JP2003168537A - Manufacturing method of male tab - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method in which the required horizontal width can be secured by reducing the bending portion of the male tab even with respect to the small size male side terminal fitting. <P>SOLUTION: The male tab original mold 17 is formed by folding up two sheets of conductive plate material 4. A top and bottom pair of dies 18A, 18B press the male tab original mold 17 from the vertical direction. On the other hand, the dies 19A, 19B press the male tab original mold 17 so as to clip from the right and left both sides by the movement of dies 20A, 20B from upward. Therefore, the male tab original mold 17 is pressed from four ways of the thickness direction and width direction of the conductive plate material 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a male tab.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 18 and FIG.
General male-side terminal fitting 100 disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 880
showed that. The male terminal fitting 100 is formed by bending a conductive plate material, and a male tab 101 for connecting to a mating female terminal fitting (not shown) is provided on the front portion of the male terminal fitting 100. The male tab 101 is manufactured by folding two conductive plate materials in the manufacturing process of the male terminal fitting 100, and its cross section is as shown in FIG.

[0003]

By the way, in recent years, for example, miniaturization of connectors attached to automobiles and the like has been advanced. In order to miniaturize the connector, the terminal fittings attached to the connector must also be miniaturized. Therefore, development of small male and female terminal fittings is in progress. Such a downsized male-side terminal fitting may cause a problem that has not occurred in the conventional male-side terminal fitting 100. Generally, in the male tab 101,
In order to secure the area of the contact portion with the female-side terminal fitting, the left and right width lengths Q that are substantially horizontal planes on both front and back surfaces are required.

Here, as the male tab 101 is folded,
A width R of the bent portion is generated, but in the conventional male-side terminal fitting 100, compared to the thickness of the conductive plate material, the male tab 101
Since the width S of the above is sufficiently long, the width Q of the horizontal plane can be secured by a predetermined length. However, in the case of a male terminal fitting that is too small, the width R of the bent portion becomes relatively large only by pressing the original conductive plate material by the conventional method. A predetermined horizontal width Q cannot be secured. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the width of a bent portion in a male tab of a male terminal fitting even if the male terminal is downsized so that the male tab has a predetermined width. It is to provide a manufacturing method capable of ensuring the horizontal width of the.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems, Actions of the Invention, and Effects of the Invention In order to solve the above problems, the first invention is to manufacture a male tab formed by folding a conductive plate material into a predetermined shape. A method for forming a male tab prototype by folding a predetermined number of the conductive plate materials, and folding the male tab prototype with the thickness direction of the conductive plate material and the male tabs. It is characterized in that the male tab is manufactured by pressing from at least four sides in the width direction including. The raw material and thickness of the "conductive plate material" are not limited,
For example, a plate material formed of a conductive material such as copper, iron, gold, or silver, which has a thickness of about 0.4 mm to about 0.1 mm, can be used. Further, the surface of the plate material may be subjected to an appropriate plating treatment. The term "plurality" means that the male tab is formed of at least two conductive plate materials, and may be composed of three or more conductive plate materials. The "folded portion" may be provided on either one side edge or both side edges of the male tab. According to the first aspect of the invention, when the male tab is manufactured from the male tab master, the conductive plate is pressed from at least four sides in the thickness direction and the width direction. For this reason,
Since the curved surface of the bent portion of the conductive plate is filled during the pressing operation, the curved surface can be reduced and a large horizontal width of the tab can be secured.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, before forming the male tab master, the periphery of the bent portion of the conductive plate material is preliminarily expanded toward the outside in the bending direction. Characterize. According to the second aspect of the invention, since the male tab prototype is manufactured by previously bulging the periphery of the bent portion toward the outer side in the bending direction, the cross section is bulged in the thickness direction. For this reason, when pressing from all sides, the bulging portion easily fills the curved surface portion of the bent portion.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the male tab is formed by bending the side edges of the conductive plate material in the width direction. It is characterized in that it is folded approximately at the center in the width direction of the male tab. According to the third invention,
Since the male tabs are configured symmetrically, the actions of pressing the male tab portions work to cancel each other out.
Therefore, it is possible to reduce the risk of the male tab being displaced in the left-right direction in the pressing process.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the gist of the invention will be described. It can be implemented in various forms without modification. Moreover, the technical scope of the present invention extends to an equivalent range.

