Smalley Blog

November 20, 2019	Smalley Wins GM Supplier Quality Excellence Award for 7th Consecutive Year 4,000+ GM suppliers worldwide 432 Recipients of the Supplier Quality Excellence Award 13 Specific quality requirements showing above standard performance 0 Defects in parts and components 1 Smalley Lake Zurich, IL, November 13, 2019 - Smalley was presented the General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for the year 2018. This marks the 7th consecutive year that Smalley has received this... Read More>>
October 21, 2019	Ask the Expert - Retaining Ring Interchange and Stock Material Welcome back to the Ask the Expert Blog, where our engineers answer commonly asked retaining ring and wave spring design questions. This week, our experts field some questions about interchangeable retaining rings and Smalley's stock material. What are the differences between a Spirolox® retaining ring with an RR/RS part number and a Smalley WH/WS part number? Are they interchangeable? They are... Read More>>
October 7, 2019	Smalley Applications – Athletic Shoes and Wave Springs When examining potential uses for Smalley's versatile wave springs, usually Aerospace, Automotive, and Medical applications come to mind. Granted, there are probably thousands of designs where wave springs are a viable solution, but that only scratches the surface of the capabilities of these innovative products. One of the most unique uses for wave springs is as the shock-absorbing component of... Read More>>
August 26, 2019	Ask the Expert - Snap Ring and Spiral Retaining Ring Installation Welcome back to the Smalley Ask the Expert Blog, where our engineers answer commonly asked retaining ring and wave spring questions. This week, our engineers answer questions about snap ring and spiral retaining ring installation. I’ve had deformation issues in the past when installing snap rings. Is installation stress still a concern for Spirolox retaining rings? Installation stress is a... Read More>>
July 29, 2019	Ask the Expert - Wave Spring Compression and Deflection Welcome back to the Ask the Expert Blog, where our engineers answer commonly asked ring and spring design questions. This week, our experts field some questions about the performance characteristics of wave springs. For more than 50 years, Smalley has been the industry leader and technological pioneer of retaining rings, constant section rings, and wave springs. Whether you require a standard or... Read More>>
July 18, 2019	Ask the Expert - Wave Spring Cycle Life and Material Welcome back to the Ask the Expert blog, the blog is designed to help educate you on all things rings and wave springs. This week, the expert fields some questions on the cycle life of wave springs and the materials of wave springs. Can you provide cycle life data for your springs? Yes, we can estimate the theoretical cycle life of our springs using a series of special equations. Note that... Read More>>
March 7, 2019	Application Spotlight: Self-Locking Rings in Automotive Applications Smalley offers an array of standard retaining rings for different applications. Selecting the appropriate ring requires an understanding of the application requirements, which includes thrust load, groove dimensions, and many others. If your application rotates at high speeds, the rotational capacity of the retaining ring will be important to consider. With the technological advances of electric... Read More>>
January 22, 2019	Smalley's On-Time Delivery Smalley strives to provide you with the best customer service possible. This is why we strive to be the best in the industry when it comes to getting your order delivered as quickly as possible, whether your order is large or small. At our headquarters in Lake Zurich, IL, we stock thousands of standard retaining rings and wave springs that can be shipped same day for next day delivery. If you... Read More>>
January 9, 2019	Application Spotlight: Nested Spirawave Wave Springs Smalley’s new Nested Spirawave® Wave Springs can be used in applications across many different industries. They are used to replace a stack of single-turn wave springs or when a single-turn spring cannot produce the forces necessary within an application. Below are just a few examples of how nested springs can be used. Bearing Preload Nested Spirawave springs produce two to three times more... Read More>>
December 18, 2018	Introducing Smalley’s Newest Standard Wave Spring Series: Nested Spirawave® Springs! Smalley is proud to announce the first standard line of nested wave springs on the market. Though we have offered Nested Spirawave springs as a custom for 30 years, they will now be available from stock in carbon and 17-7 PH stainless steel from .500 to 4" or 16 to 100 mm. What are the benefits of Nested Spirawave Wave Springs? Two to three times the force Nested wave spring forces increase... Read More>>