[SEL] Making a spring

cgandree at mchsi.com cgandree at mchsi.com
Tue Aug 2 02:22:06 PDT 2005 

Bill you take care of that family member first and hope that all goes well.

Ive got general idea of what your describing but a couple of pictures are 
worth a 1000 words.
thanks again,
Curt


> Will have to await another evening for the pics, got tied up with a family
> member in hospital with heart / blood clot problems.  Young woman in her
> late 20's, sure hope they don’t send her home without dealing with this.
> Seems to me like she's pretty vulnerable.
> 
> I did find the tool where I thought it was, it comes from Brookstone.  I
> think of that company as high on quality and higher on price.  A check of
> their website now seems to indicate it's not the same company any more,
> they're more into the consumer stuff now and not much into tools.
> 
> I will try to describe how to make a device modeled after the fence making
> tool I used to carry.  Don't know if I have such a tool now, you buy the
> wires pre-formed now to attach the fence to the steel posts and you don't
> need this tool any longer.  Anyway, it's REAL SIMPLE:
> 
> Take a piece of 1/8 inch strap, 1 inch wide, 8 inches long.  That's all the
> materials you'll need.
> 
> Identify the size of form you want to use; let's say a 3/8 inch bolt or rod
> will give you the approximate inside diameter of the resulting spring.
> 
> Heat the strap at one end, maybe the last inch or so, and bend it around the
> rod to form a U with the long end being the cold end of the strap, the short
> end just long enough to complete the U shape, a little extra won't hurt.
> Don't close the U past the ends being parallel, you need to be able to slip
> the strap on and off the bolt with comfortable clearance.
> 
> Now mount it in the vise, sticking the long end into the vise and the U thus
> inverted, you're looking at the flat side...either flat side, doesn't
> matter.
> 
> Take a hack saw and cut maybe 3/16 of an inch off either side of the strap.
> On the short leg of the U, cut on through the end of that leg of the U.  On
> the other side cut far enough so that if you were to stick your spring wire
> perpendicularly into the kerf it would just touch the form if it were in the
> U. 
> 
> Then cut in to meet your vertical kerf from the side, cutting down at a
> slight angle so that you have a bit of a notch in the (big) part that's left
> after you cut through.
> 
> That's all there is to it.  Probably dress it down a bit with a wheel or
> file.  You'll eventually want to cut and notch the other side as well so you
> can turn right and left hand springs, you'll figure that out in a bit.
> 
> Now mount the bolt / form into the vise, horizontally if you have room, or
> vertically if you don't (having room will make sense shortly).  Anchor the
> end of your spring wire. (I usually do this as part of tightening the
> bolt/form into the vise.  Making a flat spot on the bolt where you clamp it
> would be helpful here.)  
> 
> Now slide the tool onto the form, notch toward the vise, and engage the wire
> in the notch.  Start turning and you'll wind up your new spring.  Getting
> the coil spacing even will take a little practice, for starters just wind it
> tight to the previous coil.
> 
> Let me know how you make out.  I confess to not having made one of these, I
> do kind of the same process with the Brookstone tool.  It has the advantage
> of a spacing deal to help wind an evenly spaced spring.  If I had time this
> evening I would have made one like I described and taken a picture.  But the
> resulting tool should be a slightly larger version of what I used making
> fence a generation or 2 ago.  That was a little smaller, the wire was mild
> and the radius was small and the tool was made to slip into your overalls
> pocket comfortably.
> 
> Happy winding!
> 
> B²
>  
> Bill Brueck (brick)
> Chatfield, MN, USA
>  
> Confusion is a higher state of knowledge than ignorance.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
> [mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com] On Behalf Of Bill Brueck
> Sent: Monday, August 01, 2005 10:56 AM
> To: 'The SEL email discussion list'
> Subject: RE: [SEL] Making a spring
> 
> This is close to what I have, likely better than what I have.
> 
> I will try to send directions tonight to build-your-own for a specific sized
> form, built on the concept of the fencing tool I used to use.  But I expect
> something like Rob references would do an easier job of maintaining a
> consistent pitch.  
> 
> B²
>  
> Bill Brueck (brick)
> Chatfield, MN, USA
>  
> Confusion is a higher state of knowledge than ignorance.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
> [mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com] On Behalf Of Rob Skinner
> Sent: Monday, August 01, 2005 9:14 AM
> To: 'The SEL email discussion list'
> Subject: RE: [SEL] Making a spring
> 
> 
> > Where did you get the spring making kit with that small of holding jig 
> > like one we use for fence making?  Attempting doing one using a pair 
> > of pliers and was not successful.
> 
> Hi Curt,
> I think what you're looking for is a Spring Winding Tool.  Take a look at
> this item offered from MSC:
> 
> http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=1759558&PMT4NO=471498
> 
> It works fairly well, holding the wire, maintaining tension and maintaining
> pitch.  On the same page and the previous page of the catalog, MSC has two
> different spring wire assortments.  You might as well get one of each so
> you'll have the material on hand.
> 
> Rob
> 
> 
> 
> 
> =-=-=-=-=-=
> Rob Skinner
> La Habra, California
> mailto:rskinner at rustyiron.com
> http://www.rustyiron.com 
> 
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