Just broke a garage torsion spring (one of 2). Existing springs are .218 x 2" ID x 25", which is out of stock around here. I can get .225 x 2 x 27; is the additional 2" of coil length enough to compensate for the .007" thickness difference? TOO much? Also, the .225's are 1/3 the price....I've replaced these before with the winding bars, its not bad as long as you have bars that fit the cone holes properly.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Largest Manufacturing Technology Community on the Web
Stay Connected:
OT: torsion spring strength equivalence: wire diameter vs length
- Thread starter tomjelly
- Start date
- Replies 15
- Views 1,599
4GSR
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2005
- Location
- Victoria, Texas, USA
I say go for it!
The difference in forces will never be notice when fighting with the drawing up of the springs. Without doing calculations, I doubt stress levels will be any different between the two springs. Would love to see a set of garage door springs made from Inconel X750 wire!
The difference in forces will never be notice when fighting with the drawing up of the springs. Without doing calculations, I doubt stress levels will be any different between the two springs. Would love to see a set of garage door springs made from Inconel X750 wire!
TDegenhart
Diamond
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2011
- Location
- Geneva Illinois USA
For helical torsion springs the rate is proportional to the wire diameter to the forth power divided by the number of turns,(d^4)/N. The heavier spring with be about 12-13% stiffer than the old one. This may cause problems with door balance.
Tom
Tom
EmGo
Diamond
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2018
Then bolt two bricks to the bottom ...
Oooh, thanks for that formula. Looks like they have .225x2x29" springs also, only $10 more, which should be an even closer match at +7% over the original .218x2x25's if my math is correct. (is it?) I'll get those...I'm pretty sure I can easily de-tension by that much if I need to. Or bricks, yes, lol.
BoxcarPete
Stainless
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2018
- Location
- Michigan, USA
Not so fast, don't forget to divide by the number of turns.
.225/.218 = 1.032
1.032^4 = 1.134 (there's your +13% stiffness based on diameter)
The 27" long spring is 120/114 turns compared to the original, so +4.6% length. 1.134/1.046 = +8.3% stiffness
The 29" long spring is 129/114 turns compared to the original, so +12.4% length. 1.134/1.124 = +0.9% stiffness
The 29" .225" diameter spring is a near exact match if you have the space for it.
Edit, fixed my numbers to account for diameter difference influencing number of turns along its overall length.
.225/.218 = 1.032
1.032^4 = 1.134 (there's your +13% stiffness based on diameter)
The 27" long spring is 120/114 turns compared to the original, so +4.6% length. 1.134/1.046 = +8.3% stiffness
The 29" long spring is 129/114 turns compared to the original, so +12.4% length. 1.134/1.124 = +0.9% stiffness
The 29" .225" diameter spring is a near exact match if you have the space for it.
Edit, fixed my numbers to account for diameter difference influencing number of turns along its overall length.
The 29" .225's are on the way, in the meantime while waiting I cut the old stub off the broken one with a zip wheel, screwed the remaining spring on the cone, tensioned it and it is working fine. I know it won't last long because the spring is so short but it only has to make it a few days
deltap
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2004
- Location
- Wisconsin, USA
Many of those springs are sold by expected number of cycles to failure with 10,000 being about the lowest. Larger diam wire and longer spring should give more cycles. You should weigh the door and get a spring rated for the weight. When tensioning you can count the bars(1/4 turns) to get the balance point close. Make sure to use good quality alloy bars.
EPAIII
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2003
- Location
- Beaumont, TX, USA
Any decent garage door company should be able to both recommend the proper replacement and provide it from their stock.
Whatever you do, be sure to run a safety wire down the center of the springs to prevent pieces from flying at you the next time you have a failure. I used 1/8" stranded steel cable.
Whatever you do, be sure to run a safety wire down the center of the springs to prevent pieces from flying at you the next time you have a failure. I used 1/8" stranded steel cable.
BT Fabrication
Titanium
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2019
- Location
- Ontario Canada
dont use 2 different spings. it will cause nothing but problems opening and closing uneven and getting jammed
BoxcarPete
Stainless
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2018
- Location
- Michigan, USA
The full equation is E*d^4 / 64*D*N
Where:
E = Young's Modulus
d = Material Diameter
D = Coil Diameter
N = Number of Turns
Young's modulus should cancel out if they are both steel, coil diameter is 2 in both cases, so that'll be fine (no need to account for the .007" difference even if it wasn't made tighter to be a true 2" anyway), 64 is a constant so doesn't matter, and d and N were both accounted with their proper respective powers in the relative stiffness comparison calculation.
Math checks out.
Bill D
Diamond
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2004
- Location
- Modesto, CA USA
Too much math for me to figure out today. Is it really just the length and diameter of the straight rod before it is bent into a coil? Does the fancy math just account for the circumference of each coil and add them up to a total straight length or is there more to it? Car torsion rods are just straight bars with a lever on one end that rotates up and down while the other end is fixed.
BoxcarPete
Stainless
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2018
- Location
- Michigan, USA
Yes, all springs are just elastic bending of a rod or bar. That rod or bar can take many forms, but in the case of twisting a torsion spring, it is bending each differential element of the rod (i.e. zoom in until the coil radius is near-straight, and the bending is the same as a straight bar).
Because of that, it is not actually getting any longer (neither is an extension spring for that matter), they are bending, making the angle between every set of those differential units slightly different. For a torsion spring, this means the radius of the coil will contract slightly to account for the new coils being added to the end of it, preserving total bar length.
Hope that's clearer than mud for ya. Don't forget, everything's a spring!
i guess i missed the diameter was the same. what would be the formula for a coil spring in tension/compression? same thing?