Top 4 Advantages of Edgewinding over Stamping in Retaining Ring and Wave Spring Manufacturing

Edgewinding, also known as the Smalley No-Tooling-Charges™ process, is the only manufacturing solution Smalley engineers trust to deliver precise yet flexible solutions to meet your retaining ring and wave spring needs.

What is Edgewinding?

Edgewinding has been the standard Smalley manufacturing process for over 50 years.

Edgewinding is a precision forming process that involves coiling flat wire on edge to create our rings and springs.

Figure 1. Edgewinding vs. Stamping. Comparison of edgewinding to stamping process. 

Prior to edgewinding, we first have to process round wire through our in-house rolling mill to achieve a flat state, known as rolling. We roll most of our materials using our in-house rolling mill, giving us complete control over manufacturing so we can provide you a high-quality part every time. In 2018, we rolled over 2 million pounds of material. 

Figure 2. Rolling Mill. Our manufacturing process begins with feeding raw round wire through our rolling mill. 

What are Some Advantages of Edgewinding Versus Stamping in Retaining Ring and Wave Spring Manufacturing?

Edgewinding poses many advantages when compared to the conventional stamping manufacturing process.

Benefits of edgewinding include:

1. Unparalleled Flexibility in your Design

   The freedom to coil to nearly any diameter (0.118 - 120"; 3 - 3000 mm) is a major advantage of edgewinding. Stamping uses designated punch and die tooling per part size. Our manufacturing process results in significantly more flexibility when compared to stamping.

2. No-Tooling-Cost™ on Custom Parts

   The most effective way to ensure part performance is by a prototype. With edgewinding, getting custom, economical prototypes has never been easier. We can produce and modify your custom part at any stage during the prototyping process– all without any tooling costs. Whether you need one piece or one thousand pieces, we have short lead times and never require a minimum quantity. In comparison, stamping has tooling costs, large minimum orders, and longer lead times.

3. No Waste

   With edgewinding manufacturing, only the required flat wire material is coiled. This virtually eliminates all material waste during manufacturing, which is cost-effective for you and beneficial for the environment. When a stamped retaining or snap ring is made, it is stamped from a piece of metal sheet, which in turn creates scrap from both inside and outside of the ring. In cases where a large diameter or an exotic material is required, the scrap cost increases drastically.

4. Superior Strength

   Our circular-grain metallurgy increases the strength and stability of the material. Cold rolling causes metal grains to elongate and lock together, which improves mechanical properties. Since the grain follows the direction of the coil, it provides better spring properties than if the shape were to be stamped and the grain only went in one direction.

​Figure 3. Metallurgy Comparison. Edgewinding produces circular-grain metallurgy. 

Key Points

The Smalley edgewinding process is flexible enough to accommodate virtually any design without the need for any additional tooling, which makes creating a custom part easy. 

Our engineers carefully design, test, and modify high quality yet economical prototypes to fit your exact needs, all within short lead times.

If you are ready to take advantage of our competitive advantage, click below to schedule a meeting with a Smalley Engineer to discuss your application requirements. 

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