Introduction

This project is talking about the spring with squared and ground ends. I will write brief report
to show my idea. We only know several conditions. And these limited conditions is not enough
for us to design the spring. To design the helical compression spring, the spring index and wire
diameter are requested to know. I would use the similar way like the example in the textbook.
But I want to show more possibility to make this project more convinced and professional. So I
set up the Excel with all possible wire diameters. And then I used restrictive condition to shrink
range of the possible data, such as outer coil diameter, factor of safety and static safety factor. I
do be confused how to find the exact data as result. But I realized the purpose of the project is to
use the minimum money and make biggest benefit. So I calculated the relative cost to find the
minimum cost and make sure the other parameters. All units in this project are SI. The material
of the wire is oil-temper

Procedure
1. Find the range of spring index, C.
Assume the spring index is between 7 and 10, and show them in the Excel.
Comment: According to the textbook, the spring index, C is between 4 and 121. But the range is
so huge. It will make the calculation more complicated. So I decided to assume the spring index
is between the 7 and 10.

2. Find the possible wire diameters, d on Figure 1.

1 Associated Spring, Design Handbook: Engineering Guide to Spring Design.

Associated Spring, Barnes Group Inc., Conn., 1987.

Figure1.preferred Wire Diameters

Comment: In this project, we only need to consider the oil-tempered ASTM 229 wire.
3. Find the outer coil diameters, Do for all possible wire diameters.
C=

D
d

(1)

2 Norton, R. (2014). Spring Design. In Machine Design: An integrated approach (fifth

ed, p829). Worcester. Worcester polytechnic institude.

D= Do d

(2)

Do = C*d + d

(3)

Comments: Because of the various wire diameters and different spring index. Therere huge
amount of the outer coil diameters in the Excel. It will be shown in the A-1.
4. Shrinking the possible wire diameters. Because the coil must fit the 1.5inch diameter hole,
the Do 1.5 inches.
Comments: possible Do will be shown without color shadow. A-13
5. Find the direct shear factor Kw with not removed.
Kw =

4C1 0.615
+
4C4
C

(4)

Comment: the result of various Kw will be shown in the A-24

Discussion: Because this wire has not had the set removed, the Kw is requested. People need to
figure out how to use Kw and Ks.
6. Find the shear stress, Tworking with loading force.
Discussion: Because I want to limit the condition to shrink the range of data, the 60lbs that
the length wont exceed 2.5inches will help.

T working = Kw*

8FD
d 3

(5)
Comments: All possible shear stress will be shown in the A-2
7. Find the Ultimate tensile strength Sut.

Sut = A*(d)

(6)
Comments: the A and b are variables that can be found in Table 1 based on the ASTM 229
Table 1 coefficient of different material5
3 Apendix A-1
4 Apendix A-2
5 Norton, R. (2014). Spring Design. In Machine Design: An integrated approach (fifth
ed, p829). Worcester. Worcester polytechnic institude.

8. Find the torsional yield strength, Sys.

Sys = 0.60*Sut

(7)

Comments: based on the different d, the Sys and Sut will has a huge amount. And all of them
will be shown in the A-46
9. Find the static safety factor, Nss
Nss =

Sys
Tworking

(8)

Comments: Because the safety factor should 1, in the various Nss I can shrink the range of the
possible data and mark the impossible data with color shadow. And all of them will be shown in
the A-37
10. Find the spring rate, k
k=

F
y

45 lbs
0.5inches

= 90 lbs/in

(9)

Comments: From the project statement, F = 105 - 60 = 45 lbs. And the y will 0.5 inches.
11. Find the number of active coil, Na.
K=
6 Apendix A-4
7 Apendix A-3

d 4G
8D 3Na

or

Na=

d 4G
8D 3k

(10)

12. Find the number of the total coil, Nt.

Nt = Na + 2

(11)

Comments: All possible Nt will be shown in the A-58 without color shadow

13. Find the shut height, Ls

Ls = d*Nt

(12)

Comments: All possible Ls will be shown in the A-69 without color shadow

14. Find the initial deflection, yinitial

yinitial =

Finitial
k

60lbs
90lbs /

= 0.6667 in

(13)

15. Assume a clash allowance of 15% of the working deflection.

yclash = 0.15*yworking = 0.15*0.5in = 0.075 in

(14)

16. Find the free length, Lf

Lf = Ls +

8 Apendix A-5
9 Apendix A-6

yclash + yworking + yinitial

(15)

Figure 2 deflection of compression10

Comments: yworking = 0.5in can be found in the problem
Because Ls is various in Apendix, the Lf will also be shown in the A-711
17. Find the deflection to the shut height, yshut

yshut = Lf Ls = yclash + yworking + yinitial

= 0.075+0.5+0.6667

(16)

= 1.24167 in

18. Find the force at this shut-height deflection, Fshut

Fshut = k* yshut = 90lbs/in * 1.24167in = 111.75 lbs

(17)

