Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
(OP)
Figure out a solution and I will name my pet hamster after you.
Can anyone tell me a plastic or cheaper to manufacturer alternative to this design - 7'' diameter circle made out of spring steel wire that easily deforms and returns to circle shape. It needs to able to simply crumple it up in your hand and then release and it springs back to original shape.
Please see video for more information (in the video it is enclosed in fabric)- Link
Can anyone tell me a plastic or cheaper to manufacturer alternative to this design - 7'' diameter circle made out of spring steel wire that easily deforms and returns to circle shape. It needs to able to simply crumple it up in your hand and then release and it springs back to original shape.
Please see video for more information (in the video it is enclosed in fabric)- Link





RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
Please start addressing your pet hamster as "Your Highness".
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
Dan T
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
The guys who made that device are already using the cheapest material for the job.
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
You can do this with plastic if you make it very thin. How much force do you need to exert. Why does it have to be plastic?
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JHG
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
http://www.centuryspring.com/products/urethane.php
With a 7 inch OD and 6.9 ID one could probably smash it into a ball and have it return to it's original shape.
I'm guessing it won't perform exactly as the metal does (i.e. won't be as "snappy") but will probably be cheaper. Another design consideration, if you're concerned about imaginary constructs, is how long it will be held in the compressed state before being released. It should be cheap enough to just get a prototype made and play with it. Would also come with a ridiculous number of options for color, durometer, etc. and one could possibly have it impregnated with fibers of some sort to help achieve desired performance.
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
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RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
DistressedNerd, you mentioned you wanted it cheaper - are you aware that spring steel is actually pretty cheap stuff? Most of the time it's just high carbon steel with a heat treat. That particular arrangement might literally be straight spring steel wire passed through a loop of fabric, in which case you can literally buy meters of 0.5mm piano wire (so you don't have to organise the heat treat yourself), cut to length, feed it through and call it a day.
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
How about a thin balloon inflated to the point just before it starts to swell?
Engineering is the art of creating things you need, from things you can get.
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
Maybe you can provide specific details of your existing spring design, such as cost, spring properties, load cycles, deflections when "crumpled", etc. so we don't have to guess at a possible solution. Since you did not provide a cost basis, how the heck would I know if Nitinol is cheaper or not?
All kidding aside, I don't think you'll find a cheaper metal alternative than common commercial spring wire alloys. As for "plastic" materials, the raw material cost of high-performance plastics is quite high. And there is also the significant non-recurring costs involved with plastic components for things like mold tooling. On the other hand, the tooling for wound steel wire springs is usually relatively cheap.
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
Sunshade disks do not use Nitonol. They don't usually use round wire either, but a flat strip of spring steel which uses the thinness of the section to produce the flexibility and the width of the strip to produce the desired loads.
Making something with decent 'spring-back' requires high elastic modulus to provide the springiness, and high strength to allow large deformations. Neither of these are characteristics of most plastics. Carbon fiber and fiberglass are suitable, except for the difficulty of joining. The spring-steel can be easily joined with a crimped sleeve and the torsion continuity is easy to maintain due to the rectangular section typically used. Without torsion continuity the strip doesn't snap back as hard.
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
But hey Daveth actually rolls of the tongue! You could really name him that!
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
The laundry hamper strip of steel has these dimensions rectangular cross section dimensions - 0.1'' x .025''
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
I wish to submit a formal objection to your publicly stated decision to rename your pet hamster 3DDave. While 3DDave did a good job of pointing out a spring design commonly used for foldable fabric sunshades (ie a C-shaped steel spring wound from rectangular section wire) that could potentially be adapted for the application in question, I did not see any evidence provided that such a spring would meet the criteria listed in the OP of being a "....cheaper to manufacturer alternative to this design - 7'' diameter circle made out of spring steel wire that easily deforms and returns to circle shape."
I, for one, do not take the bestowing of honorary titles upon members of the species Mesocricetus auratus lightly. I expect this decision process to be fair, objective and open. Obviously 3DDave is an honorable title any hamster would be proud of, as long as it was received legitimately. But if I were a pet hamster I could not imagine the mental anguish of spending the entire 24 months of my adult life suffering from the stigma that my honorary title was not legitimate. I would be ostracized by my fellow members of the rodent community, banished to undesirable sections of the Habitrail, and never again be allowed to experience the sheer joy of running on the treadmill.
Thus I respectfully request that you reconsider your decision regarding renaming your pet hamster. If you can provide evidence that 3DDave's proposal meets the criteria set forth in the OP then I will gladly withdraw my objection. If nothing else, think about the impact this decision will have on your pet hamster's future quality of life.
Best regards,
Terry
ps. You can get custom wound circular springs made from rectangular section steel wire in small quantity, and often with no tooling charges, from the Smalley Co. I have ordered prototype quantities of custom wound rectangular section wire wave springs from Smalley many times, there was no tooling charge and they were great to work with.
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
Another source for thin strips would be www.McMaster.com: 1095 spring-tempered steel:
0.015" Thick (±0.001") 1/8"W 25'L 9075K51 $28.58 100'L 9036K772 $69.28
0.020" Thick (±0.0015") 1/8"W 25'L 9075K73 31.41 100'L 9036K809 70.29
0.028" Thick (±0.0025") 1/8"W 25'L 9075K104 31.41 100'L 9036K846 71.42
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?
RE: Distressed Nerd: Alternative to thin spring steel?