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Spring Design/Checking Program
(now working in Win 11)
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, and as it does not have all the permissions that modern programs need, some extra steps are needed to get it to run under Windows 11, as follows:


In C:/Documents/Springs, right click on springs.exe and then Properties.

Click on the Compatability tab, and then 'Run Compatability troubleshooter'.

Answer Yes to identify the springs.exe file and click 'The program rquires additional permissions'


The troubleshooter then does its work and the program should run by double-clicking springs.exe.  (You will have to 'Allow the program to make changes')


I'm sorry that the display gets tucked up in the top left hand corner, but I can't alter that.