Why Drop Test?

You may have seen a video which we recently released showing a 20kg weight being dropped onto our 6256 heavy duty footswitch. This is called a drop test.

Drop testing a product is similar to crash testing a car; you expose the product to a large amount of impact load tocheck the design and material performance meets specification or regulation compliance

Why do we drop test?

The main reason for performing a drop test is to evaluate how well the product design and materials will perform when it is exposed to an amount of external impact force. It is the best way to determine whether a product is suitable for use in environments where this kind of impact might happen.

Drop testing our products gives us an opportunity to make alterations and modifications before our products go into market. It means we can confidently say that this product will provide acceptable standards or protection if an accident were to happen.

Drop Test at Herga

Our Drop Test involves dropping a 20kg weight, the video shows it falling from one meter above the product. This is an over exaggeration of when we expect to happen when this product is used, we wouldn’t expect something that heavy to be accidently dropped.

Drop testing is a key element of our product development here at Herga. Some of our customers’ specifications and compliance standards state that our products must pass this testing in order to become acceptable in the market. It also allows us to generate a detailed product performance assessment which we keep on file or send to our customers if it is requested.

The video below shows our 6256 Heavy Duty footswitch in the drop test along with some of our competitor products. These products are known as Guarded Footswitches or Footswitches with Guards. The user would place their foot inside the dome and operated the footswitch, so the weight would be falling right on top of where the users’ foot would be. As you can see – our footswitch has passed the drop test compared to other products on the market.

Other tests at Herga

Testing our products is part of our product development process. All Herga products are put through stringent environmental and mechanical testing before release to our customers. We have many years of experience with such testing and it is a standard requirement of ours to verify all of our products technical limitations. These tests encompass both mechanical and environmental factors and offer our customers confidence in the product solution when applied to their system or product.

We can also offer bespoke testing reports for our customers if required.

As with any manufacturing company, testing is an important part of our design and validation process and we can conduct different tests to suit different products depending on their application.

If you have any requirements for products from us and require testing on them please contact us.