Designing The Next Spring Design Training Courses
Spring Design Tips and Tricks
By Gary Van Buren
MI has held spring design classes over the past couple of S years, starting with classes on basic spring information and material information. These two fundamental classes (101 and
“It was an honor to work with the SMI committee on the 304 module,” said Sanchit. “As a newcomer to the spring industry I was principally learning on the job, and then I had the privilege 103) are available for free at SMI’s website, www.smihq.org, and to work on the presentation for the compression spring porare great for new hires, sales reps or even existing employees tion. We decided on the agenda for the presentation at the first who do not work on the shop floor. meeting and used existing documents to populate the content.” The next three offerings, Compression Design 201, Extension Sanchit further stated, “The most helpful documents that Design 202 and Torsion Design 203, were all developed for the we referenced were DIN EN 15800, SAE HS795, and the SMI new engineer. These classes run through a seven-step design booklet for tolerancing and testing. We met weekly to review process: “Define the Problem,” “Select Spring Configuration,” and critique the presentation content. We would go through the “Select Material,” “Select a Stress Level,” “Design to Optimize,” content and allow each person to say whether the statements “Check the Design,” and “Specify.” on the screen align with what they have observed during the We held our first class in person at the 2019 SMI Metal actual manufacturing process. Some interesting points came Engineering eXpo in Pittsburgh out of this, and documents were with 20 students. The next offerupdated accordingly. The technical committee is ing was held in California, and “I found this to be a fulfilling pleased with the way these classes experience from both a knowledge then the pandemic hit. All the in-person classes were postponed and career perspective. Because have come together and we thank or canceled. We had to shift gears of the opportunity to be a part of everyone who has participated. and take the physical classroom to these discussions, I was able to gain a virtual classroom. For me this was a much deeper understanding of We extend an invitation to both good and bad. Bad because I springs. What stood out most to me anyone who would like to join could no longer see the faces of the was that, even though I was workstudents to know if I should repeat ing with titans of the SMI industhe committee. We can use your myself or if they are understanding try such as Gene Huber Jr., Gary opinions. In return, you will have the current lesson. The good is the Van Buren, Rick Gordon, George fact that more people can attend Fournier (and more) who live and the opportunity to network with without having to travel a long breathe springs, my thoughts were a team full of people who possess distance, which saves on expenses given equal importance. It was for SMI and its students. I personnothing short of a blessing,” cona great deal of information. ally benefited by becoming more cluded Sanchit. comfortable online, and the same The technical committee is can be said for the whole technical committee. pleased with the way these classes have come together and we Work on the next two classes (301 Springs — Fatigue and thank everyone who has participated. We extend an invita304 Springs — Dimensioning, Tolerancing and Testing) has tion to anyone who would like to join the committee. We can been in progress since early 2021. In addition to me, the 301 use your opinions. In return, you will have the opportunity to design team includes Al Mangels, Jason Sicotte, Bert Goering, network with a team full of people who possess a great deal Rick Gordon and Todd Piefer. of information. The 304 team is comprised of Tim Zwit, Gene Huber, Jr., Rick Gordon, Bert Goering, George Fournier, Tom Featherstone, Gary Van Buren is the technical advisor for Sanchit Salunkhe and me. SMI. He is available to assist members with These two teams are made up of engineers who take time out design and problem-solving issues, including spring design and technical consultation. of their busy schedule to put together an informative program In addition, he teaches SMI’s spring design to help better our industry. I also commend the companies they training courses. Van Buren is an engineering work for, because they allow their employees to devote work manager with more than 25 years of experihours to support these courses. Most of these engineers have ence in the spring industry. He has extensive years of experience in the spring industry, while some are new. experience in compression, extension and torsion spring design, as well as customer One of the newest engineers, Sanchit Salunkhe of Michigan service. Van Buren can be reached at Spring and Stamping, provided his thoughts on being part of gvanburen2@gmail.com or 440-206-6129. the 304 Dimensioning, Tolerancing and Testing team.
SPRINGS | Winter 2022 | 27
