping, forming, molding, cutting or crimping. The conductive columns are uniformly formed by a powerful magnet that simultaneously aligns millions of the conductive columns in one operation.
The desired shape of the material is then cut out of the sheet and placed into a socket or connector. On average, there’s about 2,000 – 3,000 potential contact pad locations per square inch (300 – 500 per square centimeter).
Are there any more costs ?
Yes.
Each socket or connector has additional parts that contribute to the total costs. A few examples are highlighted below.
