Hey there, if you’ve ever stared at a pile of disc springs (you know, those tiny, cone-shaped workhorses called DIN2093 / EN16983) and thought, “How many of these do I actually need for my machine?” you’re not alone. As someone who’s spent the last 8 years selling these things (first in a tiny warehouse in Germany, then now as a go-to supplier for industrial folks across the EU and beyond), I get it. It’s not like ordering screws—get the count wrong, and you’ve got a machine that either doesn’t clamp hard enough or snaps before it even runs an hour. No fun for anyone. Disc Spring DIN2093/EN16983
Let’s cut the jargon, skip the textbook equations that make your eyes glaze over, and get real. I’ve walked so many engineers and small business owners through this that I’ve developed a workflow that works every time. No overcomplicating it, no guessing. Let’s break it down step by step, like we’re chatting over a coffee (or a beer, if it’s end of a long day).
First off, what even are DIN2093/EN16983 disc springs? For anyone new here, these are the standard stamped cone springs—think of them like a stack of tiny, hollow washers that bend when you squeeze them, right? They’re used for things like bolted joints that need consistent clamping force, heavy machinery vibration dampening, even clutch systems on trucks. The DIN2093 and EN16983 standards are basically rulebooks for their size, thickness, and performance, so you know you’re getting a part that fits every other standard part. That’s why everyone uses ‘em.
Now, the first thing you need to nail before even thinking about the number of springs: the total clamping or load force your application requires. That’s non-negotiable. If you get this number wrong, nothing else matters. Let’s use a real example I had last month: a guy building a conveyor belt system that needed a bolted joint to keep the rollers from shifting under 2000N of dynamic load. His first number he gave me was 1500N—turns out he forgot to account for the conveyor’s constant vibration loosening the bolts, so he needed 2500N minimum. Pro tip: always add a 15-20% safety margin to your calculated total load. Vibration, temperature swings, wear and tear—these things eat into spring performance over time. I learned that the hard way when a customer undercounted once and their machine failed 3 months in because they didn’t leave room for settling.
Next up, each individual disc spring has a rated load and deflection. This is where the DIN2093 standard is your best friend—every single disc spring is tested to a specific load at a specific deflection, so you don’t have to guess. Let’s say you pick a common size: DIN2093 20x10x1.5 (that means outer diameter 20mm, inner 10mm, thickness 1.5mm). According to the standard, this spring has a rated load of around 1350N when compressed to 75% of its total free height. Wait, total free height is the uncompressed cone height—so 75% deflection means it’s squished down to 25% of that free height, which is the sweet spot where disc springs perform consistently and don’t wear out fast.
Now here’s the fun part: how you stack these springs changes their total load capacity. There are two basic stacking methods, and they do totally different things. First, parallel stacking—when you put springs on top of each other, same orientation, all the same direction. So if you stack two 1.5mm springs parallel, their total load capacity doubles, right? Because both are carrying the load at the same time. But their total deflection stays the same—each spring only squishes 75% of its own height, so you get double the force for the same deflection. That’s what you use when you need more clamping force without needing to make room for longer travel.
The other method is series stacking—flip every other spring around, so they alternate direction, and stack them. Now their total load capacity stays the same as one spring, but their total deflection multiplies by the number of springs. So two springs in series deflect twice as much as one, same load. That’s for when you need more give, like for vibration dampening where the machine moves a lot.
Most of the time, when people come to me needing disc springs, they’re doing parallel stacking for clamping force, so that’s what I’ll focus on here—just remember that if you need series, the math flips a bit.
Let’s go back to that conveyor example. The total load the customer needed was 2500N, and we picked that same DIN2093 20x10x1.5 spring with a rated load of 1350N per spring. So if we stack them parallel, how many do we need? Total required load divided by individual spring load. That’s 2500N / 1350N = roughly 1.85. Wait, you can’t have 0.85 of a spring, right? And you can’t round down—you have to round up to 2. But hold on, that was before adding the safety margin. Wait, no, wait—we added the safety margin to the total load, so the 2500N was already adjusted. Let’s test that: 2 springs give 2700N, which is more than 2500N, perfect. But wait a second—what if the deflection matters too?
Oh right, I almost forgot. You can’t just go by load alone. If you need the bolts to be a certain length, or there’s limited space for how much the springs can squish, you have to check that too. Let’s say that same conveyor application only had 5mm of total available space for the disc springs to deflect. That DIN2093 20x10x1.5 spring has a total deflection of about 1.5mm at its rated load. So if we stack two in parallel, each deflects 1.5mm, so total deflection is still 1.5mm, which is way less than 5mm. That’s fine—plenty of room. But what if we had a smaller space, like 2mm total deflection? Then two springs would only deflect 1.5mm, so we’d have to adjust the load number, or pick a thinner spring.
Another example: I had a guy a few months back from a farm equipment shop building a hay baler. He needed 12000N total clamping force, and he had a DIN2093 50x25x2 spring which is rated at 5500N per spring. So 12000 / 5500 = ~2.18, so 3 springs. But wait, he told me he only had 4mm of space for deflection. That 50x25x2 spring has a total deflection of ~2.5mm. 3 springs parallel would still have 2.5mm total deflection per spring, so that’s under 4mm, no problem. If he only had 2mm space, then 3 springs would be too much, so he’d need to use a thinner spring, or stack fewer? No, wait—if you have less deflection, you can’t compress the springs all the way. So their actual load at less deflection is lower. Oh right, that’s a key point I missed earlier. The rated load is only when they’re compressed to 75% deflection. If you only compress them to 50% deflection, their load is only about 70% of that rated number. So if you have limited space, you can’t just use the full rated load—you have to adjust.
