Conical Spring Measurements - How to Measure a Conical or Tapered Springs

How to measure a conical spring

When measuring your conical spring, you must know the following dimensions:

Small Outer Diameter
Large Outer Diameter
Free Length
Wire Diameter
Total Coils
Solid Height

Please see graphic to the right for more help.

Conical springs are accurately measured with a dial caliper. The reason for this is because a caliper provides you with a more exact measurement. Wondering why this is so important? Well, take your spring's wire diameter as an example. In most cases, if the spring's wire diameter is off by 0.001" it'll affect your spring's rate and travel so one must have exact measurements when measuring a conical spring.

How to Measure Your Spring

Another thing you must focus on is your end types. The end types available are the following:

Closed and Square The ends are closed and don't have pitch, therefore, not all the coils on your spring will be active. In this case you may calculate your active coils by subtracting 2 coils from your spring's total coils: Total Coils - 2 = Active Coils.

Conical spring with closed and square ends

Closed and Ground These ends are the same as closed and square ends but the ends go through a grinding process that grinds half a wire diameter off the first and last coils so that your spring will stand vertically. The calculation process for active coils is the same as the one used for closed and square ends : Total Coils - 2 = Active Coils.

Conical spring with closed and ground ends

Open Ends These ends are the opposite of closed and square ends because the ends don't close and don't have pitch. Therefore, all the coils of a spring with open ends are active.

Conical spring with open ends

Feel free to visit our Free Online Compression Spring Calculator

Compression Spring Finder

Find and buy stock compression springs in two simple steps using Spring Finder. This easy to use search engine makes it easy to find and buy the stock spring you need.

The following simple steps will get you started:

In the basic search, you can enter:

For the advanced search, you must select “Search More Fields”. Here you can enter:

Once you’ve entered your spring’s specifications, click “Search”.

The following are the specifications you can select to organize your search:

Spring Finder Results in Table

Spring Finder Results in Grid View

Extension Spring Finder

Find and buy stock extension springs in two easy steps using Spring Finder. This simple tool makes finding the stock tension spring you need a fast and productive task. Search through over 4,000 designs off the shelf.

The following simple steps will get you started:

In the basic search, you can enter:

To access the parameters in the advanced search, click on “Search More Fields” where the following dimensions will be available:

The fields are not mandatory so you can choose whatever dimension you feel needed and click “Search” once you have done so.

These are the specifications you can organize your extension springs by:

Spring Finder Results in Table

Spring Finder Results in Grid View

Torsion Spring Finder

Find and buy stock torsion springs in two easy steps using Spring Finder. This simple tool makes finding the stock torsion spring you need a fast and productive task. Search through about 1,000 designs off the shelf.

The following simple steps will get you started:

In the basic search, you can enter:

To access the parameters in the advanced search, click on “Search More Fields” where the following dimensions will be available:

The fields are not mandatory so you can choose whatever dimension you want and click “Search” once you have done so.

These are the specifications you can organize your torsion springs by:

Spring Finder Results in Table

Spring Finder Results in Grid View

Conical Spring Finder

Find and buy stock conical springs in two simple steps using Spring Finder. This easy to use search engine makes it easy to find and buy the stock spring you need.

The following simple steps will get you started:

In the basic search, you can enter:

For the advanced search, you must select “Search More Fields”. Here you can enter:

Once you've entered your spring's specifications, click “Search”.

The following are the specifications you can select to organize your search:

Spring Finder Results in Table

Spring Finder Results in Grid View

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Conical Spring Measurements - How to Measure a Conical or Tapered Springs

When measuring your conical spring, you must know the following dimensions:

How to Measure Your Spring