Hardware Products Blog

Torsional Modulus and How it Affects the Stability of Springs

In a well-designed spring, torsional movement can occur 10 million times without causing any deformation to the spring. However, if there isn’t enough room to design a spring with enough steel in it, the twisting motion becomes more severe and the wire may not return to its original position. When this happens, we refer to this occurrence as “the spring took a set”.

Is There Such a Thing as a “Constant” Spring Rate?

If you’re in the business of buying springs, you are bound to deal with ‘spring rates’. The concept can be tricky to understand if you aren’t a physicist or a spring maker yourself. The force that a spring exerts is static as it stretches and compresses, and is a constant rate until its elastic limit is reached. This theory is called Hooke’s Law and we are going to break it down into simpler terms without transporting you back to a physics class.

When Was the Last Time You Heard Someone Say “Slide Rule”?

Spring design is often considered an elusive task even though springs are used in virtually every machine there is, and clips made of spring tempered wire are used in almost all computers and electronic cabinets. So what makes spring design so tricky?

Pro Tip: Avoid Made-to-Order and Switch to Hot Wound Stock Springs

Known as one of the most labor intensive spring manufacturing processes in the market, hot wound is a process used in manufacturing a spring by heating the steel, winding, and tempering it to the required properties. Hot wound springs can be hard to source depending on your order specifications, urgency, and budget constraints.

Hardware Products Company Is Your One-Stop Shop for Springs

Aside from the fact that a long-run spring house might refuse to take your order because they aren’t set up for the short run, there’s also the possibility that you will end up paying substantially more, and you might not receive your order in time. All because it’s simply not viable for most long-run spring houses to cater to short runs.

Passivation and Citric Acid Cleaning

Passivation is one of the more misunderstood functions of spring manufacturing. Passivation is a process: a spring (after it is formed) is cleaned, dropped in nitric acid, and then dropped in water. The process is intended to remove any of the contaminants picked up during the manufacturing process. This is especially required in custom springs that are manufactured to be used in the food industry.

Marking the 150th Anniversary of Chelsea-Based Spring Manufacturer, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Jay Ash, Delivered Keynote Address

Chelsea, MA -- 07/11/2016 --Established in 1866, Hardware Products Company (HPC) has a long and storied history as one of the leading suppliers of stock and custom spring solutions in the industry.