Spring F.A.Q.

When ordering you are asked for ‘the spring length’ , this is the overall length of the spring (at rest) including the loops on the ends.

We aim to dispatch all orders received by 3PM GMT, Monday to Friday, the same day by First class mail (UK), or international standard to other countries.

If items ordered are out of stock, you will be notified. Part orders may be dispatched with missing items to follow ASAP. See Spring stock below.

All UK post is first class, so it should arrive the following day.

For International post, the only way to reduce the postage time is to pay extra (Around £8 extra!) to have Tracked and Signed . This can halve the normal postage time, especially to Italy.

All springs under 22mm diameter are sent large letter in the UK for £0.99 regardless of quantity. Larger springs are sent small parcel first class  for £3.50 regardless of quantity.

International post is around £3.50 regardless of size or quantity.

Meccano is very difficult to price due to its weight; regardless of what is shown on the listings, if you think it is too much, add the item(s) to your basket and Request an invoice, I will calculate the best price for you and edit the invoice. If you buy the item(s) and pay too much, I will endeavour to refund the over paid postage.

All items have a legal 30 day return  and I will refund the full order price on any item returned at your cost.

With the springs, I reserve the right to decline returns on springs that are under 100mm in length as they were ‘cut to your requirements’ and are therefore custom made items, but please contact me and we can discuss it.

Due to the way I cut long springs to the lengths you require, the web site can not keep track of my stock. I try to keep at least two full lengths of each spring in stock at any time.

As springs are sold, I re-order, usually on a weekly basis to replenish stock, but the manufacturers process and deliver the orders at their own pace, so delivery times are varied. They are sometimes out of stock themselves. But I will try to keep you informed if you are waiting.

Yes, although there is a minimum order of £1.

Yes please, but I probably will not have the stock to complete the order. In that case I will inform you, and send what I have immediately, I will then get the rest for you ASAP. Please allow for this and phone me if that is a problem.

If your order is too big for me to handle, I will pass it on to the manufacturers. They will then contact you and discuss delivery.

The springs are priced per mm, so the price will be the same, but you may find having bought a length and cut a spring, that cutting it a bit bigger or smaller works better for you, so rather than buying lots of springs first, you would be better to cut your own.

Depending on the size of the spring wire, I use electrical wire snippers for thin wire, wire cutters for medium wire and bolt croppers for the large wires. A grinder will work but is not ideal due the the heat build up.

I buy long lengths of coil springs from top UK manufacturers, I then cut off the amount you require; this means all my compression springs have open ends.

It is only possible to create closed ends on the manufacturing machine during manufacture, so the open ends can not be easily closed later. It is possible to get them flatter and to that end I always include one coil more than you order.

NOTE: This is not the case with Tension springs as are finished with loops or hooks as required.

Can I get finished end compression springs? see lower down the F.A.Q.

The manufacturers do stock a limited selection of springs, based on the spring sizes in my stock, so if you do need finished end springs, let me know the outside diameter, the wire diameter, the relaxed overall length, and the number of active (free to move) coils and I will see what I can find for you. Delivery could be two to three weeks.

Please see the Metric/imperial conversion chart

I have been selling springs since March 2014, and have customers from all over the world, see some of my customers here.

My customers range from the average person whose gardening clippers have lost their spring to F1 Motor sports.

I can not give you the Rate of my springs as it is dependant on the number of active coils (the free moving coils which excludes the ends as they do not move) in the spring and as I do not know the length you require I do not know the eventual Rate.

All the information required is given on the Available springs page, you can then calculate the rate with my Rate calculator, (third Tab).