Deforming poweful springs for assembly
Hello,
I'm working on project to construct a custom mixing machine, and the assembly requires that a number of very powerful springs be deformed during assembly so that they will remain in compression at all times during the machine's operation. The most powerful set of springs consists of 16 die springs with an equivalent spring constant of about 10,000 lb/in- they only need to be deformed by half an inch during assembly, but the springs are much too strong to be deformed by hand.
My current deisgn will allow a plate (around 50 lbs) to be placed above the strongest springs and screwed into place using nuts on 4 threaded rods, but the force required to do so will be extremely large. Some parts of this assembly may be unsafe, and I was wondering if anyone has experience or ideas for how to handle and manipulate powerful sets of springs without risk.
Spring compressors might be a possibility, but because of the large number of springs they might be impractical.
Thanks for your advice!