Category: News & Updates

Turning Limitations into Solutions

If you say that your sister is a creative person, the first image that comes to mind is a woman painting watercolours or composing music with her piano in the studio – and not an engineer who designs self-driving cars. However, the human mind can exercise creativity in a wide range of situations. For instance, think about an industrial company that wants to build their main building by the coast. They care about the environment and the wildlife, as well as the local people. However, the spot they have chosen is a windy place where typhoons are likely.

What should they do?

They will probably contact a team of engineers. Luckily, these are people who have been trained to create practical solution in cases where limitations seem the norm. For instance, they might design a building that uses natural and organic elements that don’t pollute the environment. The design can be done in such a way that it won’t need the support of pillars inside. This will create an attractive open space whilst the structure will be flexible enough so strong winds and typhoons don’t break it. Finally, they may blend the external design with the traditional style of the area, so local people feel happy with the building and it turns into a landmark. As you can see, imagination is the tool to overcome obstacles and reach success.

A Wide Range of Career Choices

People who start engineering school have the chance to learn a varied stock of skills before they decide what kind of engineering career they want to specialise in. Choices are very different: aerospace, power generation, healthcare and construction, among many others. And even when engineers are already working, they can easily switch from one career path to another. Different schemes are also available such as apprenticeship and university degrees.

Taking Art as an Inspiration

Engineering is not all about machines, labs, and computer programs to design different pieces. You might be surprised, but even something very functional like our famous springs can be turned into pieces of art. For instance, our company has recently worked together with Liberty in London, where our versatile compression springs have been used to hold lights and other elements as well as serving as fashionable complements for a stunning window display. This is just an example that shows how even the fashion industry has a place for engineers!

Here at European Springs we believe that you shouldn’t restrain your creativity when designing your project – but quite the opposite! Check out our assorted catalogue of springs , we’re positive you’ll find the perfect fit for what you have in mind.  And, of course, feel free to contact our expert team  at any time and we’ll be delighted to discuss the needs of your project.

European Springs

European Springs

From springs to pressings and stampings, quality is essential and is something that we are continuously dedicated to improving as technology moves forward. In fact, we invested in our brand new Bruderer BSTA 500-110B to help us improve the quality of our stamping products, using the revolutionary technology that it features.

But why is quality so important?

It Affects our Brand
As the products that we supply are going directly into the hands of the people that need them to do their job, it’s important that we are able to guarantee their quality and durability to ensure that they can trust the product to do what it’s supposed to.

If we can’t guarantee this, and something goes wrong because we haven’t ensured that the product is of a high enough quality, it can ultimately damage our company’s image. The buyer certainly wouldn’t want to work with us again if we couldn’t provide them with a suitable, quality product, and therefore would never recommend our services.

We want to ensure that the quality of every single one of our products meets and exceeds the expectations of the client, and is as safe and as functional as possible. That’s why all our products endure rigorous testing and quality checks before they leave our factory.

It Ensures Safety
For many clients who use our products, safety needs to be guaranteed. Many of our parts go on to be used in various installations, many of which are machines or other potentially dangerous items if the safety is not ensured.

This is why it is essential that our products are the highest possible quality. If we can ensure that they will be able to withstand the conditions that they will be put under, there’s less chance of the product failing or breaking, potentially ruining the machine and putting the operators safety at risk.

It Makes Everyone Successful
Having access to high quality products means that there’s less downtime to be expected due to breakages or emergency maintenance. This leads to smoother operation and increased productivity, keeping your business successful.

Our success comes from pleasing our customers and exceeding their expectations, both with our products and our service as a whole.

At European Springs, we are dedicated to making sure that all our products are created to the highest possible standards. We can work alongside you to create springs, pressings and stampings that suit your needs perfectly and that you can rely on. For more information on how we can help, please feel free to contact us today.

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Their physical and chemical properties vary greatly, so it’s important that you know which materials to choose in order to get the most out of your stampings or pressings. The properties of steel allow it to be alloyed with other metals to create better, stronger materials, meaning you’ll be able to use stampings and pressings made from steel in a wide range of applications.

Mild Steel
If you’re looking to have springsor stampings with a mild or high degree of strength, mild steel is a great solution. It’s created from carbon and manganese (along with others in smaller quantities), and the higher the amounts of these materials, the stronger the metal is. This also reduces its formability and creates a more challenging degree of weldability. Mild steel provides a wide spectrum of properties, which means it’s also flexible and allows you to use it in a vast array of circumstances.

Stainless Steel
Stainless steels are iron-based alloys that contain at least 10% chromium. Included in its properties is a high degree of resistance to oxidation and rusting, due to a transparent film applied on the surface of the metal. Some stainless steels have low yield strength and high impact strength, making them useful for food processing equipment and car parts. Others are more malleable which, combined with their resistance to corrosion, means they can be used in exhaust systems and hot water tanks.
In general, stampings and pressings made from stainless steel have high tolerance to temperatures, both hot and cold, high resistance to oxidation processes and changeable levels of strength. Therefore, if you’re looking for these properties for your own work, stainless steel is the solution that best suits you.

Steel can be put through a heat treatment process, which is specifically created to change its mechanical properties. This versatility allows you to get stampings and pressings with variable levels of ductility, yield strength and impact resistance.

So when choosing the materials for your pressings and stampings it’s important to note that they have different properties. Steel is one of the most commonly used metals for these processes, due to its strength and resistance to corrosion. If you’d like to learn more about what we do and the materials we use, feel free to talk to us at anytime, and we’ll answer any questions you might have.

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What is it?

Stamping is the process of manipulating metal. The main item involved is called a die, which has a top and a bottom part. A metal plate is inserted between the two and pressure is applied until the plate is cut in the die's form.

To help you picture it in your mind, compare it to the process of cutting dough in the kitchen with a pasta cutter which allows you to cook your favourite tagliatelle.

One of the main advantages of the stamping process is that once you've designed a specific die you can produce infinite quantities of components with it. This is what makes stamping an ideal process of mass production.

Stamping is also a cold-forming operation, because no form of heat is introduced into the die or the metal sheet. However, the stamping process does generate friction, and that is the reason why the stamped product that exits the die is usually very hot.

Different Stamping Methods

1. Squeezing

In this process the metal is processed into a product just by applying pressure.

2. Pinching

There is a part pulled out of the metal which then turns into the product.

3. Bending

As the name suggests, the metal is bent to transform it into the product. There are different kinds of bending such as sharp bend, round bend… etc.

4. Crushing

This process involves some forging. Integrated moulding prevents little pieces of metal escaping during the forging process due to the pressure applied. It also allows stereoscopic processing.

Mechanical Presses and Hydraulic Presses

These are the two most used machines in the stamping process, and each of them comes with specific characteristics.
A mechanical press has a flywheel that stores the energy that is then transferred to the punch and to the work piece. They can have different sizes, from 20 tons up to 6000 tons. They can give up to 1500 strokes per minute when they're used at their maximal speed. They are very good for high-speed blanking, shallow drawing and making precision parts.

A hydraulic press uses hydraulics to deliver a controlled force. They are usually bigger than mechanical presses as they can weigh as much as 10000 tons. Their speed and stroke can be adjusted depending on the specifications of the product. For instance, they can deliver the full power at any point of the stroke or a variable tonnage with overload protection. Hydraulic presses are ideal for deep-drawing and compound die action.

Here at European Springs we're experts on stamping and pressing. Our expert team will work with you from the outline of your project to the delivery of the product, because your satisfaction is our main goal. Don't hesitate in contacting us today and we'll be happy to help!

European Springs