An electronics job shop was building thousands of devices for a special sales promotion. They looked like a cell phone but contained an LCD screen and a photocell with electronics that could interpret data coded into a commercial run during the Super Bowl. The holder of the phone could point it at the television during the commercial and the LCD screen would display what he had won.

The shop had hired a bunch of temporary workers to assemble the devices. The last step in the process was to snap the back on and then mushroom over five pins that held it together. For that process they were using a Phillips screwdriver and hammer, and weren’t going to be able to meet the deadline.

B. Dash Fabrication designed and built this staking press in three days, and helped them make delivery on time.

It’s based on a standard arbor press and off-the-shelf pneumatic components. There is a molded epoxy pocket for the product to fit in and a platen with adjustable machined staking points. Due to the play in the arbor press there is an adjustable alignment device to insure accurate, repeatable results.