Stamped housings to facilitate assembly and related methods
Connector housings and connector assemblies for mechanically connecting a pin to a housing with or without electrical conductivity. A connector housing can be formed by attaching two housing sections together with one or both housing sections formed at least in part by a stamping process. The connector housing can have an outer contour, such as an outer perimeter, with one or more sides and with a joining section connecting two adjacent sides together. The two or more sides can be used for handling, aligning, and/or assembling of the connector housing to a cavity.
1. A method of manufacturing a connector comprising:
forming a first housing section by stamping, said first housing section comprising a body having an exterior surface, an interior surface, an outer perimeter with two or more sides with a joining section located between two adjacent sides, an inner perimeter defining an opening, and a contoured structure;
forming a second housing section by stamping, said second housing section joined to the first housing section, said second housing section comprising a body having an exterior surface, an interior surface, an outer perimeter with two or more sides with a joining section located between two adjacent sides, an inner perimeter defining an opening, and a contoured structure;
attaching the first housing section to the second housing section to form a spring groove from the two contoured structures;
positioning a canted coil spring between the first housing section and the second housing section at the spring groove;
welding the two housing sections together along at least part of the outer perimeters of the two housing sections to form a joined housing; and
wherein the openings of the two housing sections define a bore and the two outer perimeters define a housing perimeter.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising placing a pin into the bore.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the pin comprises a pin groove and the canted coil spring is biased against the pin groove.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of forming a corner tab by extending a structure from one of the sides.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising attaching a first section to a second section to form the first housing section.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming one or more notches or one or more holes in the flange section of the connector housing.
7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising removing the pin from the connector housing.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connector is made of metallic materials for use as an electrical connector.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the joined housing has an active side comprising at least one of a slot, a corner tab, a fitment corner tab, a tab, teeth, and a curved surface.
10. A method of manufacturing a connector comprising:
providing a tubing section having a body with a bore, a first end, and a second end and a first length measured between the first end and the second end;
cold working the tubing section by shorting the first length to a second length and forming a spring groove between the first end and the second end; and
placing a canted coil spring in the groove.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the spring groove is formed entirely by cold working to produce two sidewalls and a bottom wall therebetween.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first end has a first exterior dimension and the second end has a second exterior dimension and wherein an exterior dimension at the spring groove is larger than the first exterior dimension and the second exterior dimension.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the canted coil spring is a radial canted coil spring.
14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising placing a pin into the bore.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the pin comprises a pin groove and wherein the canted coil spring is biased against the pin groove.
16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the tubing section is made from a soft metal material.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the soft metal material is at least one of copper, brass, or alloys thereof.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the tubing section is plated or cladded with a different metallic layer, internally, externally, or both.
19. A method of manufacturing a connector comprising:
attaching two plates each with an outside perimeter and an inside perimeter defining an opening to a cylinder section to form a groove; wherein the cylinder section has an inside diameter and wherein the two openings of the two inside perimeters are smaller than the inside diameter of the cylinder section;
placing a canted coil spring in the groove; and
placing a pin in contact with the canted coil spring.
20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the canted coil spring has an inside diameter and wherein the inside diameter of the canted coil spring is smaller than the two inside perimeters.