{"id":28310,"date":"2022-04-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/?p=28310"},"modified":"2026-09-24T13:45:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T04:45:59","slug":"thoughts-spring-washers-are-they-a-thing-of-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/20220423\/unclassified\/thoughts-spring-washers-are-they-a-thing-of-the-past","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts: Are spring washers (lock washers) a thing of the past? Do they actually prevent loosening?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/nejiya_w102000a0040000008-b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/nejiya_w102000a0040000008-b.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/nejiya_w102000a0040000008-b-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/nejiya_w102000a0040000008-b-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/nejiya_w102000a0040000008-b-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Everyone must be thinking the same thing&#8230; probably they don&#8217;t work&#8230; they definitely shouldn&#8217;t. <br> Are they a relic of the past, from an era when chemicals and lock nuts were rare? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Basically, I try not to use them anywhere, and whenever I find them, I dislike them so much that I remove them all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Does the spring&#8217;s rebound force and bite-in prevent loosening? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The spring&#8217;s rebound force (compression force) is overwhelmingly lower than the bolt&#8217;s clamping force, so honestly it&#8217;s tough&#8230; or rather, it&#8217;s definitely just a placebo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What about the bite-in effect? <br> The spring washer biting in to prevent loosening only needs to work for a moment&#8230; if at all. <br> I really think it&#8217;s just psychological. <br> If it actually prevented loosening, it would be much more widely used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Look closely! Have you seen spring washers on modern factory cars recently? Maybe on license plates? (JSDF) <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At best, they were only used until the 70s and 80s&#8230; <br> You still see them in shops that work on classic bikes. <br><br> When you think about it logically, there&#8217;s no clear benefit, and they just add parts count and weight with no upside. <br> Plus, tracking bolt grip length becomes a bit annoying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I found a great opinion below \u2193 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u79c1\u306f\u5e38\u306b\u8a00\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u304c\u3001\u3070\u306d\u5ea7\u91d1\u306e\u3070\u306d\u529b\u306f\u4fdd\u8a3c\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u305d\u3082\u305d\u3082\u53c2\u8003\u5024\u3059\u3089\u306a\u3044\u3002\u3064\u307e\u308a\u3070\u306d\u529b\u304c\u3069\u308c\u304f\u3089\u3044\u671f\u5f85\u3067\u304d\u308b\u306e\u304b\u8a08\u7b97\u3057\u3088\u3046\u304c\u306a\u3044\u3002<br>\u7de9\u307f\u3069\u3081\u3068\u3057\u3066\u610f\u5473\u304c\u3042\u308b\u304b\u3069\u3046\u304b\u8b70\u8ad6\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u81ea\u4f53\u304c\u9593\u9055\u3044\u3060\u3068\u601d\u3063\u3066\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3001\u305f\u3060\u3057\u4ed6\u306e\u76ee\u7684\u3067\u306e\u4f7f\u7528\u306a\u3089\u610f\u5473\u3042\u308b\u3068\u601d\u3063\u3066\u307e\u3059\u3002 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wBc6KNIwIn\">https:\/\/t.co\/wBc6KNIwIn<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u30ab\u30a6\u30b7\ud83d\udc2e (@mech_eng_PE) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mech_eng_PE\/status\/1395687886159159303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 21, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong> The spring force of lock washers is not guaranteed. There aren&#8217;t even reference values to begin with. In other words, there&#8217;s no way to calculate how much spring force you can expect. <\/strong> So&#8230; <br> they really are a relic of the past&#8230; more like wishful thinking. <br><strong> Conversely, some say they actually make loosening easier. <\/strong><br> Proper <strong> fastening <\/strong> is the real foundation. That&#8217;s why manufacturers don&#8217;t use them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbk1560.com\/resources\/specialscrew\/article\/nedzicom-topics-04-washer\/?SelectedLanguage=ja-JP\"> Let me also excerpt from the fun NBK. <\/a><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong> The elastic force of a lock washer is extremely small compared to the clamping force of a bolt tightened to the specified torque. I think by the time the lock washer&#8217;s elastic force starts to take effect, the bolt is already in a loosened state. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong> For example, for an M8 grade 10.9 steel socket head cap bolt, the maximum allowable clamping force is 23,000 N, whereas the force needed to compress an M8 lock washer is only about 500 N (test value by Negi-gon), quite a big difference, right? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> So we can confidently remove spring washers, right everyone? <br> Goodbye&#8230; spring washer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everyone must be thinking the same thing&#8230; probably they don&#8217;t work&#8230; they definitely shouldn&#8217;t. Are they a relic of the past, from an era when chemicals and lock nuts were rare? Basically, I try not to use them anywhere, and whenever I find them, I dislike them so much that I remove them all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pochipp_cv_data":"","swell_btn_cv_data":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[269],"class_list":["post-28310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unclassified","tag-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}