19. Find the shut-height stress, Tshut

Tshut = Kw *

8F shutD
3
d

Comments: all Tshut will be shown in the A-812

10 Norton, R. (2014). Spring Design. In Machine Design: An integrated approach

(fifth ed, p829). Worcester. Worcester polytechnic institude
11 Apendix A-7
12 Apendix A-8

(18)

20. Find the safety factor, Ns

Sys

Ns = T shut

(19)

Comments: Sys is not changed, and same with above number. Use the proper Sys and can find
the all Ns in the A-913. Because the factor of safety should 1, so I can shrink the range of data.
All impossible data will be color shadow.
Discussion: Therere many solution to find out the parameter of the wire. But I decide to use the
economic way to get it. I will find the cheapest one to find out other parameters.
21. Find the unit relative cost based on the possible different wire diameter, d
In the Table 2, when the diameter of the wire is 0.08 in, the price is 1.3
0.08

Aread =

=0.005026548in2

Unit relative cost =

Area =

Aread
1.3
Area
( d )
4

(20)

(21)

Table 2 Relative cost of wire 14

13 Apendix A-9
14 Norton, R. (2014). Spring Design. In Machine Design: An integrated approach
(fifth ed, p829). Worcester. Worcester polytechnic institude

(22)

Comments: By finding the unit relative cost, I can find the total relative cost in A-1015
22. Find the total length of wire by regarding every coil as a cycle.

Lw = *Do*Nt

(23)

23. Find the relative cost with different unit relative cost and different wire diameter.

Total relative cost = Lw * (unit relative cost)

(24)

Comments: All possible relative cost will be shown in the A-10 without color shadow.

24. Find the smallest total relative cost, and find out the wire diameter and spring index in A-10
Smallest relative cost = 64.82569
Comments: With the smallest relative cost, I can find out the d = 0.125 in, C = 0.82

25. With d = 0.125 in, C = 0.82, find the safety factor, free length, shut height, total number of
coil, number of active coil, outer coil diameter, static safety factor, shear stress, shut-height
stress and mean coil diameter
Comments: show all parameters in A-1116.
15 Apendix A-10

Because it asked to round to nearest 0.25 coil, so the Nt=5.75 and Na=3.75

Conclusion
I found C to be 8.2. Its close to the guess on textbook. After I completed the design project,
I learned what the specific steps for wire compressing is, And I figured out how to find the
different parameters of the wire by using the tables in textbook. When the worker chose different
material, it will make the coil has different characters. Certainly, this project is under the ideal
situation. That means it ignore the manufacturing influence. I believe if we chose a different to
produce the coil, its characters must be changed. The purpose of project is to use the minimum
money and make biggest benefit. In a word, I enjoyed this project. It not only let me know
springs more deeply but also let know how design the project. Its better to teach people how to
fish rather than giving fish to people directly. The project is important. But how to design a
project and how to write a report are more important.

Reference of equation
Spring rate
D
d

(1)

D= Do d

(2)

Do = C*d + d

(3)

C=
Mean coil diameter

Outer coil diameter

Shear factor
Kw =
Torsional working shear stress

16 Apendix A-11

4C1 0.615
+
4C4
C

(4)

8FD
T working = Kw* d 3

(5)

Ultimate tensile strength

Sut = A*(d)

(6)

tortional yielding strength

Sys = 0.60*Sut

(7)

Sys
Tworking

(8)

static safety factor

Nss =

spring rate
k=

F
y

45 lbs
0.5inches

=90lbs/in

(9)

d 4G
3
8D k

(10)

number of active coil

K=

d 4G
3
8D Na

or

Na=

number of total coil

Nt = Na + 2

(11)

shut height

Ls = d*Nt

(12)

initial deflection

yinitial =
clash allowance

Finitial
k

60lbs
90lbs /

= 0.6667 in

(13)

yclash = 0.15*yworking = 0.15*0.5in = 0.075 in

(14)

yclash + yworking + yinitial

(15)

free length

Lf = Ls +
deflection to the shut height

yshut = Lf Ls = yclash + yworking + yinitial

(16)

force at this shut-height deflection

Fshut = k* yshut = 90lbs/in * 1.24167in = 111.75 lbs

(17)

shut-height stress

Tshut = Kw *

8F shutD
d 3

(18)

safety factor
Sys

Ns = T shut

(19)

Area of 0.08in
0.08

2
Aread =

=0.005026548in2

(20)

unit relative cost

Unit relative cost =

Aread
1.3
Area

(21)

Area
Area =
total length of wire

( d )
4

(22)

Lw = *Do*Nt

(23)

relative cost

Total relative cost = Lw * (unit relative cost)

Apendix
A-1

(24)

A-2

A-3

A-4

A-5

A-6

A-7

A-8

A-9

A-10

A-11