When designing for a new application, it’s imperative that one consider spring design from the beginning of the project. Thinking about the spring early on ensures that the spring is ideally suited for the application it will be used in. Saved for last, there are often problems with mating components, and stacked tolerances that override the spring. What’s more, when the spring is an afterthought, there’s often little to no consideration given to the environment. Will there be internal fluids that need to be protected against? How about external conditions such as humidity that need to be planned for?
Recently, we had a customer come to us with an emergency where they were going to market with their medical device, and bought an off-the-shelf hose clamp to hold a critical medical tube onto a customized fitting. It turns out that the off the shelf item was not anywhere near the proper design for their application and was causing failures days before they were going to market. The Exacto team instantly reviewed the design from their early stages and properly designed the clamp and solved their issue. In this specific case, we reduced the wire size to get the appropriate amount of movement and replaced the two sharp wires coming off either end of the original clamp with loops, a change that allowed the new clamp to be installed by a robot and eliminated the potential failures. In addition, we tweaked the overall shape so it would assemble with ease on their line.
Stock items are meant for a mass audience, but an individual application often calls for a custom solution and that is where Exacto will help. After we assist our customers, our next step is to manufacture samples, and provide the customer with a wide range of options. Typically, a customer doesn’t know exactly how strong their spring needs to be, and providing multiple options allows them to test each one and see what works best for their application, without a lot of time and cost.
You don’t get to call yourself “Exacto Spring” without being the experts on springs. We know what it takes to design a spring that will work, and that will enhance the overall quality of your part rather than detract from it. We get involved in many design processes and will do a complete feasibility study so that your spring meets the required amount of cycles in your application.
