About this 3D model

Check out mekmekmek's customizable version here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:188285 Hutch914 put it in the Makerbot customizer, too, if that's your thing. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1096880 Rather than spend time printing springs for a project, I made this little mold to make them out of raw 3mm PLA filament. It measures 3/4" by 3" tall. Since there are no shear planes in this twisted filament, the springs it creates will be a lot tougher than anything printed. I think this concept could be used to produce torsion springs as well as conical compression springs with different molds. If you wrapped the filament around a dowel with the sides of the filament touching, you could make an extension spring instead of a compression spring.