May 1, 2013 –

Design 2 Part show is May 22nd and 23rd at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The show includes businesses involved in manufacturing, electronics, and advanced medical products together under one roof in a B2B atmosphere. Come by booth #507 to visit Helical Products Company and witness the buzz about Helical’s dynamic demonstration of flexible couplings. You can talk to an engineer, pick up a free sample, or get more information about the HELI-CAL Machined Spring™! For more information or to register your company, visit D2P.com/sc.

HELI-CAL Flexure couplings provide a wide range of designs for ultimate end use efficiency. They compensate for angular, parallel, or skewed misalignment and also to relieve stress. Standard sizes in various materials are available, in addition to custom designs and special end connections.

Helical also creates custom machined springs that provide advantages over wire wound springs. Some advantages include; resolved moments, no rotation during compression, and custom end attachments. Performance of the HELI-CAL Machined Spring has proven to be predictable and repeatable while meeting dimensionally tight tolerances.

Helical Products Company, Inc. has been in business over 50 years. Our engineering team has a combined experience of 140 years designing and manufacturing the HELI-CAL Flexure for controlling mechanical movements, specializing in machined springs and flexible couplings.

For more information contact Helical Products Company, Inc., P.O. Box 1069, Santa Maria, CA 93456. Toll Free (877)353-9873, Fax (805)928-2369, Web site:
www.Heli-Cal.com.

April 30th, 2013 – 17-4ph stainless steel provides twice the torque capacity

SANTA MARIA, CA., March 29, 2013 – Helical’s 17-4PH stainless steel couplings are ideal when high strength, excellent fatigue resistance and high torsional stiffness are called for in an application. Helical is the only company offering a standard product line of beam couplings made of 17-4PH stainless steel. When compared to both 303 stainless steel and 7075-T6 aluminum, 17-4PH provides twice the torque and can operate up to 600F, which is ideal when used for heavy duty applications such as lead screws, positioning systems, pumps and processing equipment. Helical couplings are machined from a solid piece of material, and when the unique HELI-CAL ® Flexure is incorporated they can compensate for angular, parallel or skewed misalignment, while providing axial compliance, constant velocity and smooth bearing loads.

Our series of couplings offer the engineer a large range for torque applications, or our engineers can design, develop and produce a custom HELI-CAL ® Flexure to meet your specific requirements. The W series (metric) from 1.2-39 Nm, the H series has a torque range from 2.4-100 lbin, and the MC series from 40-556 lbin. The MC Series has higher torque capacity and torsional stiffness and has two sets of flexures for increased parallel offset. This makes the MC series a great choice for conveyor systems, and industrial processing equipment where absolute reliability is required. All three series include configurations with reliefs, set screws, or integral clamp attachments.

Helical Products Company, Inc. has been in business over 50 years. Our engineering team has a combined experience of 140 years designing and manufacturing the HELI-CAL Flexure for controlling mechanical movements, specializing in machined springs and flexible couplings.

For more information contact Helical Products Company, Inc., P.O. Box 1069, Santa Maria, CA 93456. Toll Free (877)353-9873, Fax (805)928-2369, Web site: www.Heli-Cal.com.

Flexible Couplings

January 11, 2013 –

Helical Products Company, Inc. will exhibit in the upcoming Cannon Communications Expo, February 12-14 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The show includes businesses involved in manufacturing, electronics, and advanced medical products together under one roof in a B2B atmosphere. The different sections of the expo include; MD&M, ATX, Pacific Design & Manufacturing, Aerocon, Electronics West, West Pack, and Sustainability in Manufacturing. In the ATX (Automated Technology Expo) section, Helical and Quatro Automation will be demonstrating the HELI-CAL ® Flexure in both flexible couplings and machined springs.  Come by booth #4489 and witness the buzz about Helical’s dynamic demonstration of flexible couplings, pick up a free sample, and get more information the HELI-CAL Machined Spring ®! For more information or to register your company, visit Canons website.

HELI-CAL Flexure couplings provide a wide range of designs for ultimate end use efficiency. They compensate for angular, parallel, or skewed misalignment and also to relieve stress. Standard sizes in various materials are available, in addition to custom designs and special end connections.

Helical also creates custom machined springs that provide advantages over wire wound springs. Some advantages include; resolved moments, no rotation during compression, and custom end attachments. Performance of the HELI-CAL Machined Spring has proven to be predictable and repeatable while meeting dimensionally tight tolerances.

