Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaider
I was curious about how you made those springs, Shawn. Now I understand. Very crafty!
Was the music wire difficult to work with or pretty straightforward?
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Bending it (this .055" music wire) was straight forward once I learned some of the rules. This is a torsion spring. Techniques vary with compression and extension springs.
-be careful with the removing the wire from the roll. It wants to unwind.
-cut off disc is a must to cut and deburr ends. No cutter will do well for long.
-deburr ends first. They will shank you.
-bending it is just overbending until it relaxes where you want it.
-bending tools need to clear the hold down screws if you want a tight winding. Both my hold down screws where trimmed considerably.
-the mandrel needs to be the same size or slightly larger than the pin.
-no lathe is needed. A bench vice would work for this spring just fine.
-keep the tension when winding.
-accuracy increased with practice.
-some straightening will help with precision too. The wire doesn't need to be laser straight.
-solid pliers will bend 90* well.
I started on a 1/4" mandrel just to play and used Vice Grips to hold it to the rod. Then I went to a slightly larger mandrel and got a 5/16 id on the coil. This was too small. The windings collapse when the spring is used and I couldn't get the pin through it. Using a 5/16" mandrel allowed the spring to relax larger and works great on a 5/16" pin. I made about a dozen springs before I got a pair I liked.
EDIT:
This Old Tony did a relevant video that shows almost exactly how I made the pedal springs. I used a hand turner.
Jump to:
https://youtu.be/jAawhg6JtyY?t=440
Whole video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAawhg6JtyY
This is before I REALLY hacked up the screw heads. This is similar to some commercial spring tools.
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