That’s why I always do a quick check of both load and deflection before suggesting a count. No exceptions. Because I’ve seen so many people get tripped up by this. Like, the farm equipment guy almost ordered 2 springs, which would have given 11000N—close, but right at his minimum, no safety margin. Adding one more gave him 16500N, which is more than enough, and the deflection was still under his 4mm limit. Perfect.
Wait, are there any other factors? Yeah, a few. Material choice, for one. Most DIN2093/EN16983 disc springs are made of spring steel, but if you’re working in super high temperatures (like over 200C) or corrosive environments (chemical plants, saltwater marine stuff), you might need stainless steel or Inconel springs, which have different load ratings. Stainless steel springs usually have about 90% of the load of standard spring steel, so you’d have to adjust the count up a bit. For example, if a spring steel spring is 1350N, a stainless equivalent is ~1215N, so you’d need one more spring to make up the difference.
Also, preload. A lot of applications need a preload—meaning you compress the springs a tiny bit when you install them to make sure they don’t come loose. That preload counts towards your total load, too. So if your preload is 500N, you have to add that to your working load to get the total required load. I had a customer building a valve system last year that forgot about preload, so he calculated his working load as 8000N, but his preload was another 1000N, so total was 9000N, not 8000. He had to add one more spring after we adjusted that, and it worked like a charm.
Let’s recap the steps so far, make it simple, so you can write this down on a sticky note:
- Figure out your TOTAL required load: Add your working load, plus preload, plus 15-20% safety margin. That’s your number one. No cutting corners here.
- Pick your DIN2093/EN16983 spring size and material (standard spring steel is fine for most cases). Get that individual spring’s rated load and deflection from the standard spec sheet—don’t guess, these are all published.
- Decide if you’re stacking parallel or series. 9 times out of 10, it’s parallel for clamping force.
- Do the quick math: Number of springs = Total required load ÷ Individual spring’s rated load.
- Round UP to the next whole number. Never round down.
- Double-check the total deflection: Make sure the total deflection of your stacked springs is less than the space you have available. If it’s too much, either pick a thinner spring or adjust your load number (since you won’t be compressing them all the way to 75% deflection).
Wait, let’s test this with another real scenario to make sure it works. Let’s say you’re building a small hydraulic press, needs 4500N total load, uses DIN2093 30x15x2 spring (rated load 2200N, deflection per spring ~2mm). Step 1: Working load 4500N, preload 500N, safety margin 15%: (4500 + 500) * 1.15 = 5750N? Wait no, wait—safety margin is usually on top, so total load is (working + preload) * 1.15 = (5000) *1.15 = 5750N. Step 2: Individual spring load 2200N. Step 3: Parallel stack, so number = 5750 /2200 = ~2.61. Round up to 3. Step 6: Total deflection is 2mm per spring, so total deflection is 2mm. Does your press have at least 2mm of space? If yes, perfect. If not, maybe a thinner spring? Like DIN2093 30x15x1.5, rated load 1500N, deflection ~1.5mm. Then number would be 5750 /1500 = ~3.83, round up to 4, total deflection 1.5mm—still under whatever space you have.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten a call from someone panicking because their count was wrong. Last month, a guy from a packaging company said his machine’s springs failed after a week—turns out he rounded down, used 2 springs instead of 3, and the load was too high, so the springs plastically deformed (they bent and didn’t bounce back). We swapped them out for 3, and he’s had zero issues since. That’s why rounding up is non-negotiable. You can always have extra springs if you have space, but you can’t take away a spring if you didn’t have enough.
Another quick tip: Don’t mix different sizes or thicknesses in a stack. Even if they’re all DIN2093, a 1.5mm spring and a 2mm spring in parallel won’t share the load evenly—one will do all the work, the other will just sit there. You want all springs in a stack to be identical, same size, same thickness, same material. That way the load is spread evenly, no premature wear.
Wait, what about when you have dynamic loads, like vibration? That safety margin I mentioned earlier should be higher, like 20-25% instead of 15. Vibration makes the springs cycle more, so they wear faster, and the load can shift over time. I always adjust that for anything that moves a lot.
Let’s be real here—this isn’t rocket science, but it’s also not something you want to guess at. The DIN2093 and EN16983 standards are there for a reason, so use them. If you’re still not sure, don’t overthink it—hit me up. As a supplier who’s been doing this for years, I’ve dealt with every weird application you can imagine, from tiny medical devices to huge mining equipment. I don’t do pushy sales—if you need 2 springs, I’ll sell you 2. If you need 5, I’ll tell you why you need 5, not make you buy more than you need.
At the end of the day, the goal is to get a disc spring set that performs consistently, lasts a long time, and doesn’t cause your machine to go haywire. Messing up the count leads to downtime, which is way more expensive than ordering the right number of springs the first time. I’ve seen a small factory lose $10k in a day because a bolt joint failed from wrong disc spring count—don’t let that be you.
So to wrap it up: Do your math correctly, add the safety margin, round up, check the deflection, use identical springs, and you’re golden. If you’re still second-guessing, just reach out. I’m here to help you figure out the right number of DIN2093/EN16983 disc springs for your specific application, no weird hoops to jump through, no hidden fees. Let’s get your project running smoothly.
Serrated Safety Washer References:
- DIN 2093: Disc Springs for Spring Applications – Dimensions, Loads, Deflections. Deutsches Institut für Normung, 2020.
- EN 16983: Disc Springs – Technical Specification. European Committee for Standardization, 2019.
- Machine Design Handbook: Selection and Application of Disc Springs. Society of Manufacturing Engineers, 2021.
- Spring Manufacturers Institute (SMI): Disc Spring Application Guidelines, 2022.
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