Electroformed Golf Club Face Insert for Scoreline Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for manufacturing golf club faces struggle with aligning scorelines and microtexture features, leading to performance variability and durability issues due to tool wear and limited manufacturing tolerance, which can result in non-compliance with USGA rules and reduced ball spin and launch conditions.
Innovation Solution
The use of an electroforming process to create a striking plate with a nickel-cobalt alloy, allowing for precise formation of scorelines and microtexture features in a single step, enhancing durability and alignment while maintaining tight manufacturing tolerances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional methods (CNC milling, engraving, fly cutting) are used to create scorelines and microtexture, then manufacturing flexibility is maintained, but alignment precision between scorelines and microtexture features deteriorates and tool wear increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the formation of scorelines and microtexture features into a single electroforming operation. The mandrel is prepared with both scoreline grooves and microtexture patterns, and the electroforming process replicates both features simultaneously in one step, eliminating the need for separate machining operations and ensuring perfect alignment between features.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical cutting tools (CNC mills, engravers, fly cutters) with an electroforming process. Instead of mechanically removing material to create scorelines and microtexture, the invention uses electrochemical deposition to form these features by replicating them from a prepared mandrel, eliminating tool wear and improving dimensional consistency.
2Productivity
If multiple separate operations are used to create scorelines and microtexture, then manufacturing flexibility is maintained, but production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple manufacturing operations into a single electroforming step. By preparing the mandrel with both scoreline grooves and microtexture patterns before electroforming, the process produces both features simultaneously, reducing production time while ensuring precise alignment that would be difficult to achieve with sequential operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary preparation of the mandrel surface with both scoreline grooves and microtexture patterns before the electroforming operation. This preliminary action ensures that when the striking plate is formed through electroforming, both features are already precisely aligned and will be replicated accurately in one step, eliminating the need for subsequent alignment operations.
3Manufacturing precision
If conventional machining tools are used for scoreline formation, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but tool life is limited and dimensional consistency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical cutting tools with an electroforming process. Instead of using CNC mills or engravers that suffer from tool wear and limited life, the invention uses electrochemical deposition to form scorelines by replicating them from a mandrel. This eliminates tool wear entirely and ensures dimensional consistency across all produced striking plates, as the electroforming process accurately replicates the mandrel geometry without degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a prepared mandrel as a master template that is copied through electroforming. The mandrel contains the precise scoreline geometry, and the electroforming process creates accurate replicas of these scorelines on multiple striking plates. This copying approach ensures dimensional consistency across all produced parts, as each is an exact replica of the mandrel, eliminating the variability introduced by tool wear in conventional machining.
4Reliability
If post-face hardening processes or coatings are applied to protect scoreline grooves, then durability is improved, but dimensional accuracy and hardness uniformity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter of the striking plate by using a metal or metal alloy that inherently provides the required durability without requiring post-face hardening processes or coatings. The electroforming process can produce striking plates from materials with appropriate mechanical properties, such as metal alloys, that offer sufficient hardness and wear resistance from the outset, eliminating the need for subsequent hardening treatments that would compromise dimensional accuracy and hardness uniformity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach results in a more durable and precisely manufactured golf club face that meets USGA standards, improving ball spin and launch conditions by maintaining consistent surface roughness and hardness across the striking surface.
Implementation Method 1
The striking plate is formed using an electroforming process
Data Source
AI summary
A golf club head is provided having a club body and a contact plate secured to the club body. The contact plate defines at least a portion of a striking surface having a plurality of striking surface grooves. The contact plate is formed using an electroforming process.