Editing Swaging (section)

== Uses ==
=== Blacksmithing ===
Swages are used for shaping the metal in various ways, to enhance its beauty or its fit for a desired purpose.<ref>''English Mechanic and World of Science'' by R. J. Kibblewhite. Bradley and Co. 1892 Page 53.</ref>

=== Electronics ===
In [[printed circuit board]] assembly individual connector pins are sometimes pressed/swaged into place using an [[arbor press]].  Some pins have a hollow end that is pressed over by the arbor's tool to form a mushroom-shaped retaining head.  Typical pin diameter range from 0.017 to 0.093 inches (0.43&nbsp;mm to 2.36&nbsp;mm) or larger.  The swaging is an alternative or supplement to soldering.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction to Swage Assembly |url=https://www.mill-max.com/engineering-notebooks/introduction-to-swage-assembly |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=www.mill-max.com}}</ref>

=== Plastics ===
Heat swaging is a similar process to heat staking, but it involves rolling or reforming a wall (typically a perimeter) of a plastic part to retain another part or component.<ref>{{ cite journal | author1 = Sullivan, G. | author2 = Crawford, L. | title = The Heat Stake Advantage | journal = Plastic Decorating Magazine | date = January 2003 | url =http://www.thermalpress.com/heatstakeadvantage.asp }}</ref>

=== Pipes and cables ===
The most common use of swaging is to attach fittings to [[pipe (material)|pipes]] or cables (also called [[wire rope]]s); the parts loosely fit together, and a mechanical or [[hydraulic]] tool compresses and deforms the fitting, creating a permanent joint. In a [[Swagelok]] tube connector, tightening the connector's nut with a wrench swages part of the connector permanently to the tubing. Once swaged on, the connection can be unmated and remated.

Pipe flaring machines are another example.  Flared pieces of pipe are sometimes known as "swage nipples", "pipe swages", or "reducing nipples". In furniture, legs made from metal tubing (particularly in commercial furniture) are often swaged to improve strength where they come in contact with the ground, or casters.

=== Saw blade teeth ===
In [[sawmill]]s, a swage is used to flare large [[bandsaw]] or circle saw teeth, which increases the width of the cut, called the [[wikt:kerf|kerf]]. A clamp attaches a mandrel and die to the tooth and the eccentric die is rotated, swaging the tip. A much earlier version of the same operation used a hardened, shaped swage die and a hand held hammer. Saw teeth formed in this way are sometimes referred to as being "set". A finishing operation, shaping, cold works the points on the tooth sides to flats. It might be considered as a side swage. This slightly reduces the tooth width but increases the operating time between "fittings". Swaging is a major advance over filing as the operation is faster, more precise and greatly extends the working life of a saw.

=== Manufacturing ===
When dealing with rubber components with mold bonded metal sleeves, swaging provides a more controlled and cost-effective alternative to 'shooting' the rubber part into a metal sleeve, where an intensive and less dependable secondary operation is needed to finish the product.  A metal can with a bonding component (such as phosphate) is painted to the inside diameter, and molten rubber is injected into the metal sleeve. This creates a product that when cooled may be swaged to the desired size.  The second reason for this is that the product is more reliable, and during the swaging process the rubber is more relaxed when the outside can to which the rubber is bonded has its diameter reduced, changing the springrate (K) values and damping coefficient (C) of the rubber.  After swaging, any inconsistencies in the metal and rubber have been minimized.

=== Firearms ===
In [[internal ballistics]], swaging describes the process of the [[bullet]] entering the barrel and being squeezed to conform to the [[rifling]].  Most [[firearm]] bullets are made slightly larger than the inside diameter of the rifling, so that they are swaged to engage the rifling and form a tight seal upon firing {{crossreference|(compare with [[obturation]])}}.

In [[ammunition]] manufacture, swaged bullets are bullets manufactured by compressing metal at [[room temperature]] into a die to form it into the shape of a bullet. The other common manufacturing method is [[Casting (metalworking)|casting]], which uses molten metals poured into a [[molding (process)|mold]]. Since metals expand when heated and contract when cooled, cast bullets must be cast with a mold slightly larger than the desired finish size, so that as the molten metal cools, it will harden at just the right point to shrink to the desired size. In contrast, swaged bullets, since they are formed at the temperature at which they will be used, can be formed in molds of the exact desired size. This means that swaged bullets are generally more precise than cast bullets. The swaging process also leads to fewer imperfections, since voids commonly found in casting would be pressed out in the swaging process. The swaging process in reference to cold flow of metals into bullets is the process not of squeezing the metals into smaller forms but rather pressing smaller thinner items to form into shorter and slightly wider shapes.