Helical Products Company, Inc. has been in business over 50 years. Our engineering team has a combined experience of 140 years designing and manufacturing the HELI-CAL Flexure for controlling mechanical movements, specializing in machined springs and flexible couplings.

For more information contact Helical Products Company, Inc., P.O. Box 1069, Santa Maria, CA 93456. Toll Free (877)353-9873, Fax (805)928-2369, Web site:
www.Heli-Cal.com.

October 31, 2012 -

On October 25^th Helical shared in the donation of $120,000 to the Machine Technology Program at Allan Hancock Community College. The program provides students with a full range of machining courses. Students learn skills of machine technology and using Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines. Many of these techniques are critical when making flexible couplings and machined springs both that utilize the HELI-CAL ® Flexure. They also learn the properties of different metals, how to interpret blueprints, and follow the process of planning, creating, and finishing a machined product with precise specifications.

Allan Hancock College was founded in 1920, and is located in Santa Maria CA. Most of the students who attend Hancock College are from the local area, striving to complete the first two years of a bachelor’s degree, earn an associate degree, or preparing for a new career. There are approximately 11,500 students that attend the college per semester, with about 1,300 faculty and staff. The California Community College system serves more than 2.9 million students and represents the largest system of higher education in the world. Visit their website for more information.

Helical is proud to support the local education programs on the central coast. Many of our experienced employees attend Hancock for further training courses. Helical hopes to continue the support the local college programs for years to come.

For more information contact Helical Products Company, Inc., P.O. Box 1069, Santa Maria, CA 93456. Toll Free (877)353-9873, Fax (805)928-2369, Web site: www.Heli-Cal.com.

August 8, 2012 – Curiosity Mars Rover has landed safely on Mars!

Helical Products Company, Inc. is proud to have been selected to design and manufacture machined springs and flexible couplings for Curiosity.  Known worldwide for outstanding quality and reliability, this is the third Mars Rover combining Helical’s Engineering Expertise and manufacturing skill to produce

The first of the parts from Helical is a custom flexible coupling used in the Vibration mechanism in the Sample Acquisition & Sample Processing and Handling (SASPaH) subsystem at the end of the Robotic Arm. The system is now responsible for gathering soil samples from inside the crater where Curiosity sits right now. Vibration is used, aided by the flexible coupling, to pass the soil sample through sifters and ultimately through a sampling system. We can then determine what elements are present in the soil on Mars.

In addition to the flexible coupling, Curiosity is also equipped with several Helical Machined Springs. The springs were used as a locking latch in the rocket deploys pivot mechanism. The springs rotated and locked in place keeping the Rocker-Bridge joints in place once the mars rover was in the process of landing. NASA had very specific design requirements including; compression and lateral translation spring rates, end attachments, and titanium material for its lightweight characteristic. Application engineer, Michael Haber, adds, “With this design, we’ve created a very reliable and elegant solution. The double-start Flexure adds redundancy and confidence that the spring will operate the latch. The spring also showcases the advantages of Helical Products technology to combine a number of components and features into one part which further increases reliability – a major concern for the Mars Rover especially since parts won’t be serviceable.” The design worked! And will help the Mars Rover explore the red planet for a long time.

Helical Products was founded in 1958 and is the originator the HELI-CAL® Flexure, making bar stock flexible. Located in Santa Maria, California, the company’s manufacturing facility has tripled in size since 1983. Because of its excellent quality, Helical Products has become the standard for improving performance capabilities in today’s manufacturing world.

For more information contact Helical Products Company, Inc., P.O. Box 1069, Santa Maria, CA 93456. Toll Free (877)353-9873, Fax (805)928-2369, Web site: www.Heli-Cal.com.

April 19, 2012 – Helical Products Company, in coordination with Design World, hosted a webinar explaining the differences between machined and wire wound springs. Helical’s Senior Engineer, Gary Boehm, presented the informative webinar based on the White Paper titled “Wire Springs versus Machined Springs, A Comparison”. The webinar gave viewers a glimpse into the science behind machined springs and their advantages over traditional wire springs.  The presentation was tailored towards engineers and other technical personnel, but was open to anyone who wished to attend. There was an in-depth Question and Answer period afterward as Gary fielded questions from a variety of machine designers and engineers. If you missed this educational webinar and would like to gain insight into this unique technology click on the link below.

http://goo.gl/3Mo4K

If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to contact us. Our team of application engineers has over 50 years of Engineering Experience and can be contacted directly at engineering@heli-cal.com. You may also visit our website at www.Heli-Cal.com to view some of our products and to place a request about your own project.

