I bought a 20" Rockwell drill press with a broken return spring.

I uploaded a photo to the drop box.

http://metalworking.com/dropbox/10_Broken_spring_.JPG

The replacement spring is still available, but is really expensive. I
have oxyacetylene welding equipment. Stick welder but no TIG.


Could this be silver soldered? Is there an alternative repair that
would be stronger / easier? Take it to a welding shop and have it
TIGged?

RWL

Hold the inner end of the spring with a pliers about 1/2" to 3/4" from
the end, heat it red hot to kill the temper on the end, bend it to fit.
It will be a bit shorter than original but should work.

GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote:
I bought a 20" Rockwell drill press with a broken return spring.

I uploaded a photo to the drop box.

http://metalworking.com/dropbox/10_Broken_spring_.JPG

The replacement spring is still available, but is really expensive. I
have oxyacetylene welding equipment. Stick welder but no TIG.


Could this be silver soldered? Is there an alternative repair that
would be stronger / easier? Take it to a welding shop and have it
TIGged?

RWL

RoyJ wrote:
Hold the inner end of the spring with a pliers about 1/2" to 3/4" from
the end, heat it red hot to kill the temper on the end, bend it to fit.
It will be a bit shorter than original but should work.

GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote:
I bought a 20" Rockwell drill press with a broken return spring.

I uploaded a photo to the drop box.

http://metalworking.com/dropbox/10_Broken_spring_.JPG

The replacement spring is still available, but is really expensive. I
have oxyacetylene welding equipment. Stick welder but no TIG.


Could this be silver soldered? Is there an alternative repair that
would be stronger / easier? Take it to a welding shop and have it
TIGged?

RWL





Do what Roy said--let it cool slowly in air!

"Jerry Wass" wrote in message
...
RoyJ wrote:
Hold the inner end of the spring with a pliers about 1/2" to 3/4" from
the end, heat it red hot to kill the temper on the end, bend it to fit.
It will be a bit shorter than original but should work.

GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote:
I bought a 20" Rockwell drill press with a broken return spring.

I uploaded a photo to the drop box.

http://metalworking.com/dropbox/10_Broken_spring_.JPG

The replacement spring is still available, but is really expensive. I
have oxyacetylene welding equipment. Stick welder but no TIG.


Could this be silver soldered? Is there an alternative repair that
would be stronger / easier? Take it to a welding shop and have it
TIGged?

RWL





Do what Roy said--let it cool slowly in air!

I had a spring guy tell me the baked their springs over night at 400 after
forming to stress relieve them. Don't know if that would help here or not.

On Jul 27, 12:19*am, "Tim" wrote:
"Jerry Wass" wrote in message

...





RoyJ wrote:
Hold the inner end of the spring with a pliers about 1/2" to 3/4" from
the end, heat it red hot to kill the temper on the end, bend it to fit..
It will be a bit shorter than original but should work.

GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote:
I bought a 20" Rockwell drill press with a broken return spring.

I uploaded a photo to the drop box.

http://metalworking.com/dropbox/10_Broken_spring_.JPG

The replacement spring is still available, but is really expensive. *I
have oxyacetylene welding equipment. *Stick welder but no TIG.

Could this be silver soldered? *Is there an alternative repair that
would be stronger / easier? *Take it to a welding shop and have it
TIGged?

RWL

Do what Roy said--let it cool slowly in air!

I had a spring guy tell me the baked their springs over night at 400 after
forming to stress relieve them. Don't know if that would help here or not..- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The clock spring on my M head was broken in 2 places and I couldn't
find a replacement. I used a bandsaw blade welder to fix it and it
works
fairly well. I would still like to find a new one though.

Charlie

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:25:47 -0400, GeoLane at PTD dot NET
GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote:


I bought a 20" Rockwell drill press with a broken return spring.

I uploaded a photo to the drop box.

http://metalworking.com/dropbox/10_Broken_spring_.JPG

The replacement spring is still available, but is really expensive. I
have oxyacetylene welding equipment. Stick welder but no TIG.


Could this be silver soldered? Is there an alternative repair that
would be stronger / easier? Take it to a welding shop and have it
TIGged?

If Roy's suggestion doesn't work, try looking around for an
old or maybe even buy a new engine recoil start spring.
Adjust length if needed and if it is too thick, a grinder
should be able to fix that pretty quick.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On Jul 27, 3:02*am, Charles Lessig wrote:

The clock spring on my M head was broken in 2 places and I couldn't
find a replacement. I used a bandsaw blade welder to fix it and it
works
fairly well. I would still like to find a new one though.

Try a vacuum cleaner shop - they may have a discarded cord rewinder
you can scavenge from.

I bought a 20" Rockwell drill press with a broken return spring.

I uploaded a photo to the drop box.

http://metalworking.com/dropbox/10_Broken_spring_.JPG
RWL

............................

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 RoyJ wrote:

Hold the inner end of the spring with a pliers about 1/2" to 3/4" from
the end, heat it red hot to kill the temper on the end, bend it to fit.
It will be a bit shorter than original but should work.


Thanks to all for your suggestions. The spring hadn't been shortened
much by the break, so I took Roy's suggestion and annealed abount an
inch of it and put a new slot in it for the peg that holds it to the
quill. That worked - at least so far. The quill has a 6" range.
We'll see over time if the spring holds up.

Thanks again to all.

RWL

On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 Charles Lessig wrote:

The clock spring on my M head was broken in 2 places and I couldn't
find a replacement. I used a bandsaw blade welder to fix it and it
works fairly well. I would still like to find a new one though.

Charlie

.................................

Surprisingly, the spring on this 20" Rockwell drill press is wider and
heavier than the return spring on my 2J head - at least I don't
remember the spring on my Bridgeport being this large.

RWL