ARTICLES
Watch for the Snake Oil Remedy
One of the more interesting phenomenons of any product, promoted and sold, is the illusion of superior product exhortations. My stuff is better than your stuff. This, of course, is a core function of the sales world-to display an item, device or tool that creates a...
Up Against a Wahl
For those familiar with spring design, A.M. Wahl's "Mechanical Springs" is still considered to be the consummate resource for the design of springs. The text is a rather complete mathematical explanation of all factors related to spring design as well as examples....
Maximum Solid Height – The Caveat
Spring design is a balancing act-an attempt to obtain needed forces at needed heights, and do whatever it takes in the processing to see that the spring behaves predictably and consistently after it leaves the dock. To make all that happen, the requirements need to...
To Press …Or Not to Press
As a Product Engineer, I spend an appreciable amount of time on the phone with Engineers explaining spring parameters and terms. One of the questions I get most frequently is why a spring needs to be pressed. With all things mechanical, the credibility of a design is...
Compression Spring Classifications
I had the fortune, early in my career, to be mentored by a meticulous German engineer named Horst Pimmler. Mr. Pimmler was the founder of Monticello Spring Corporation and had a way to classify everything. His way of classifying compression springs made it possible to...
Spring Materials & Their Affect on Rate
As a spring designer, I must have a fair understanding of a number of disciplines, with spring materials being a major player. But, instead of the intimate details of grain structure and chemical composition, I am more concerned with the practical result when a force...
The Material Mix – What if I change to…
As I think of subjects to write about, I try to stay with typical issues that come up on a weekly basis. One subject that comes up frequently is material changes. It's fairly common for customers to alter a design by changing material types to improve temperature...
Compression Springs in Parallel
Although it's not a question I hear frequently, it is a question I'm asked at times. What happens when a force is applied to two identical compression springs? The answer is just as easy as it may seem-the combination can handle twice as much force. If two springs...
Tolerances & Other Head Scratchers
The subject of tolerances as they apply is one of the more interesting topics of discussion a Spring Engineer can have with a customer. One has to remember that customers are end-users and not spring experts. If the customer is one that sells product on an...