Method and apparatus for assembling contact shield and strain relief to a cable

Abstract

An assembly is provided for loading a contact shield and a strain relief onto a dielectric member on an end of a cable having a center conductor surrounded by insulation. The assembly includes a strip guide for conveying a contact shield along a carrier path to a loading station. The contact shield is joined to a carrier strip. A holder is provided at the loading station to hold the dielectric member on the end of the cable. A slider moves the holder to and from the loading station along a cable loading path. A shear assembly is also provided at the seating station to remove the contact shield and strain relief from the carrier strip and seat the contact shield and strain relief along a seating path with the dielectric member. Optionally, the shearing assembly may include first and second shears for separately removing a strain relief and the contact shield, respectively, from the carrier strip. The first and second shears may be staged different first and second distances from the holder to successively engage the holder in a staggered manner. Optionally, the strip guide and slider may be mounted adjacent to one another to a base plate with the slider being movable relative to the base plate along the cable loading path and the strip guide being movable relative to the base plate along the loading path.