The complete beginners’ guide to custom springs

Custom industrial springs were born with a special purpose above and beyond traditional springs.

Besides bearing a cylindrical or conical resemblance to their distant cousins of conventional springs, custom springs have distinct features and functions inherently designed to perform various critical or demanding applications.

Manufacturers of custom springs for industries from aerospace to transportation engineer these coiled spirals of wonder to exacting specifications, mathematical forces and mechanical loads.

Spring into action with industrial spring mechanism fundamentals on the three common types of customized springs.

Compression springs are firm but fair

Compression springs come in conical, concave, convex or tapered designs with an open-coil helical shape that has spaces between each consecutive coil.

Designed to resist compressive force (hence the name), compression springs contract when load is applied, but returns to its normal length once the load is removed.

It’s most likely that you’ve come in contact with a compression spring or two today. These types of sprins are in a wide range of mechanical goods, including door locks, lamps, fans, heaters and electronic devices.

Compression springs are staple components for industrial applications such as construction machinery, fabricated metal products, valves, pipe fittings and measure control apparatuses, to name but only a few.

Extension springs are the energetic yet tense type

By definition, extension springs soak up and store energy by providing resistance to a force.

Coils are in close contact because of the built-in initial tension within extension springs. When loads are applied, the coils suffer separation anxiety since they are pulled apart.

Applications requiring tensioning devices (for example balance and lock mechanisms) are best suited to work in tandem with extension springs.

From gaskets to packets, to seals and switches, many industrial businesses in the electronic, locomotion, oil and gas and medical fields depend on extension springs properties of bending, hooking and swiveling inside their respective devices.

Torsion springs: turning and torquing are what they do best

Torsion springs are made to move whether they twist, turn or torque.

When force is loaded onto a torsion spring, inherently, this type of spring transforms itself into a tight corkscrew (think the double helix structure of DNA minus the chemical elements).

Torsion springs can be found in a woman’s mane as a decorative hair clip accessory, to the backseat of a car inside a seat belt lock.

Now that you’ve mastered custom springs basics, are you ready to take it to the next level? Discover why Springs and Things is jumping ahead in the industrial spring competition as the ultimate spring manufacturer.

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