<First Embodiment> A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a male-side terminal fitting 1 including a male tab 3 of this embodiment. The male side terminal fitting 1 is manufactured by folding a conductive plate material into a predetermined shape, and a wire connecting portion 2 for connecting an end portion of an electric wire (not shown) is provided at a rear portion thereof. There is. Further, a support member 6 having a substantially rectangular tube shape is provided at the center of the male-side terminal fitting 1, and a male tab 3 is projectingly provided in front of the support member 6.

Now, the manufacturing process of the male terminal fitting 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. Male side terminal fitting 1
As shown in FIG. 2, the conductive plate material 4 is a strip shape elongated in the vertical direction in the drawing, and the conductive plate material 4 is fed in a length direction in a press device (not shown) at a predetermined pitch. As a result, the male-side terminal fitting 1 is manufactured through a pressing process of about several tens of steps. 2 to 6 show typical portions of the conductive plate member 4 in which the conductive plate member 4 is manufactured as the male-side terminal fitting 1, and in practice, FIGS.
(And the portion filling the intermediate stage of each figure) is continuously formed on the series of conductive plate members 4. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the male-side terminal fitting 1 is manufactured in a state in which the male-side terminal fitting 1 is connected at a predetermined interval in a direction orthogonal to the lengthwise direction of the strip 5. Note that the alternate long and short dash line L in FIGS. 2 to 6 is shown as a guide for indicating the position of the male-side terminal fitting 1.

In the process shown in FIG. 2, the space 7 separating the male side metal terminals 1 is opened small, and the groove portion 8 is provided at the portion of the wire connecting portion 2 where the core wire portion of the wire is caulked. Next, in the step shown in FIG. 3, pitch holes 9 are provided at regular intervals at both end portions in the width direction of the conductive plate member 4 so that the inside of the pressing device can be moved at a predetermined pitch, and each male side terminal is provided. Opening 10 forming the outer edge of the metal fitting 1
A and 10B are die-cut. Although not shown in the figure,
The press device is provided with a protrusion that fits into the pitch hole 9, and the conductive plate member 4 is moved in the lengthwise direction while the protrusion and the pitch hole 9 are fitted together at a predetermined position.
The pressing process proceeds in sequence. Further, in the process shown in FIG. 4, the outer edge of each male side terminal fitting 1 is pressed so that it becomes clearer, and the bending process is started in a part of the area (for example, the wire connecting portion 2). There is.
In the next step shown in FIG. 5, as the bending step progresses, the strip-shaped piece 11 on the left side of the drawing that connects the male tabs 3 of the adjacent male-side terminal fittings 1 is cut, and the manufacturing process of the male tab 3 is performed. Is progressing. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the production of the male terminal fitting 1 is completed in the final step.

Next, the manufacturing process of the male tab 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. The male tab 3 is formed by folding the conductive plate members 4 into a predetermined shape so that two conductive plate members 4 are stacked. First, as shown in FIG. 7, a portion of the conductive plate member 4 that will become the male tab 3 is subjected to a predetermined press working in advance. That is, a pair of upper and lower molds 13A,
The lower mold 13A of 13B is provided with a recess 14, and the other upper mold 13B is provided with the recess 14.
The convex portion 15 is provided at a position aligned with. When the conductive plate material 4 is pressed by both molds 13A and 13B,
As shown in FIG. 7, the cross section is a bent portion 1 of the male tab 3.
2 (in the male tab 3 of the present embodiment, two bent portions 1
There are two. ) Is pressed so as to bulge outward in the folding direction.

