Pitch Perfect Compression Springs
Why does spring pitch matter when buying stock springs?
Spring pitch is the distance between a helical spring’s coils, also known as the space between each coil. The pitch is evident in all compression springs as these must have that space in between the coils in order to compress.
Spring pitch is an important factor in selecting your stock spring because it plays a role in the travel (also known as ¨deflection¨ or ¨compression¨ in compression springs) that a compression spring can have. When trying to buy a stock compression spring you don’t need to know the exact pitch between the coils but you do need to consider how much you need it to deflect or compress.
Maximum Spring Compression
The term max safe travel, max safe deflection, and max safe compression are interchangeable in reference to compression springs. These all refer to the measure of how far the spring can travel before it suffers damage.
There are two important things to consider when understanding max safe travel/max safe deflection and those are the "maximum travel considering solid height" and the "safe maximum travel." The first refers to how far down a compression spring can travel or compress before the coil themselves are touching and it can not compress down any longer. The second refers to the safe amount of deflection/compression/ travel that a spring can have.
Solid Height
The solid height of a compression spring is the length/height of the spring once it has been compressed to the point where all the spring’s coils are touching. Some springs can safely travel all the way to solid height but not all.
For example, if you have a spring that is one inch in free length and you need it to compress half an inch, then, in theory, the pitch between the coils should permit for that to happen as long as the solid height allows it. However, if the spring states that the max safe deflection of that spring is only one-quarter of an inch, and you were to push it past that, then it would suffer damage and not continue to function properly.
Compression Spring Travel and Pitch
Free length, along with the solid height, as well as the pitch, help determine the amount of distance traveled (compressed/deflected) and safe deflection of a spring. There is a formula for all of this and you can find out more about compression spring travel here:Compression Spring Travel You can also learn more about Spring Pitch Calculations here: Compression Spring Travel.
Buying a Compression Spring with the Right Pitch is Easy at CompressionSpring.com
When buying a stock spring, you don’t have to worry about trying to calculate the pitch or safe travel yourself. You just need to know how much you need your spring to travel or deflect and compare this to how much safe deflection the stock spring you want to buy allows. This is quite simple as all of the springs listed at CompressionSpring.com give you the safe travel of each spring.
You will see the safe travel listed as Max. Deflection in the specs of each spring. So let’s say you need a spring that travels half an inch, you would input all the other specs you need your spring to have into the Spring Finder and then you would review the list of specs to ensure that you select one that states that the Max Deflection of the spring is equal to or greater than half an inch.
