> >I have several magazine articles on winding your own springs. Might take
> >some experimentation to catalog spring rates given by different wire
> >diameters and alloys, but the rest seems easy enough.
>
> I WOULDN'T MIND SEEING THE ARTICLES
I don't have them handy, but checking their website, I see they were in :
Home Shop Machinist, May-June 2003 (ISTR this was about winding in your
lathe)
Machinist's Workshop, Feb-Mar 2001 (ISTR this was a purpose-built winder)
and
Machinist's Workshop, Oct 1999
(this may be an earlier version of the winder in the Feb-Mar 2001 issue)
I don't think Village Press sells back issues this old, but you could check
at
http://www.homeshopmachinist.net
If not, maybe you can find them in the library, or on eBay.
> >Having them made is perhaps a bit trickier ... you need to completely
> >specify the spring in terms of free length and spring rate. If your
> >manufacturer agrees to your spec, and is unable to supply
> springs that meet
> >it, you should not have to pay for them.
>
> THE SPRING MAKER I WENT TO HAD NO TROUBLE WINDING THE SPRINGS
> FROM SAMPLES,
> THE DIFFICULTY;IS IN FORMING THE SPECIAL "LONG LOOPS" ON THE ENDS. THE
> EXACT OVERALL LENGTH OF THE SPRING IS IMPORTANT TO MAINTAIN THE CORRECT
> SPRING TENSION AT REST.
Right. An adjustable jig would probably be a good idea, but you can do a
fair amount 'tweaking' the loops by hand.
> I HAVE A SET OF TENSION BALANCE GAUGES AND CAN MEASURE THE LIFT OFF
> TENSIONS OF SPRINGS, WHICH ASSISTS, BUT IT IS NOT AN EXACT
> SCIENCE BECAUSE
> OF THE NEED TO HAVE A CRITICAL "AT REST" HOOK TO HOOK DIMENSION.
Even better than "at rest" would be "at installed length". I'm thinking of
something rather like a pair of pliers, with the jaws ground to approximate
distributor posts, a spring scale to measure the force applied to the
handles, and a distance scale to indicate how far apart the handles are.
Sorry this is all just "blue sky" thinking ... I don't even have my
distributor machine built yet.
Randall
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