Calculator

New! The calculator now features explicit safety factor parameters. The default is set at 1.4 for material safety factor, and 1.4 for load safety factor. (For Hertzian contact, the material safey factor does not behave linearly)

The calculation are based on the equations detailed in the math datasheet.

Please also see note on agreement between predicted and measured values.

The calculator computes the load capacities of a single cone and V-groove mount using either a sphere or a Spherolinder of identical diameters, and taking into account the complete mount geometry.

If the load is evenly distributed, don't forget to multiply the result by 3 for the entire 3-groove mount.

Length optimization makes the Spherolinder length equal the maximum of the diameter and the cone contact line length.

metric     standard     optimize L

Diameter Length θc θv E ν σy   Safety factors
mm mm ° ° GPa   MPa Load Material
Preset Materials:        
>>> Calculate loads <<<
Spherolinder max. load N -
Sphere max. load N -
Sphere diameter for equivalent max. load mm -
Actual Load:
LoadkN
Contact area (cone)mm2
Contact area (groove)mm2
Displacement (x)µm
KDC  (= F/x)N/µm
KAC  (= dF/dx)N/µm

A quick note on real-life measurements

When attempting to measure displacement, it quickly becomes apparent that the "no-load" position is not well defined, since the geometries of the cones, grooves, and Spherolinders are not perfect.

For any deviation from ideal shape, it would take a deformation of equal or larger magnitude for the measurement to start to conform with the equations. Before this deformation is reached, the mount will appear "softer", since the contact line is not complete.

Since the AC properties are calculated by numerically differentiating the predicted DC properties, we only look for conformance for the AC component of the rigidity, and consider this sufficient to validate the DC prediction. For the M25 Spherolinders, at 10% load, the measured value agrees with the predicted value to within 10%.