A Sweden-based company specializing in high-security smart locks for residential and commercial properties was redesigning their flagship product to achieve a slimmer profile and lower energy consumption. The updated design incorporated an advanced wireless communication module that required a small, custom-shaped metal shielding cover to prevent electromagnetic interference (EMI) from degrading the performance of the lock's integrated fingerprint sensor.
The Design Challenge
Part Type: A miniature drawn metal can with side wall cutouts and four small surface-mount solder tabs.
Material: Tin-plated cold-rolled steel, selected for its excellent EMI shielding effectiveness and reliable solderability.
Dimensions: Approximately 12mm x 8mm x 3mm in height.
Volume: An initial order of just 1,200 pieces for prototype builds and field beta testing.
Why This Part Was Difficult
The geometry combined a relatively deep-drawn shape (the part height was nearly equal to its narrowest width) with precisely located cutouts in the side walls. This combination presented a significant tooling challenge. A traditional four-slide or multi-slide forming tool would have demanded a substantial upfront investment, which was not economically justifiable for a 1,200-piece trial batch. Moreover, the part's miniature size rendered manual handling and off-line secondary piercing operations impractical from both a quality and cost standpoint.
The Tingfeng Solution
Our tooling engineers designed a compact progressive die that consolidated all required operations into a single press sequence:
Pilot and Blank: The outer perimeter of the part was cut from the tin-plated steel strip.
Draw: A single-stage drawing punch formed the basic can shape. Through precise adjustment of the blank holder pressure, we successfully achieved the specified draw depth without fracturing the thin 0.2mm base material.
Cam-Actuated Side Piercing: To avoid the need for complex, costly secondary tooling, we integrated small, mechanically actuated cam units directly into the progressive die. These cams pierced the side wall cutouts while the part remained securely positioned on the punch, ensuring accurate feature placement.
Trim and Form Tabs: The final die station trimmed the flange edge and bent the four surface-mount tabs downward to their finished angle.
Outcome
Within 10 business days of order confirmation, we shipped the full 1,200 shielding covers to the client's product development center in Stockholm. The parts fitted precisely onto their PCB layout, and the tin plating provided a consistently reliable solder joint during SMT assembly. The client successfully completed their beta testing program without any shielding-related issues, and we are currently in discussions for a follow-on production order of 10,000 pieces utilizing the same proven tooling concept.
Value Delivered
This project demonstrates that even components which appear simple at first glance—a small metal cover—can demand sophisticated tooling engineering when produced in low volumes. Tingfeng Hardware's readiness to develop a creative, cam-integrated progressive die solution enabled the Swedish client to procure a complex miniature stamping at a tooling cost typically associated with far simpler parts. For Nordic product developers, this represents a practical sourcing path for non-standard, small-batch precision components.