What Are Standard Springs and Why Buy from a Catalog | AxiSpring
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When engineers need a spring, they have two options: order a custom spring made to their exact drawing, or select a standard spring from a catalog. For most applications, the catalog is the right answer - and understanding why can save you both time and money.
What is a standard spring?
A standard spring is a spring manufactured to consistent, defined dimensions, materials and tolerances. Because the same design is produced in large volumes, standard springs are available immediately from stock, at a fraction of the cost of a custom part.
Standard springs come in every common type: compression, extension, torsion, die, gas, disc and wave springs. The key dimensions - wire diameter, outer diameter, free length and spring rate - follow established series that cover the vast majority of industrial applications.
Custom springs: when do you actually need one?
Custom springs make sense when your application has unusual constraints that no catalog spring can meet: a non-standard material, a very large or very small size, an unusual end configuration, or a force requirement that falls between catalog grades.
In practice, this is rarer than most engineers expect. Standard spring series are designed to offer broad coverage, and with over 16,000 SKUs available in the AxiSpring catalog, there is almost always a standard spring that meets your requirements - or comes close enough to work with minor design adjustments.
The case for buying from a catalog
Immediate availability. Standard springs ship from stock. No tooling lead time, no minimum order quantity, no waiting weeks for a prototype.
Lower cost. High-volume production means lower unit cost. Custom springs require tooling and setup costs that are difficult to justify for small quantities.
Proven design. Standard springs are manufactured to consistent specifications. You know exactly what you are getting, and replacements are easy to source - even years later.
Easy replacement. Because standard springs follow known dimensions and tolerances, they can be replaced by any supplier stocking the same series. You are not locked to a single manufacturer.
How to find the right standard spring
Start with the dimensions your application requires: outer diameter, wire diameter, free length. Then calculate or estimate the spring rate you need. With those four parameters, you can use the AxiSpring filter table to narrow down to a shortlist of candidates in seconds.
From there, check the force at your target deflection, confirm the material suits your environment, and verify that the compressed length fits your assembly. In most cases, you will find an exact or very close match in the catalog.
AxiSpring's catalog
AxiSpring stocks over 16,000 spring SKUs across eight spring types - compression, extension, torsion, die, gas, disc, wave and end fittings - all sourced from Febrotec in Germany. All springs are available for immediate delivery to Sweden and the Nordic region.
Whether you need a single spring for a prototype or a recurring supply for production, the catalog has you covered.