Is spring design important?

“After all, the spring is such a small part of the whole assembly; why not leave spring design to the very end of the process?” One might think so, since the spring is often the least expensive component of a device or assembly. However, it may also be the most critical from the viewpoint of device functionality.

Not many people understand spring design, for which reason its importance is not acknowledged sufficiently. In many cases, everything else around the spring is designed before any attention is paid to the spring. However, professional spring design offers two essential benefits: cost-effectiveness and product reliability.

Careful spring design ensures the desired result

Spring design plays an important role in ensuring the competitiveness of the company. Insufficient attention on the design may result in severe problems with end products possibly worth a thousand euros or complicate product assembly, thereby increasing the costs. In addition, it can reduce the service life and durability of the spring.

Springs can be designed in many ways, and we have also introduced some rather creative solutions over the years. However, in my opinion based on personal experience, the simplest solution is always the best and least expensive. Timely spring design means cost-effectiveness for the entire production chain while ensuring the functionality of the end product.

A well-designed spring is:

• durable, since the operating environment and the load working on the spring have been considered
• of high quality, since materials suitable for the purpose have been used
• compatible with the end product, since the spring has been manufactured dimensionally accurately
• reliable, since the influence of individual factors on spring functionality have been taken into account through use of special calculation programs
• cost-effective, since the spring has been tailored to the end product and the manufacture from the very beginning and there is no need for any tricks

Design minimizes expenses

In all spring design, the objective is always a reliable spring of the right kind. If design is delayed, creative solutions are occasionally required, which can be functional, but increase the costs to a significant extent. Extraordinary steps are avoided if the design is performed more on the terms of the spring. If product design requires compact dimensions, the importance of spring design is emphasized further.

Meconet employs 10 spring design professionals implementing some 500 different spring design projects every year. In most of the projects, we work thoroughly with the customer’s end product, whereas some of the projects consist in more straightforward design. Our Spring Store is also an excellent design aid; it speeds up and facilitates design work, and allows flexible testing. We will gladly help our customers with various spring design products – the earlier you contact us in the product development process, the easier the design will be.

If you need specific tips for spring design, you can download our Coil Spring Design Guide, which also includes an interesting case example.

If you need any information on the benefits of spring design, just ask!

Do you want to hear more about spring design? Download our guide!