Flat Wire Spring

youmagine

This is a compression spring, 50 mm tall x 16 mm OD, designed with a flat wire that's 2 x 1.5 mm thick. A separate compression spring was needed for another 3D model I created, and the material used was PLA Print with coils spiraling upward. Support everywhere was turned on, using lines, which cleaned up surprisingly well despite not trying to make it look pretty. Print speed was set at 20 mm/s, while travel speed was 120 mm/s. Infill density was set at 25%, although I had planned to try 100% but forgot to change the setting - it still turned out okay regardless. Shell thickness, top thickness, and bottom thickness were all set at 1.2 mm. The spring rate is approximately 0.04 N/mm or 0.22 lbf/in. This is expected to be higher with 100% infill, but for now, this design meets my requirements. However, I do want to note that like most plastic under stress, this design will likely experience "creep" and lose its springiness over time. Edit: After a few weeks of compressing the spring to 50mm, it has "crept" up to 22mm in its free state. Not an unexpected outcome, but I plan to do a 100% infill and reassess this design again.