Rivet staking and the insertion and forming of wire segments into pre-stampedcarrier parts or strips with punched holes are the most commonly used methodsfor the mechanical attachment of contact materials.

Riveting (or staking) for smaller volumes of assemblies is mostly done onmechanical, pneumatic or magnetically operated presses. For larger volumesthe staking process is integrated into a progressive die for fully automatedassembly. Rivets are fed in the correct orientation through special feedingtracks into the staking station of the tool. To ensure a mechanically secureattachment the rivet shank must be dimensioned correctly. As a general rule theshank length of the rivet should be about 1/3 longer than the thickness of thecarrier material.For switch-over contacts part of the rivet shank is formed into the secondaryrivet head. To minimize deformation of the contact blade carriers, especially thinones, this head forming is often performed by orbital riveting.

The insertion and forming of wire segments can be easily integrated into stampand bending multi-slide tooling ''(Fig. 3.7)''. Compared to the use of compositerivets this process uses more precious contact material but for silver basedcontact materials these costs or often offset by higher and more efficientmanufacturing speeds. For the more brittle Ag/SnO₂ materials however closeattention must be paid to the danger of crack formation.