Those made of strong, hard plastic may be fastened together or bonded. Thermoplastic pieces allow for even more options, including screws and rivets, various types of adhesives or welding, staking and being snap-fit. Staking is one of the quickest and least-expensive of all these joining methods. In staking, a part with one or more holes in it is slipped over corresponding posts (bosses) on a base part held in a fixture. The posts are then either directly contacted and deformed with a hot tool heated and deformed with a cold tool or directly deformed with a cold tool that is mounted on a press and traps the top part tightly against the base.
