How do you make your springs?

[Bovine]

Springs...Today I was pondering a project in the shop which required a spring. I have read from various post that piano wire makes good spring metal.
I did not have piano wire but I did have .034 MIG wire from my welder. I spent the next couple of hours making jigs to turn and measure the performance of these springs but I feel the welding wire is limited to smaller applications.
What do you guys do when you require a spring for your projects?
Bovine.

 

[Cogsy]

I haven't made any springs yet, but I do need to for my next project, so I've been reading a bit about it. Piano wire is mentioned a lot, but steel guitar strings are piano wire and are easy (and cheap) to get at any music store. They're also marked in their diameters and I assume they should be pretty well spot-on.

 

[abby]

Mig wire is totally useless for springs , they are made from a grade of steel that can be hardened and tempered to the correct condition required for ............. well a spring ! in fact the total opposite of what is required for welding.
Music wire such as piano or guitar strings is very suitable for small springs , although it is already hardened and tempered the smaller diameters can still be formed to the required shape.
Some grades of stainless steel can also be used for light springs.
Helical springs can be readily made by winding the wire onto a mandrel in the lathe using a very simple and easily made wire holding tool the details of which can be found in several locations on the web.
For larger springs that cannot be formed from music wire , or for leaf springs , special steel known aptly as "spring steel" is readily available , springs made from this will need to be hardened and tempered before use.
If you are familiar with the steel tempering colour scale the colour for springs is in the mid blue area.
Smaller springs that have been hardened will be black from the heat and impossible to polish for the "temper colour" method , in this case an oven with accurate temperature control is required, although slowly heating on a bed of dry sand , or a container of molten lead gives good results.
A piece of unhardened polished wire acting as the temperature indicator.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Use music wire---as in guitar strings. I wound the springs for my Kerzel hit and miss engine, and there is a pretty good 'how to' article in there.---Brian

 

[lensman57]

HI,

A broken, old hacksaw blade makes a good flat spring, I made one for my webster engine from a worn out blade but first I had to polish it to a shine and then soften it by heat, once the shape was formed the metal was heated and cooled to retain the spring. If you are doing small stuff , less than 0.5 mm diameter wire, it is reasonably safe, from there on it gets tricky. be safe.

A.G

 

[Brian Rupnow]

If its a flat spring you are looking for, go to the nearest lawnmower/weedeater/chainsaw repair place. They will be more than happy to give you a broken starter cord rewind spring, and one of them will be enough for a lifetime of model engine building.

 

[MatiR]

Hi Bovine:

Good thread here started by Deanofid from a couple of years ago:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f25/springs-things-7552/

I posted about a winder I made which works really well. If you search "winder" you will find several other threads with good ideas and tools similar to the one I made.

Regards, Mati

 

[Bovine]

MatiR,
Very informative posting with very helpful pictures also. Thank you for sharing.
Bovine