From here, the portion which becomes the male tab 3 is gradually bent (the process of the intermediate portion is omitted), and as shown in FIG. 8, it is processed so that its cross section becomes substantially C-shaped. In the process shown in FIG. 8, a pair of upper and lower molds 16A,
16B is provided with substantially symmetrical recesses 23 and 24. The size of the space closed by the recesses 23, 24 (that is, the portion that becomes the outer shape of the conductive plate member 4) is slightly larger than the outer shape of the final male tab 3.
In this way, by folding the two conductive plate members 4 by the two molds 16A and 16B, the male tab master 17 which is slightly larger than the male tab 3 is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, a male tab prototype 17
Pressing from four sides leads to the process of manufacturing the male tab 3. In this step, as shown in the drawing, six molds 18A, 18B, 19A, 19B, 20A, 20B are arranged. Among the molds 18A and 18B arranged in a pair in the center, the upper mold 18B is the arrow E.
Move down. In addition, the pair of molds 20A and 20B arranged on the left and right of the upper mold 18B is the upper mold 18B.
Similarly to, the arrow F moves downward. Both molds 20A, 2
A guide surface 21 is provided on the lower surface side of 0B so as to come into contact with the guide surfaces 22 of the left and right dies 19A and 19B, as will be described later.

The pair of left and right molds 19A and 19B are
It moves along the upper surface of the lower die 18A. In both left and right dies 19A and 19B, a guide surface 22 is provided on the outer upper edge portion. Upper mold 20A, 2
When 0B moves downward, both guide surfaces 21 and 22 come into contact with each other and the guides of both guide surfaces 21 and 22 cause the left and right dies 19A and 19B to move in the direction of arrow G (that is,
It is configured to move in the direction of the male tab prototype 17). In this way, the molds 18A, 18B, 19A, 19
When the male tab prototype 17 is pressed by B, 20A, and 20B, the thickness direction of the conductive plate member 4 (the mold 18A,
18B) and the width direction (molds 19A, 19B) including the bent portion 12 of the male tab 3 are pressed from at least four sides.

Molds 18A, 18 constructed as described above
Male tab prototype 17 with B, 19A, 19B, 20A, 20B
When is pressed, a male tab 3 having a substantially rectangular cross section is formed as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, since the bent portion is bulged outward before the male tab prototype 17 is manufactured, the cross section of the male tab prototype 17 has a bulged portion in the thickness direction (indicated by reference numeral 25 in FIG. 9). (Shown) has occurred. Therefore, it is considered that the bulging portion 25 satisfactorily fills the curved surface portion of the bent portion 12 during the pressing operation for forming the male tab 3.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the male tab 3 is manufactured from the male tab prototype 17, the conductive plate member 4 is used.
Is pressed from at least four sides in the thickness direction and the width direction. Therefore, since the curved surface portion R of the bent portion 12 of the conductive plate member 4 is filled during the pressing operation, a large horizontal width Q of the male tab 3 can be secured. Also, the bent portion 1
Since the male tab prototype 17 is manufactured by previously bulging the periphery of 2 toward the outside in the bending direction, the cross section thereof bulges in the thickness direction. Therefore, when pressing from all sides, the bulging portion 25 easily fills the curved surface portion R of the bent portion 12.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In addition, in the present embodiment, parts having the same effects as those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 12 shows a male terminal fitting 31 having the male tab 30 of this embodiment. The male tab 30 is formed with two conductive plate members 4 having a thickness, and the bent portions 12 are provided on both side edge portions in the width direction of the conductive plate member 4. Both side edges 32 of the male tab 30 are folded so as to face each other at substantially the center in the width direction of the male tab 30. Note that the overall manufacturing process of the male-side terminal fitting 31 is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment, and will therefore be omitted.

Next, the manufacturing process of the male tab 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 13, the lower die 33A is provided with a recess 34 having a rectangular cross section. On the other hand, the upper mold 33B has a recess 34
The convex portion 35 is provided at a position aligned with. When the conductive plate member 4 is pressed by the pair of molds 33A and 33B, the cross section of the portion to be the male tab 30 is processed into a substantially U shape.

