Wave springs seem to be the biggest and newest thing in the spring industry, and if you want to get into the ground floor of the world of springs, then you need to know quite a bit about wave springs! What are they, why are they making waves (pun intended), and how does your company start to take advantage of them?
Well, that’s what this article is for, so let’s get started!
Table of Contents
What Is A Wave Spring?
A wave spring is a spring that is characterized by a wavy design. Rather than being a flat ring of steel or material, it is textured and the wavy design will lift certain parts of the spring upward. They are made by a process known as on-edge coiling, which uses flat wire on a winding machine that coils the edges and turns a flat spring into a wave spring.
This coiling process allows for flat springs to be turned into wave springs relatively quickly and cheaply, and that means that businesses can easily adapt to both manufacturing and buying wave springs!
What Do The Waves Do?
The waves in the wave springs store energy, and they work just like coiled springs. Whenever a traditional coiled spring is shortened and pressed together, that coiled spring is storing a lot of energy and that allows for machines and other devices that use the springs to work. However, coiled springs can be very long and that can cause a lot of space issues.
Especially as machines and devices that use these springs are getting smaller and smaller with their parts. Space is always a concern for manufacturers, and wave springs actually work to save space for manufacturers. Wave springs are about half the height of coil springs, while being just as powerful if not even more so in terms of the energy they can store.
The space saving aspect without sacrificing the strength of the wave springs is the biggest benefit for manufacturers. Plus, when compared to the stacked dish springs and wave washers, you can use wave springs because they give the same strength in one spring. Instead of having to stack several dish springs or wave washers.
You Can Use Them In Different Materials
Of course, sometimes you need to make your springs out of all types of materials for your company, and wave springs are very customizable in terms of materials! You can find them in stainless steel, as well as Commercial Type 302 and Government AMS 5906 stainless steel. Also, if you need really strong springs you can also find them in high-carbon steel as well, which gives your wave springs increased strength… though they won’t be as resistant to corrosion.
Plus, you can further customize your wave springs with different varieties of springs. Single turn wave springs are the most common type of wave spring, but multi-turn wave springs are taller and more complex, with multiple turns per wave. Finally, the nested wave springs are made of multiple turns that are either stacked or nested.
Depending on the type of springs you need for your manufacturing, you can customize your order to your heart’s content! Don’t be afraid to research what would be the best for your needs, and you might find yourself ordering different springs as your needs change and you start to manufacture more and manufacture different types of products as well.
There Is No Limit To Wave Springs
Finally, wave springs can be used anywhere, and they have been used by countless manufacturers and companies. From the smart devices that nearly everyone carries to the machines that are drilling deep beneath the earth, and the ships that are taking the human race to other planets, all of these have wave springs inside of them.
The sheer customizability of wave springs and the amount of force and turns that you can put into a wave spring, as well as the material it is made of and the variations you choose to use, allow for manufacturers to use the wave springs for virtually unlimited applications! This allows companies that use wave springs to really spring into new ideas!
Get Started Using Wave Springs!
If you find yourself dealing with space issues whenever you are playing around with traditional coiled springs, then you can start using wave springs! They take less time and work to make, and they will save you a lot of space, which will allow you to be on the cutting edge of the technology race!
