Conical Tapered Spring Dimension Measurements
Definition: The measurement in inches or millimeters of a conical tapered spring’s dimensions.
When interested in buying conical tapered compression springs, you must know their dimensions. Spring design is quite delicate and having inaccurate dimensions can result in having the wrong spring for your product or application. Knowing working loads and/or spring rate will not be enough. Yes, we can help with your design, but we must also know the approximate size you need this spring to be in order to provide you with a successful spring design.
The primary dimensions to a spring design are the following:
- Large Outer Diameter
- Small Outer Diameter
- Small Inner Diameter
- Wire Diameter
The first two dimensions, large outer diameter and small outer diameter, will determine the amount of taper on your spring. The wire diameter along with the large and small outer diameter will help you measure the small and large inner diameters of your end coils. If you’re placing your spring inside a hole, knowing your large outer diameter will be of much help and the large outer diameter must be a bit smaller than the diameter of the hole. On the other hand if you’re (also) placing the spring over a shaft or mandrel, you must make sure that the small inner diameter of your spring is slightly larger than the mandrel’s diameter.


The next spring dimension of importance when it comes to the space your spring will be entering, is the following:
To figure this dimension out you will need to keep in mind the space there is for your spring to stand and perhaps make the spring a few thousandths of an inch longer to create pre-load. Pre-load will help you keep your spring in place in case there is wiggle room for the spring to bounce around. When determining the free length you must also take consideration of how much your spring will be traveling from free length, to pre-load (L1) to a loaded height (L2).
The final dimensions you will need to know is:
- End Type
- Total Coils
- Active Coils
Your spring’s active coils are a great factor in determining the force and elasticity of your spring. If you have very little coils, with much pitch in between them, your spring may be very strong but not very elastic. The end type along with your active coils will help you determine the total amount of coils. If you have open ends, your active coils will equal your total coils but if you have closed ends, you must add the total amount of closed coils on the ends to the amount of active coils in the body.


Keep in mind that, since spring dimensions are so delicate, changing either one will affect the spring’s elastic limit and force. You may send us your spring dimensions to sales@acxesspring.com and request a quote or you can search our stock conical tapered spring catalog where you can use a range of measurements to find a similar spring that’ll work in your application.







