Pressure Safety Lock For Small Appliances
Our customer came to Ajax because they had problems holding tolerances on an aluminum bracket with a square notch. This part is used as a safety component on a consumer small appliance, so the material and tolerances needed to be perfect to avoid user injury. Ajax designed a strengthening gusset that lets the part work-harden, while maintaining dimensional integrity within .5°.
When the customer moved manufacturing to China, they retooled everything except our part. The offshore operation couldn’t meet the functional requirements. As a result, we didn’t lose a customer, we gained a market. Volume increased from 50,000 parts per year for the U.S. market to nearly a million parts per year globally.
| Tightest Tolerance | .005 inch and .5° +/- |
| Material Thickness | .125 inch |
| Material Used | 5052 H34 aluminum |
| Material Finish | N/A |
| Industry for Use | Consumer appliance |
| Volume | 1 million annually |
| Delivery Time | Kanban |
| Standards Met | U/L |
| Product Name | Pressure Safety Lock |
| Project Scope |
Product re-design; material selection; rapid prototyping; production tooling Design Work, Rapid prototyping; production tooling |