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Having trouble designing a spring. What am I doing wrong?

Question asked by Valentina Tina on Jan 5, 2014
Latest reply on Jan 10, 2014 by Jerry Steiger

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Hello.

I'm fairly new to CAD, but I know most of the basics.

I am trying to design a spring with 2 inefficient revolutions (1 on each side) and 9,5 efficient revolutions - 11,5 total. Firstly I sketched a circle with a dimension of the middle diameter of the spring. Then I created a helix with a variable pitch/rotations (the height of the spring matches the desired height), and a circle piercing the helix. When I try to create a sweep boss/base I get an error saying 'the sweep operation failed to complete'. I'm guessing the thickness of the circle is too big to complete the sweep.

I am attaching a file of my helix sketch.

Could someone please help me design the spring?

Thank you in advance!

Surendra Narayan Jan 5, 2014 6:46 PM

Correct Answer

Hi Valentina,

You are correct...the 6 mm diameter spring causes a failure due to the parameters you have at the bottom of the path.

(Pitch = 6mm. , Rev = 0, Height = 0 and Dia = 50 mm.) I have attached two images:

Figure 1

Figure 2

You can depending on your design intent:

1) Keep the path as is and reduce the diameter of the wire, In Figure 1, I reduced the diameter from 6 mm to 3 mm.

2) Keep the diameter the same and increase the pitch for Rev 0. In Figure 2, I increased the pitch from 6 mm to 9 mm.

Regards

Surendra

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Spring.SLDPRT.zip55.4 KB

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Surendra Narayan Jan 5, 2014 6:46 PM

Hi Valentina,

You are correct...the 6 mm diameter spring causes a failure due to the parameters you have at the bottom of the path.

(Pitch = 6mm. , Rev = 0, Height = 0 and Dia = 50 mm.) I have attached two images:

Figure 1

Figure 2

You can depending on your design intent:

1) Keep the path as is and reduce the diameter of the wire, In Figure 1, I reduced the diameter from 6 mm to 3 mm.

2) Keep the diameter the same and increase the pitch for Rev 0. In Figure 2, I increased the pitch from 6 mm to 9 mm.

Regards

Surendra

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Valentina Tina @ Surendra Narayan on Jan 6, 2014 7:39 AM

Thank you for your reply Surendra.

The thing is, the spring is supposed to be 6mm thick. I'm going to try to design it by increasing the first and second pitch.

Could I kindly ask you for the .sldprt of the second spring anyway? In case I won't succeed on my own.

Thank you again for the tips

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Joseph Sensenig @ Valentina Tina on Jan 6, 2014 8:12 AM

Hi Valentina.

I tried to design a spring as well shortly after I started using SW. I decided it is fairly tricky. I found a macro from 3D Content Central that SW will run, and will design about any spring you want. The only thing is the taper does not seem to work.

Just save the macro to your computer, then in SW, go to <Tools<Macro<Run< and select the macro.

Hope this helps.

Attachments

Spring Macro.swp.zip169.0 KB

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Surendra Narayan @ Valentina Tina on Jan 6, 2014 7:40 PM

Hi Valentina,

Here you go.

Regards

Surendra

Attachments

Spring.SLDPRT.zip749.3 KB

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Jerry Steiger @ Valentina Tina on Jan 10, 2014 3:24 PM

Valentina,

The problem is that SolidWorks can't handle non-manifold bodies, which is what you get when two of the coils just touch at the tangency point. One workaround is to very slightly change the pitch on the closed coils so that they aren't quite closed. With a 6 mm wire diameter you might try a pitch of 6.01 mm.

Jerry S.

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5 Replies

Surendra Narayan Jan 5, 2014 6:46 PM
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Correct Answer
Hi Valentina,
You are correct...the 6 mm diameter spring causes a failure due to the parameters you have at the bottom of the path.
(Pitch = 6mm. , Rev = 0, Height = 0 and Dia = 50 mm.) I have attached two images:
Figure 1

Figure 2

You can depending on your design intent:
1) Keep the path as is and reduce the diameter of the wire, In Figure 1, I reduced the diameter from 6 mm to 3 mm.
2) Keep the diameter the same and increase the pitch for Rev 0. In Figure 2, I increased the pitch from 6 mm to 9 mm.
Regards
Surendra
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- Valentina Tina @ Surendra Narayan on Jan 6, 2014 7:39 AM
  Mark Correct
  Correct Answer
  Thank you for your reply Surendra.
  
  The thing is, the spring is supposed to be 6mm thick. I'm going to try to design it by increasing the first and second pitch.
  Could I kindly ask you for the .sldprt of the second spring anyway? In case I won't succeed on my own.
  
  Thank you again for the tips
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  - Joseph Sensenig @ Valentina Tina on Jan 6, 2014 8:12 AM
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    Correct Answer
    Hi Valentina.
    
    I tried to design a spring as well shortly after I started using SW. I decided it is fairly tricky. I found a macro from 3D Content Central that SW will run, and will design about any spring you want. The only thing is the taper does not seem to work.
    
    Just save the macro to your computer, then in SW, go to <Tools<Macro<Run< and select the macro.
    
    Hope this helps.
    Attachments
    Spring Macro.swp.zip169.0 KB
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  - Surendra Narayan @ Valentina Tina on Jan 6, 2014 7:40 PM
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    Hi Valentina,
    Here you go.
    Regards
    Surendra
    Attachments
    Spring.SLDPRT.zip749.3 KB
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  - Jerry Steiger @ Valentina Tina on Jan 10, 2014 3:24 PM
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    Correct Answer
    Valentina,
    
    The problem is that SolidWorks can't handle non-manifold bodies, which is what you get when two of the coils just touch at the tangency point. One workaround is to very slightly change the pitch on the closed coils so that they aren't quite closed. With a 6 mm wire diameter you might try a pitch of 6.01 mm.
    
    Jerry S.
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Having trouble designing a spring. What am I doing wrong?

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