Sleek designs hinge on strong rotary joints

Metal injection molding lets designers create tiny custom hinges for handheld electronics. MIM gave designers a cost-effective means of differentiating the Motorola V60C phone from its peers. Advanced Materials Technologies Pte. Ltd. molded the hinges from stainless steel and polishes them to a mirrorlike finish. Conventional hinges for handheld electronics are made from polyoxymethylene-(POM) and come in standard-nude or can styles with predefined torque, opening angle, and dimensions. The flipping motion of the clamshell hinges on the cam. The cam is a multiple curved wheel mounted on a rotating shaft, used to produce variable or reciprocating motion in another mating part. Stainless steel is used for strength and performance of flipand-twist hinges for cell phones. Additionally, the design freedom associated with MIM coupled with miniaturization of cellular phone components gives more options for flexible printed-circuit-board pathway design and protection. Flip-and-twist hinge design adds a bit more whimsy to standard clam shell cell phones. The concept is currently being investigated for camcorders, digital cameras, PDAs, and notebook computers. The quest for quality at competitive prices is pushing designers of handheld electronics to think of lean manufacturing for components. It is wise to take a closer look at alternative manufacturing technologies early in the design cycle. This is one way to beat the competition to market and help differentiate a product from the rest of the pack. One such alternative technology is metal injection molding (MIM). It is increasingly adopted to fill the niche where other metalworking processes are not viable. Typical examples are in miniature components such as rotary hinges found in cell phones, PDAs, laptops, tablet PCs, and camcorders. MIM combines the lean manufacturing benefits associated with plastic injection molding (design freedom, parts consolidation, and high-production volumes) with powder metallurgy to transform metal powder into solid, net-shape components that would be