Reed Blade Pressing

The most important factor in Reed Pressing or Stamping is selecting the correct alloy that closely matches the coefficient of thermal expansion of the glass tube. This ensures high quality hermetically sealed reed switches.

Wires of a special alloy of Nickel-Iron called 52-alloy are selected for this purpose as they have the nearest thermal expansion match to glass.

Due to the large volume of reed blades that need to be pressed, Carbide press tools ensure that tool wear out is minimal. The wire is fed through multiple straightener stations and into press tools that are designed in various ways to work with the various sizes of wire and type of reed switch load that needs to be switched.

The blades are pressed at high speeds and ejected out of the tool. Pressed blades are checked for burrs at the contact area and the lead out area where cropping occurs. The pressed reed blades are then inspected for straightness and surface smoothness, and then approved for de-greasing.