Be on the lookout for other upcoming webinars, and follow Helical on Twitter @helicalproducts. Or visit us on YouTube to watch some of our demo videos. See you soon!

Issue Number 12

Helical Products Company, Inc. is the originator of the HELI-CAL Flexure, the hallmark coil pattern that can be designed to affect performance features such as torque capacity, angular misalignment, axial movement, parallel offset, torsional stiffness, and compression spring rates. Over 7,500 successful Helical designs have been produced to date. The company has over 40 years of flexure research, design and manufacturing experience.

(more…)

Issue Number 11

“You make your part, We’ll add the Flexure Portion”

Along with many types of HELI-CAL Flexures that we manufacture, Helical Products Company offers customers a “generate only” product enhancement program. This identifies our expertise in accepting already machined parts from our customers, and adding HELI-CAL’s Flexure generating capabilities. The resulting product thus benefits from the combined technical abilities of our customer and Helical Products Company. (more…)

Issue Number 10

For ½ inch to 1¾ inch shaft sizes
Introducing Helical’s New PF Series: “PowerFlex”

Designer’s Comments

By Norman Paul
Senior Helical Design Engineer

The new PF (PowerFlex) Series of couplings is Helical’s latest and best offering yet to the world of power transmission products. By incorporating features that make practical sense into this versatile, maintenance free coupling, Helical Products Company is now able to compete head-on in a highly competitive marketplace with a product that will perform superbly in customer applications. The PowerFlex is essentially a very cost effective (more…)

Issue Number 9

Helical’s “Design for efficiency” approach gives customers a product performance edge

Worldwide customers expect high quality products at competitive prices. The manufacturer who fulfills these expectations needs talented personnel in all operating disciplines. The process begins with a top-notch design and culminates with accurate, consistent production capability, and timely delivery. All of this must be accomplished within expected price guidelines.

Throughout this process, quality is the key ingredient. We must have products that are consistently manufactured to meet design targets in order to provide customers with (more…)

Issue Number 8

What is a “Machined Spring”?

Much more than “just” an alternative to traditional precision springs, the versatile HELI-CAL Flexure, machined and utilized as a spring, u-joint, or coupling, can achieve multiple design objectives and provide precise functions, features and performance.

by Gary L. Boehm

Senior Research Engineer

Gary Boehm is considered by many to be one of industry’s foremost authorities on the technological aspects of precision machined springs, having spent over 23 years in machined spring R&D. Following are questions frequently asked of Gary regarding machined springs, and his answers.

Q: What is a precision machined spring? (more…)

Issue Number 7

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

How multi-featured components give designers an edge

The demands put upon today’s design engineer seem to increase yearly. With most markets becoming increasingly international, and the mantra “world class” ringing in everyone’s ears, it is little wonder engineers are reaching for the Rolaids with one hand and the assistance of industry specialists with the other. Clearly the pressure is on engineers to produce designs that create a competitive edge.

Designs that provide a competitive edge combine simplicity of manufacture/assembly with (more…)

Issue Number 6

A NEW ANGLE ON UNIVERSAL JOINTS

U-Joint

A universal joint is a mechanical connection between rotating shafts which are generally not in parallel, but intersecting. “U-joints” transmit torque.

U-joints are used in a variety of applications, wherever handling significant angular misalignment is the main (more…)

Issue Number 5

Flexure Attachments That Make Cents

How to make the right connection

For many years Helical Products Company has been recognized as the pioneer in the design and manufacture of helical beam type couplings, universal joints (UJ’s) and precision machined springs. The unique capabilities of the HELI-CAL Flexure have solved countless design projects for engineers in many different diverse industries.

But curiously, engineers or designers often fail to recognize (more…)

Issue Number 4

How Small Changes Can Have A Large Effect On System Performance

Pictured are assorted HELI-CAL Flexures of different coil thickness, coil length, and bore sizes. Overall system performance is enhanced by varying these flexure properties.

The inspiration for the flexure came from the observation that one piece “flexured” flexible couplings offer maximum (more…)