I have heard you can buy springs that are calibrated for different poundage. compress it a 1/4 inch for a 100 lbs, 1/2 inch for 200 lbs. might not be the exact measurment. what I want to know is were can I buy some. any one know. thanks

I have heard you can buy springs that are calibrated for different poundage. compress it a 1/4 inch for a 100 lbs, 1/2 inch for 200 lbs. might not be the exact measurment. what I want to know is were can I buy some. any one know. thanks

what would they be used for?? what industry?:noidea:

what would they be used for?? what industry?:noidea:
I want to build a string stretcher and be able to tell about how much pressure I have on the string. I know you can buy springs that you can compress and get a certain amount of pressure depending on how much it is compressed. there is a bunch of formulas you can use to figure it out. but being lazy I was hoping some one might have the answer.

Any spring that's rated for the cycles you need with an appropriate spring constant should work. The spring constant is force/distance. Additionally, springs have a free length. There are compression springs (the type you mention that you squish), extension springs (opposite of that) and torsional springs (the kind you twist, so the spring constant is force/degree). There are many other types of springs...but to go on would just be me being a wanker.


You need to consider both the extension range that you want as well as the poundage. Based on your example, look for a compression spring with a constant (aka. spring rate) of 200#/inch.

www.thomasnet.com (http://www.thomasnet.com) is a good place to find suppliers/makers. Just as a quick check, I found a place and searched their standard inventory for compression springs with >= 200#/inch of all sizes. Take a peep:
http://hardwareproducts.thomasnet.com/results/all-categories/compression-springs?cid=1576&plpver=10&categid=100&prodid=3001020&action=&forward=1&backtoname=