Smalley Blog

September 26, 2023	Would a Standard Wave Spring Made in a Special Material Maintain the Same Spring Rate and Performance? There are many factors to consider when designing a product. Will the product be exposed to high temperatures or high humidity? Perhaps it will frequently come into contact with certain chemicals or harsh environments. Not to mention, how will using a specialty alloy affect the performance of a product? At Smalley, our engineers know the demands called upon by different applications. That is why... Read More>>
August 17, 2023	Smalley FAQ 1. What industries are your parts used in? Smalley has thousands of customers all over the world. We manufacture parts for a wide variety of environments and applications. While our products are specified in almost every industry, we have expertise in the Aerospace, Automotive, Off-Highway, Oil and Gas, and Medical industries. You can also find Smalley parts in many other general industrial... Read More>>
August 9, 2023	Ask the Expert - Wave Spring Tolerance and Load Over the course of more than 100 years, Smalley has been the industry leader and technological pioneer of retaining rings and constant section rings. And for more than 50 years, Smalley has been revolutionizing the industry with compact wave springs. We got to where we are today without a single salesperson. So how did we do it? With a dedicated team of Sales Engineers. Sales Engineers are... Read More>>
July 17, 2023	Smalley Honored with General Motors' 2022 Supplier Quality Excellence Award Lake Zurich, IL, July 17, 2023 – Smalley is proud to announce that it has been awarded the 2022 Supplier Quality Excellence Award (SQEA) by General Motors, making it the 11th consecutive year of receiving this award. This highly regarded recognition is a testament to Smalley's unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional quality and outstanding performance in the automotive industry. The SQEA... Read More>>
June 19, 2023	Removing a Tab and Slot Self-Locking Retaining Ring Smalley’s Spirolox® retaining rings can be configured to include different provisions or features to better suit application needs. A popular feature for Spirolox rings is the Tab and Slot lock (Figure 1), which provides a mechanical interference allowing the ring to ‘lock’ in place. Figure 1. Tab and Slot locking self-locking ring In a Tab and Slot self-locking ring, the tabbed end of the... Read More>>
April 5, 2023	What is a Retaining Ring? Smalley's Retaining Ring Overview Nails, screws, nuts, bolts, pins- the list goes on. What do these all have in common? They hold things together. When you staple a piece of paper or hang a painting on a wall, you’re joining two things together through the means of a fastener. So if we have many different types of fasteners, how do I know which one to use? Figuring out which fastener to use goes back to the application. Factors... Read More>>
March 14, 2023	Tapered Section Retaining Ring (Circlip): What it is, Advantages, and Installation/Removal What is a Tapered Section Retaining Ring (Circlip)? Tapered Section Retaining Rings, also referred to as circlips, are retaining rings with a tapered radial wall. Tapered Section Retaining Rings can be axially installed into a bore/shaft groove to safely secure assemblies in place. They are designed for high thrust loads and heavy-duty applications. They are called Tapered Section Retaining... Read More>>
January 23, 2023	Ask the Expert - Corrosion Resistant Plating and Titanium Products Welcome back to the Smalley Ask the Expert Blog. This week, our engineers answer questions about corrosion resistant plating and titanium retaining rings and wave springs. Can you provide your carbon steel rings with a corrosion resistant plating (i.e Zinc dichromate)? Yes. Any coating like black oxide or zinc phosphate, or plating like zinc, cadmium or nickel that can be applied to steel can... Read More>>
October 10, 2022	Ask the Expert - Tensile Strength vs. Hardness: Importance for Wave Spring and Retaining Ring Design Welcome back to the Ask the Expert blog. The blog is designed to help educate you on all things retaining rings and wave springs. This week, we talk about tensile strength and why it’s important in wave spring and retaining ring design. To ensure you know how a material will perform in a working environment, several physical properties can be measured to better understand material behavior.... Read More>>
August 25, 2022	Smalley Wins GM Supplier Quality Excellence Award for 10th Consecutive Year Smalley received the 2021 General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for the 10th consecutive year. The award, which was created in 2012, is given to specific top-performing suppliers that have met or exceeded a stringent set of quality performance criteria. Smalley has now won the award every year since its inception. "To win the award every year since it was created is a testament to our... Read More>>