Flextronics Mobile Phone Camera

Here’s HMT’s Tooling and Prototype Production of Mobile Phone Camera Housing Most mobile phones now have as standard a digital camera facility with the quality of images improving all the time. Our mobiles are becoming smaller of higher quality and greater functionality, therefore every small component part of the phone needs to be made to the highest standard with accuracy being all important. HMT was offered the job of producing a tool which could make the component parts of a kit to house a mobile phone camera lens. This kit was to be assembled elsewhere with other specialist components that make up the final completed phone. The parts in the kit as well as being very small and intricate, with extreme accuracy ment the mould tooling had to be micron perfect. The parts needed to fit together snugly but were required to move so the zoom lens of the camera could move backwards and forwards. The accuracy of our components was doubly important as they were required to fit exactly with the phone components made of site. The smallest component was the mount for the lens which allowed the camera facility to zoom. In its basic format, it is a rectangular tube of less than 5mm in length. Due to the components function it was an engineering challenge as in order for the lens to stay straight when it moved it was required to fit exactly into the assembly and yet it needed to be flexible. This is where HMT’s expert knowledge and experience really pays off. Each of the 4 sides was joined with a livern hinge with a 0.04mm wall section and a tolerance of 0.01. The back and front of the casing had to be a overshot shot moulded witha rubber to protect the lens and ceramic coil (worm) from any shock such as the mobile phone being dropped. The gap surrounding the moving parts and the rubber housing was critical to small and not enough zoom was acheived, to big and the ceramic coil would fracture. At Haverhill Mould and Tooling we were able to test the tool to ensure the final product achieved the micro accuracy needed. Once the tool had been made we manufactured the prototypes which were assembled in a clean room. The components in the ‘kit’ when put together was measured by x-ray and the gaps between the moving parts were found to be less than 0.1mm. Perfect for allowing the tiny amounts of movement for focusing the camera, but still small enough to protect the delicate parts. What this means for HMT is another challenge met, another HMT success and a great feeling of satisfaction for a job well done.

For more information on Flextronics Mobile Phone Camera talk to HM Tooling