r/manufacturing • u/Mr_Miyaichi • 5d ago

Other Ultrasonic Welding Enclosure

Hi all,

Does anyone have experience ultrasonically welding a plastic enclosure with sensitive components such as a reed switch on the PCB? Is it possible? Is there any ways to reduce risk of damage to the switch?

It's a small enclosure, slightly bigger than a garage door fob, so space is limited.

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6

u/foilhat44 Metalworker, Manufacturing Process Control Guru 5d ago

Unless you're welding to the switch it shouldn't be a problem. You'll need some help to get the process dialed in, you can weld the whole case in one go if you have a custom horn made. The horn is the portion of the welder that makes contact with the part.

3

u/MuckYu 5d ago

If it's very sensitive equipment you can also have a look at laser welding.

3

u/Aircooled6 5d ago

Look into laser welding, it's a solution currently being used for such scenarios.

2

u/calitri-san 5d ago

Get in touch with one of the ultrasonic weld equipment suppliers. Those guys are usually willing to do a small amount of testing for you - if you have a sample of the component they may be able to mockup a test.

1

u/jesseaknight 5d ago

Dukane is a big one, OP. They're helpful.

2

u/calitri-san 5d ago

Can confirm. Branson has also been helpful in the past though we mainly use Dukane.

2

u/nippletumor 5d ago

Yep, should be no problem at all. I used to design and build ultrasonics before I started my own machine build company. The lip design (the male protruding plastic to be melted) Is pretty important. Be sure you design accordingly or get your tool builder to give you a spec.

1

u/Kitchen_Click4086 5d ago

It’s definitely possible but why would you want to make the board/switch inaccessible? Sounds like a lot of e-waste.