General Information about the Smalley Steel Ring Company, Represented Exclusively in Canada by RotoPrecision Inc.

Introduction to Smalley Wave Springs

Wave springs are precise flat wire compression springs that fit into assemblies that other springs cannot. Since the overall lengths and operating heights of wave springs are lower than those of conventional round wire springs, they will often reduce the size of an assembly by as much as 50%. This will also reduce the part weight and raw material cost of every spring produced.

Wave springs operate as load bearing devices to take up play and compensate for dimensional variations within assemblies. A virtually unlimited range of forces can be produced whereby loads build either gradually or abruptly to reach a predetermined working height. This establishes a precise spring rate in which load is proportional to deflection. Functional requirements are necessary for both dynamic and static spring applications. Special performance characteristics are individually built into each spring to satisfy a variety of precise operating conditions.

Quick Specs

• Stock diameters from .188” to 16” (5 mm to 400 mm)

• Special custom diameters from .157" to 120" (4 mm to 3000 mm)

• Available materials include carbon and stainless steel, Inconel, Elgiloy
(to NACE® standards), Beryllium Copper, Waspaloy, Hastelloy, Monel, A-286 and others

• Made-to-order springs available through Smalley’s No-Tooling-Charge™ process

• Deliveries in as little as two weeks including free samples and working prototypes

Product Range

Series	Description (Click a Row for Details)
	Single Turn • Gap and Overlap (SSR) • Narrow Section (SSR-N) • Metric Bearing Pre-Load (SSB)
	Nested
	Crest-to-Crest® with or without Shim Ends • Standard Inch (C) • Standard Inch with Shim Ends (CS) • Standard Metric (CM) • Standard Metric with Shim Ends (CMS)
	Crest-to-Crest® Interlaced
	WAVO® Round Wire • Standard Inch (RW)
	Circular-Grain® Shims • Standard Shims (SSRS)
	Linear Springs / Expanders • Linear Springs (LS) • Marcel Axial Expanders
	Sample Applications • Wave Springs (PDF)

Advantages of Wave Springs Over Conventional Coil Springs

With their smooth, circular coiled sinusoidal wave form, and rolled round edges of pre-tempered raw material, Smalley’s edgewound Wave Springs offer many advantages over more conventional coiled products.

• Smalley wave springs offer the unique advantage of space savings when used to replace coil springs. By reducing spring operating height, wave springs also produce a decrease in the spring cavity. With a smaller assembly size and less material used in the manufacturing process, a cost savings is realized.

• Loads and spring rates are more accurate, more predictable, and may be toleranced better than 50 percent tighter than stampings.

• The force of a Smalley Wave Spring will increase at a uniform rate throughout most of its available deflection.

• Smalley Wave Springs offer higher dependability and better performance. Since they are produced from full hard, pre-tempered raw material, there is no risk of distorting the spring during a hardening heat treatment. By contrast, subsequent manufacturing procedures for stamped wavy washers can lead to problems such as fatigue cracking and inaccurate or inconsistent loading between springs.