Medical Beam Scale

A manufacturer of medical equipment required an alternative to a Slotted Spring Pin for use in assembling a beam scale.

The Slotted Spring Pin caused difficulty with alignment, high insertion force, and skiving of the hole. This negatively impacted product quality and efficiency.

The scale’s beams and end caps are aluminum, a soft material in comparison to a hardened high carbon steel pin. Slotted Spring Pins are a poor choice in soft materials for a number of reasons. Slotted Spring Pins lack flexibility, are typically out of round at the gap, and exhibit poor end squareness with inferior chamfer quality. These characteristics make it very difficult to install a Slotted Spring Pin without damaging holes or introducing misalignment.

Coiled Spring Pins are an excellent solution for use in soft materials. The Coiled Spring Pin has square ends and symmetrical chamfers, both qualities that make it easy to align and start in the hole. A Coiled Spring Pin’s superior flexibility allows it to compress during installation. This can reduce or eliminate skiving and ensure hole integrity. The result is a clean, quality installation with minimal effort and a significant reduction in scrap and rework. The Coiled Spring Pin is also superior for automated installations as there is no gap. This eliminates nesting and interlocking.

SPIROL Engineering recommended a light duty Coiled Spring Pin for use in this application. This pin provided the increased flexibility required to install without galling or damaging the soft aluminum host material. The square ends and symmetrical chamfer allowed the operator to properly align the pin with the hole thereby increasing efficiency and reducing the cost of assembly. The recommended product was from SPIROL’s standard offering thereby providing a low cost solution that could be provided quickly for evaluation and testing.

Complimentary Applications Engineering Support: SPIROL Engineers will review your application needs and work with your design team to recommend the best solution.