Electrical connector and method thereof making the same

An electrical connector assembly comprising:

• an electrical connector including:
• an insulative housing defining opposite upper and lower surfaces in a vertical direction and forming a plurality of channels extending along a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the vertical direction;
• a plurality of contact modules disposed in the corresponding channels, respectively, each contact module includes one row of contacts integrally formed within an insulator via an insert-molding process, each contact including a main body and an upper spring arm upwardly extending therefrom with an upper contacting section at a free end of the upper spring arm, and a holding tab exposed upwardly above the insulator;
• and
• a gripping tool grips the holding tab for downwardly assembling the contact module into the corresponding channel.

A method of making an electrical connector comprising steps of:

• providing an insulative housing with a plurality of channels extending in a longitudinal direction;
• providing a plurality of contact modules wherein each contact module includes one row of contacts integrally formed, via an insert-molding process, within an elongated insulator extending in the longitudinal direction, and each contact includes a holding tab extending upwardly above the insulator in a vertical direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction;
• and
• providing at least a gripping tool with plural gripping parts to respectively hold the corresponding holding tabs of the corresponding contact module;
• and
• downwardly assembling the at least one contact module into the corresponding channel.