Lee Spring

It is amazing sometimes to consider what it takes to speed up a production line – it can simply come down to the performance of a single component. Essentially this is what the team at Thurne came to understand with their bacon slicer technology – and the solution came from close co-operation with Lee Spring as a long-term strategic supplier. Lee Spring was able to create a spring set for Thurne machines that released the potential speed of their CD Mono Card Dispenser, thus rebalancing the whole packaging line.

It can be somewhat of an art when correctly determining extension spring length and other parameters in the development of new or revised products, but this is a process in which Lee Spring have made significantly easier by offering ex-stock continuous lengths which may be trimmed and formed to the desired length and end fitment style.

Manufacturing pharmaceutical and medical products is a demanding job which needs precision, perfect finish, durability and reliability, standardisation and customisation. It’s hard to imagine a field where there is such a consistent need for unerring performance. Fortunately these are parameters that Lee Spring can meet on a daily basis.

  If you are attending this year’s MACH, Lee Spring will also be there presenting its theme of ‘Global Flexibility’ which means that wherever your design or production is based, Lee Spring can offer a service package from concept of new products to redesign of legacy items.

  Coming with a significant cost saving over many competitive items, in the order of 1/3 to ½, compression die springs from Lee Spring offer extended life and minimised in-service length loss by virtue of their shot peened finish and preset process in production.

To offer the design engineer a proven, compact energy return mechanism in a wide variety of catalogue specs, torsion springs from Lee Spring are the components you need, especially if you are looking for rapid ex-stock delivery or as custom variants if required. Lee Spring Torsion springs exemplify their ‘complete spring’ concept with many options as standard, covering angular orientation and many leg types to suit common applications.

When faced with a recurring problem, the engineers at Jedi Racing Cars in Wellingborough had to tackle the problem head on, with some help of Lee Spring. When servicing their customer F1000 single seater racing cars – the half shaft CV pot joint they were using, derived from the original Mini, just wasn’t intended for quick removal and often resulted in breakage of the adjacent casting mounted on the differential.

  The LeeP complete plastic composite spring range ex-stock is now on offer from lee Spring in the UK and Germany. Composite plastic springs offer the benefits of being non-magnetic and inert to most industrial chemicals. 

Lee Spring have recently announced that it is taking a ‘complete spring’ approach to its range of standard compression springs, which will benefit customers in the UK and Europe as they will see inclusive features such as plating and end grinding that other manufacturers regard as extras. This means that compression springs from Lee Spring are delivered fully finished and ready for installation.

At the Engineering Design Show, taking place from 18th to 19th October at Ricoh Arena, Coventry, experienced engineering and production personnel from Lee Spring will be available to engineers to discuss their design, development, replacement and production needs. This means engineers will be able to source from the Lee Spring 25,000 component catalogue which is available free on the stand (A10) or to decide design parameters if a custom item would be more suitable.

The perfect prototype and small run production is the conical formed compression battery springs from Lee Spring, which are also suited for larger runs too. These economical and reliable battery contacts are suitable for moulded cases with self-contained battery compartments. They provide nickel coated battery contacts designed to adjust to varying battery lengths with low contact resistance and dependable connections.

Offering an excellent mechanism for applications where a constant load is required, Lee Spring has introduced the Constant Force Springs. Some of the many applications of constant force springs are in counterbalances, door closers, cable retractors, hose retrievers, tool head returns, cabinet and furniture components, gym equipment, hair dryers, toys, electric motors, appliances, space vehicles, and other long-motion functions.

Commonly used in electronics and automotive industries, Wire Forms are used extensively as retainers or for location of components from connectors to seat coverings. By their nature, each is of custom design although Lee Spring have many ‘standard’ styles, including ‘S’ hooks, ‘U’ hooks, ‘J’ hooks and clips, but from there designs can go almost anywhere.

In all industries rapid response is paramount, so when an engineer or technician reaches for an item and finds a gap on the rack, that’s when frustration and delays kick in. Bearing this in mind Lee Spring have developed spring kits which meet a comprehensive range of needs for design, prototyping and development purposes.

Long reining favourite of rolling stock manufacturers, the ex-stock 25,000 plus range of catalogue springs from Lee Spring, have standard compression springs, torsion springs and extension springs have found application on braking systems, inter-carriage connecting systems, bogie suspensions, buffers, signalling and track actuators.

Many companies believe you can’t beat face-to-face discussions to solve a design engineering, production engineering or supply problem. This includes the organisers at FAST and Lee Spring, as they plan to discuss with design, production, installation and maintenance engineers just how the Lee Spring range of ex-stock, same day dispatch, springs and custom capability can help to solve industrial engineering problems.

The specialist range of high pressure springs from Lee Spring are designed to save space, which enables compact product design by combining an unusual range of performance characteristics to suit small applications with high loading requirements. They match small physical size with high force capacity operating over short distance and small deflections.

With a design style that manages to create an extension spring function out of a compression spring, Drawbar Springs have a number of specific benefits. These apply in situations where - perhaps for safety reasons – the load must be supported even if the spring fails, for example, on a garden swing seat. Equally, the design protects against spring deformation in situations where a sequence of connections is being made when one or two springs will for a short time carry excessive forces until the installation is complete, for example, a swimming pool cover.

A whitepaper has been released by Chris Petts of Lee Spring, based on compression spring features. In this white paper Chris Petts, Managing Director of Lee Spring UK discusses some basic features of compression springs and the factors that need to be specified for custom springs.

This whitepaper considers stress, set and weight as important considerations in establishing a custom spring design which need to be understood at the outset. The paper expands on this general discussion with many additional formulae and tables, along with detail considerations required for correct specification of compression springs.