Thus, the upper surface portion 3 bent upwards
As shown in FIG. 14, 6 is processed by another mold 37A, 37B. The upper mold 37B is provided with a concave portion 38 having a symmetrical inclined surface 38A. Conductive plate material 4 pressed by both molds 37A and 37B
, Both upper surface portions 36 fall toward the upper surface side of the lower surface portion 39. In addition, a pair of upper and lower molds 40A shown in FIG.
The upper die 40B of the die 40B includes the die 37B of FIG.
Similarly to the above, the concave portion 41 having the symmetrical left and right inclined surface 41A is provided, but the angle of the inclined surface 41A is gentler than that of the inclined surface 38A and is close to a flat surface. As described above, the upper mold having the concave portion having the symmetrical left and right surfaces is provided with a plurality of types in the order in which the inclined surfaces are gentle, and as the manufacturing process of the male terminal fitting 31 progresses. The both upper surface portions 36 come to cover the upper surface of the lower surface portion 39.

Next, a pair of upper and lower molds 42 shown in FIG.
The upper mold 42B of A and 42B is provided with a recess 43 having a substantially rectangular cross section. The inner shape of the recess 43 (that is, the outer shape of the conductive plate member 4) is the shape of the male tab prototype 44 which is slightly larger than the outer shape of the male tab 30. After the male tab prototype 44 is formed in this manner, the first
Molds 18A, 18B, 19A, 19B, 20A, 20 in which the male tab 3 is formed from the male tab prototype 17 in the embodiment.
The male tab 30 can be formed by performing the press work using the one having the same configuration as that of B (see FIG. 17).

As described above, according to this embodiment, the same operation and effect as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. In addition, since the male tabs 30 of the present embodiment are configured symmetrically to each other, the action when pressing the male tab 30 portion is such that the male tabs 30 cancel out each other as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15. work. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the risk of the male tab 30 being displaced in the left-right direction in the pressing step (step shown in FIG. 14 or FIG. 15) in the middle stage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a male-side terminal fitting having a male tab according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a view (1) showing a manufacturing process of the male terminal fitting.

FIG. 3 is a diagram (2) showing the manufacturing process of the male terminal fitting.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a manufacturing process of the male side terminal fitting (3)

FIG. 5 is a view (4) showing the manufacturing process of the male terminal fitting.

FIG. 6 is a view (5) showing the manufacturing process of the male terminal fitting.

FIG. 7 is a diagram (1) showing the manufacturing process of the male tab.

FIG. 8 is a view showing the manufacturing process of the male tab (2).

FIG. 9 is a diagram (3) showing the manufacturing process of the male tab.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a manufacturing process of the male tab (4).

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of the male tab.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a male-side terminal fitting having a male tab according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a view (1) showing the manufacturing process of the male tab.

FIG. 14 is a view (2) showing the manufacturing process of the male tab.

FIG. 15 is a view showing the manufacturing process of the male tab (3).

FIG. 16 is a view (4) showing the manufacturing process of the male tab.

FIG. 17 is a view (5) showing the manufacturing process of the male tab.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a male terminal fitting having a conventional male tab.

FIG. 19 is a sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,31 ... Male side terminal fitting 3, 30 ... Male tab 4 ... Conductive plate material 12 ... Bent part 17,44 ... Male tab prototype 32 ... Side edge

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a male tab formed by folding a conductive plate material into a predetermined shape, wherein a male tab prototype is formed by folding a predetermined number of the conductive plate materials, and the male tab is formed. The male tab is manufactured by pressing the prototype from at least four directions of the thickness direction of the conductive plate material and the width direction including the bending portion when the male tab is folded. Production method. 2. The male according to claim 1, wherein, before forming the male tab master, the periphery of the bent portion of the conductive plate material is previously bulged toward the outside in the bending direction. Tab manufacturing method. 3. The male tab is formed by bending both side edge portions in the width direction of the conductive plate material, and both side edges of the conductive plate material are folded at substantially the center in the width direction of the male tab. The method for manufacturing a male tab according to claim 1, wherein the male tab is manufactured.