One other method worth considering:
To mimic the 2d shape of a spiral in AC3D, I followed the steps from the attached image:
1. I pulled the image of a spiral off the web (
http://images.google.com/images?q=spiral )
2. Loaded the image in the AC3D Front view using Ortho -> Set Background Image, then traced the spiral image using a Line.
3. Subdivided the Line.
The Spiralizer will be better if you're going for more mathematic precision, or for spiraling the spring "upward", but this is probably a faster/easier way to get a basic spiral...