Gallery, Projects and General > How to's
Making Springs, (the way I do it, anyway).
ronginger:
A nice write up on springs.
I have one suggestion. Instead of holding the wire with a pliers I make 2 wood blocks that fit into my tool post just like a tool bit. I run the wire between the 2 blocks and tighten the tool holder screw to create enough drag on the wire to give me uniform spring. This keep the wire tension very constant and makes the spring very uniform.
If I want an open coil (compression ) spring I use the lathe threading gears to control the pitch of the spring.
There is a table in MACHINERY HANDBOOK that give the mandrel size for various combinations of wire size and desired spring ID
Dean W:
--- Quote from: Jonny on March 07, 2010, 12:37:23 PM ---
When you put the spring in the oven, you annealed it and therefore its soft. In the wire wool you probably back tempered it looking at the colour so still hardish.
--- End quote ---
I don't know what to tell you, Jonny. You insist the springs are soft, but they are not. At 450 F the springs will not be annealed to a soft state. You can call it annealing if you like. For hard drawn carbon wire, that is a stress relieving temperature. All I can tell you is springs of the size I make do not break, and they do not loose their tension.
Please look up a book called Materials for Springs by Toshio Kuwabara of the Japanese Society of Spring Engineers. This book has a recent copyright or I would be glad to quote what Mr. Kuwabara has to say about springs, post forming heat, (stress relief) and it's beneficial effect of improving the characteristics of piano wire and hard drawn carbon wire. You can see some sample pages from it on Google Books.
Good luck with your springs.
--- Quote from: ronginger on March 07, 2010, 08:24:53 PM ---A nice write up on springs.
I have one suggestion. Instead of holding the wire with a pliers I make 2 wood blocks that fit into my tool post just like a tool bit. I run the wire between the 2 blocks and tighten the tool holder screw to create enough drag on the wire to give me uniform spring. This keep the wire tension very constant and makes the spring very uniform.
If I want an open coil (compression ) spring I use the lathe threading gears to control the pitch of the spring.
--- End quote ---
Hi Ron; I addressed the use of winding jigs and using lathe gearing for compression springs a few weeks ago in the second part of this spring making article. It's in the same section of the forum as this part, called Making Springs PT 2.
Thanks for your interest and nice remarks!
Dean
Jonny:
You have just triggered what problems i have had in the past with small cross section diameter coil springs and such like from carbon wire. Its supplied hard but can be easilly bent within reason and stays there. Dare say compression would require some form of heat treatment as you say.
Normally i work with at least 35 year old probably a lot older flat bar, machine and file up before hammer forging and annealing. Its then filed up again and appropriate sets put in before hardening in hydraulic or bearing oil, dried off then blazed off in whale oil. Its then stress relieved by filing exactly where theres no give.
Taken about 8 years ago its all can show you, dont want to give the game away plus wrong section.
Jonny:
Another weird one considering what the various springs go on is that we had some sand casted sent to us by a customer, turned out no where near as strong and looked crap even after filing up and polishing etc.
Numerous ways to make various types of spring and numerous ways to harden and temper. New stuff supposedly to exact specs as old stuff collapses and to get round it has to be hardened in cold water for instance.
How do you get on with larger diameter coil wire say 1/8"+, is it same process?
Larger guage compression and torsion springs i know the pros use a mandrel and make them cold, send away for hardening etc unless a one off.
Dean W:
Jonny, I'm not sure if we're even talking about the same thing. If you read the write up, then you know that what I've been talking about all this time is coil springs. Extension springs in this part, and compression springs in Part 2.
Hard drawn or cold drawn carbon wire for springs, and music wire, has been available since long before anyone on this board was born, and manufacturing plants have been pumping out springs since. I'm talking about spring wire, not flat bar. Somehow, it must not seem as simple as it really is. Sorry if that's the case.
Here's a link to a company that makes spring wire, (and springs), and they provide heat treating temperatures for springs that have been formed from hard drawn spring wire. No heating. No quenching. Form it, and temper it. You will see that the temps I gave for what I did to temper the wire is right in line with what they recommend. Hopefully they know what they are talking about, since they make the stuff.
http://www.acewirespring.com/heat-treatment.html
--- Quote from: Jonny on March 11, 2010, 07:54:28 PM ---
How do you get on with larger diameter coil wire say 1/8"+, is it same process?
Larger guage compression and torsion springs i know the pros use a mandrel and make them cold, send away for hardening etc unless a one off.
--- End quote ---
I don't have a large enough lathe to make springs much larger than 3/32" wire diameter. I worked in a shop where large springs were made on occasion. It was done the same way, using spring wire, but it fed off a spool onto a mandrel on the lathe. The only kinds of springs I saw made there were compression springs, and the largest of about 1/4" wire diameter. After they were coiled, they were put into a tempering oven, but it took longer than for the small springs I make. They were not quenched. Just tempered and left to cool.
Dean
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