Coil spring breakages
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2022 10:11 pm
One of the things I treasured about the engineering department at one of the better universities I attended, was the off hand, throw away comments from the lecturers, these were always offered up without proof and often there was no proof, just informed supposition, with perhaps the hope that someone would provide the proof.
The other day the front suspension spring on my Skoda Yeti broke, I felt it let go and heard it as it bounced about under the car as we ran over it. I stopped to pick the broken end up. This brought to mind one of those throwaway comments: 'Coil springs alway break 3/4 of a turn from the end.' Sure enough 3/4 of a turn from the end is what I picked up. I have a few other pieces picked up off the road of similar sized pieces of spring. (Nice high carbon steel for forging, worth picking up.)
So does anyone have any idea why coil springs should break at 3/4 of a turn? My intuition says that half a turn is maximum stress.
The other day the front suspension spring on my Skoda Yeti broke, I felt it let go and heard it as it bounced about under the car as we ran over it. I stopped to pick the broken end up. This brought to mind one of those throwaway comments: 'Coil springs alway break 3/4 of a turn from the end.' Sure enough 3/4 of a turn from the end is what I picked up. I have a few other pieces picked up off the road of similar sized pieces of spring. (Nice high carbon steel for forging, worth picking up.)
So does anyone have any idea why coil springs should break at 3/4 of a turn? My intuition says that half a turn is maximum stress.