This article is used as a leaf-spring with a mild spring action
(nickel
induced) to make a weak electrical contact with a moving gold
plated part

Convince me it has to be made from copper. Convince me it has to be
made by
edm rather than eg pressing. Then convince me it can't be made by edm
of
spring steel.

Why not use eg beryllium copper? That's springy. Though I expect
spring
steel is the actual appropriate material.

Near the copper spring are magnets (for some other purpose) which would
impede the motion of the spring if it were made of spring-steel. (I've
checked). I don't know breyllium copper.

Edm because I do not want to invest in a pressing die. This die would
be expensive since the leaf spring has a peculiar shape with 0.3 mm
serrations. Once I'm through selling about few thousand devices, I'll
go for a pressing die.


What you are asking will almost certainly cost more than a properly
designed
part - at least ten to a hundred times more - if you do it that way.



Have you thought about eg the cost of fixing the parts in a frame so
they
can be nickel plated? That costs, a whole lot, each part has to have
a good
electrical contact too, and your local platers will either charge a
whole
lot extra for the care involved to do it properly, or they will bend
the
workpieces.

My employees tie them with a thin copper wire (0.2 mm) very carefully,
but still those local platers don't handle them with care. And I don't
really confide in them because maybe once or twice they might do it
with care but I can't really expect them to give me a consistently good
quality.

Again, labour is cheap in India, ($10/day for a worker) so tie-ing the
pieces is cheaper.

The alternative is barrel plating, where the pieces are put in a
revolving
rubber lined barrel and make electrical contact by touching each
other from
time to time while the barrel revolves, and touching either an
electrode
with a rubber stem or the outside of the barrel, depending on
process.

That's cheap, less than a hundredth of the price, closer to a
thousandth or
even a ten-thousandth for something your size - but your soft copper
pieces
will get damaged - but spring steel ones won't.


- can you change your requirements a bit? Why does it have to be
copper?

Cu foils are omnipresent. The device works great and is proven. Only
that I need consistentcy in plating.

Any leads?



--
Peter Fairbrother