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Spring Design/Checking Program
I  provide a Spring calculator program for your convienience, and trust that it may prove helpful in checking designs.  The sample screen shown below is for Compression springs, but designs for Tension and Torsion springs can also be checked.

Please note that references to 'No of Coils' require the number of ACTIVE coils to be entered, rather than the total. Usually, on a compression spring, half to three-quarters of a coil can be considered inactive at each end if the ends are closed. Thus for a closed spring with a total of 10 coils, the 'No of  Coils' should be entered as 8.5

 


To use the program,it must be downloaded to your PC.  After clicking on the springs icon below, download the file Springs.zip.  You may get a warning message because of the executable file contained in the zip, but do allow the download.   Extract the three files it contains - springs.exe, VB40032.DLL and  comdlg32.ocx -  to a new folder, e.g. C:/Documents/Springs, then follow the instructions below.

 

Unfortunately, this Visual Basic program was written many years ago, so has to be run in Compatibility Mode for Windows 7.   Also it does not have all the permissions that modern programs need, so some extra steps are needed to get it to run under Windows 10, as follows:

 

Copy or move the VB40032.DLL file to C:/Windows

Copy or move the comdlg32.ocx file to

    C:/Windows/System32 if you have a 32-bit system, or

    C:/Windows/SysWOW64 if you have a 64-bit system

 

Find Command Prompt - under Programs/Windows System - and right click on it to run it in Administrator Mode.   At the prompt, type

    regsvr32 C:\Windows\System32\comdlg32.ocx if you have a 32 bit system,
    or
  regsvr32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\comdlg32.ocx if you have a 64 bit system

and press Enter.   If the command completes OK, type exit and press Enter, otherwise check your typing and try again.

 

To prevent your virus system thinking that springs.exe is dangerous and should be deleted if an attempt is made to run it, an Exclusion entry has to be made for it within your anti-virus system.

If you use another virus protection program you will have to find the correct way yourself, but for Windows Protector this is done as follows: 

    Go to Start  > Settings  > Update & Security  > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection.

Under Virus & threat protection settings, select Manage settings, and then under Exclusions,     select Add or remove exclusions.

Select Add an exclusion, and then select files, and enter C:/Documents/Springs/springs.exe or Browse to springs.exe, and confirm the Exclusion, and exit.

 

In C:/Documents/Springs, right click on springs.exe and then click on Send To/Desktop

Right click the Springs shortcut icon on your Desktop and select Properties/Compatibility

Tick in the box 'Run this program in compatibility mode for', select Windows 7 from the drop down box below, and then click Apply and OK

After all that, Double clicking the Springs shortcut icon should run the program.

 

I would recommend using your Browser's Print facility to print the part of this web page displaying the above instructions to make the above process easier to follow!