Individuals who make their own bullets usually are not aware of available manual specialized equipment and dies required for swaging bullets,{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} and thus choose to make [[cast bullet]]s. To get high precision results, it is common to cast the bullets slightly oversized, then swage the resulting castings through a die to do the final forming. Since the amount of pressure required to size the bullet is far less than that required to form a bullet, a simple mechanical press can be used, often the same press used for [[handloading]] ammunition.

All of the larger manufacturers of reloading equipment have abandoned making or marketing bullet swaging equipment due to the downturn in the popularity of the manual methods and the subsequent loss of sales. Currently there are only a few die makers who manufacture and market bullet swaging equipment. Four die and equipment makers, CH/4D, RCE, Corbin, and Custom Maker Kaine Dies, manufacture the bulk of bullet swaging equipment in the United States.

=== Medicine ===
In [[surgery]], the thread used in [[surgical suture|sutures]] is often swaged to an eyeless [[Surgical suture#Needles|needle]] in order to prevent damage as the needle and suture thread are drawn through the wound.

=== Musical instrument repair ===
In musical instrument repair the usual term on both sides of the Atlantic is swedging, not swaging, though it is generally acknowledged that the former derives from the latter. Keyed instruments such as the [[clarinet]], [[bassoon]], [[oboe]] and [[flute]] need swedging when years of key movement has worn or compressed the metal of the hinge tube they swivel on and made it slightly shorter, so that the key can travel along the rod it is mounted on instead of being held firmly between the posts attaching the rod to the body of the instrument.  This gives rise to floppy keys and a poor air-seal and needs to be corrected by lengthening (swedging) the hinge tube. This is a job that needs to be done by hand, and swedging pliers with highly polished oval holes in the jaws to fit common sizes of hinge tubes are often used to achieve this, though various proprietary designs of swedging tools are available to do the same job more efficiently.

In piano technology, swaging happens in several areas: key leads, underlever leads, and bass strings. Key leads which, in the piano's earliest history, were actually made using lead, are soft, round chunks that are inserted into holes drilled into the side of piano keys as a means of balancing actions. Key leads vary in size, generally small, medium, and large. Basically, key leads help to make a keyboard's touch light enough to play. Over time, fluctuations in humidity and aging of wood in piano key-sticks and underlevers causes space to develop around leads, causing them to rattle, tick, or knock. Loose leads in underlevers tend to be the most annoying to pianists because it's difficult to pinpoint where the noise (often a "tick" sound) is coming from. The remedy for the noise is swaging—squashing the leads with a short steel rod. Swaging the lead fills the void and eliminates the noise.

Bass strings in pianos are generally constructed with round—sometimes hexagonal—drawn-steel cores, over which copper is wound. Especially on round core wire, the last several inches of the area where the winding terminates is often flattened—swaged—to create a grabbing point for the copper winding material.

=== Car styling ===
As swaging is a technique in which cold metal is formed over a grooved tool or swage, the term was adopted in the field of [[Automotive design|automotive styling]] to describe when two panels were brought together, an edge of one panel was swaged so to overlap the other to create the impression of one continuous surface.

The term is now often used generically to refer to any similar designs.<ref name="www.cardesignnews.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/home/display/store4/item78132/#1|title=Car Design Glossary: Swage Line|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080130121243/http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/home/display/store4/item78132/#1|archive-date=2008-01-30}}</ref>

=== Lockbolts ===
A lockbolt is a fastener similar to a [[Bolt (fastener)|bolt]] in appearance and function. However, instead of using [[screw thread]]s which connect to a nut using a turning motion, a lockbolt has annular grooves around the shaft of the bolt (pin). After placing the lockbolt in a hole, a threadless collar is forced at high pressures around the annular grooves, deforming the collar and permanently locking it into place around the grooves. Swaging is the generic term for setting a lockbolt and collar assembly. During the installation cycle of a lockbolt, the collar is deformed around the pin with locking grooves using special tooling. The tool engages onto the pintail, which is an extra portion of pin material protruding past the collar that the tool grabs and pulls. This force on the pintail pushes the joint together, and the conically-shaped cavity of the tooling is forced down the collar, which reduces its diameter and progressively swages the collar material into the grooves of the harder pin.

As the force required for swaging increases during the process, the installation is finalised when the pintail breaks off.<ref>{{cite book | title = Handbook of Bolts and Bolted Joints | editor-first1 = John H. | editor-last1 = Bickford | editor-first2 = Sayed | editor-last2 = Nassar | publisher = Marcel Dekker | location = New York | year = 1998 | isbn = 978-0-8247-9977-9 | page = 311 }}</ref> Lockbolts could be viewed as a heavy-duty cousin of structural [[Rivet#Blind rivets|blind rivets]] ("pop rivets" in some regions), though the way the collar material's plastic deformation is achieved is different. Some tools are capable of "setting" both variants, as in both cases traction is applied to a sacrificial pintail.