#factory floor

Factory Floor | Tell Me

From Coil to Component: Watching Nickel Tabs Being Punched

The Life of a Nickel Tab

There's something satisfying about watching metal transform.

I set up a camera by the press last week to capture how Nickel Tabs actually get made. Not the polished marketing version — just the raw process. Coil feeds in, die comes down, parts come out.

What you're seeing:

A coil of pure nickel, 0.15mm thick, feeding into a progressive stamping die. At full speed, this press runs about 300 strokes per minute. Each stroke produces multiple Nickel Tabs, depending on the die design.

The details matter:

The material position is controlled to ±0.02mm

The punch-die clearance is optimized for clean edges (critical for Nickel Tab for SMT applications)

Scrap is cut and separated automatically

Why stamping?

For Custom Laser Welding Nickel Tab requirements, the starting point matters. A consistently formed tab means consistent contact during welding. No warping. No variation. Just repeatable quality, thousands of times per hour.

◾◻▪️⬜

(attached to that reverb modelling synth bell sound (?))

patrick higgins' guitars+effects chain across this album and xe are incredible

° ° • • . ,° ° ° • • . ,*

Factory Floor ‘25 25′ 2016

Factory Floor