Hi all,

I've certainly browsed here in the past and I am hoping that someone can offer me some relevant advice, and that this group is not too corrupted by all the political messages I just saw.

I would like to make a spring, actually, about 200 springs. They need to be extension springs, about 1" long and 0.25" diameter, but tapered so that they can be fit into an Approximately 0.23" diameter hole and will go only half way through. The upper part of the spring will stick out of the hole and will serve as an electrical contact for a wire just as in the electronics kits of yore.

I need these to be inexpensive (Less than about $0.20 per spring), because I need a lot of them. If someone knows of a source of custom springs that can make these, please let me know, and the rest of the discussion below is moot.

Because they need to be inexpensive, I am thinking the way to go is to buy uncut spring stock from McMaster-Carr (e.g. this stuff: http://www.mcmaster.com/#9664K47) and cut the pieces into 1" lengths.

But, can I taper them myself? My thought is to make a jig in a drill press.. A 1" length of spring would be dropped into a tapered hole. I would then press a pin down the center of the spring to expand the top half into the tapered hole. I would then push a semi-circular slide into place to retain the spring and slide it off the pin as I pull the pin back up. The enlarged portion of the spring would be at most 0.5" long, though probably closer to 0.375" long.

This scheme seems to me like it might work, but I have a few questions.

1) Has anyone done something like this before?

2) I presume the taper has to be a little bigger than the desired ID of the spring, as it will spring back a little bit. How much bigger?

3) Does anyone have suggestions on a nice way to cut the spring to length so I don't have sharp edges that cut fingers?

4) What spring material is most amenable to post-forming?

Thanks, and I look forward to the group's helpful and imaginative responses.

Dan

On Tue, 12 Jan 2016 10:38:24 -0800, Daniel Koller wrote:
....
I would like to make a spring, actually, about 200 springs. They need to be extension springs, about 1" long and 0.25" diameter, but tapered so that they can be fit into an Approximately 0.23" diameter hole and will go only half way through. The upper part of the spring will stick out of the hole and will serve as an electrical contact for a wire just as in the electronics kits of yore.
....
Because they need to be inexpensive, I am thinking the way to go is to buy uncut spring stock from McMaster-Carr (e.g. this stuff: http://www.mcmaster.com/#9664K47) and cut the pieces into 1" lengths.

But, can I taper them myself? My thought is to make a jig in a drill press. A 1" length of spring would be dropped into a tapered hole. I would then press a pin down the center of the spring to expand the top half into the tapered hole. I would then push a semi-circular slide into place to retain the spring and slide it off the pin as I pull the pin back up. The enlarged portion of the spring would be at most 0.5" long, though probably closer to 0.375" long.

You could try using a slotted stick (like a lead-former), thin enough to fit
down the center of the spring; install a spring, without bothering to taper
it, by folding half of the bottom turn across (so the slotted stick can catch
it) and rotating the spring into position while pressing it into the hole.
(Probably could use an electric screwdriver.) After several turns have
rotated into place in the hole, withdraw the slotted stick. The spring
expands to fill the hole, holding it in place.

....
3) Does anyone have suggestions on a nice way to cut the spring to length so I don't have sharp edges that cut fingers?
....

Dremel?

--
jiw

At work I've ordered custom and catalog springs from Lee Spring and Century
Spring and been happy. URL's are the obvious www.leespring.com and
www.century.com. Buy extension springs, cut the loop off the end that will
capture the wire or just flex it off to the side so the tool will pass, then
make a tool and screw them in as James suggested using the loop on the
other, bottom, end. Go with either stainless steel for corrosion protection
since they will get lots of rubbing in use.

-----
Regards,
Carl Ijames

"Daniel Koller" wrote in message
...

Hi all,

I've certainly browsed here in the past and I am hoping that someone can
offer me some relevant advice, and that this group is not too corrupted by
all the political messages I just saw.

I would like to make a spring, actually, about 200 springs. They need to
be extension springs, about 1" long and 0.25" diameter, but tapered so that
they can be fit into an Approximately 0.23" diameter hole and will go only
half way through. The upper part of the spring will stick out of the hole
and will serve as an electrical contact for a wire just as in the
electronics kits of yore.

I need these to be inexpensive (Less than about $0.20 per spring), because
I need a lot of them. If someone knows of a source of custom springs that
can make these, please let me know, and the rest of the discussion below is
moot.

Because they need to be inexpensive, I am thinking the way to go is to buy
uncut spring stock from McMaster-Carr (e.g. this stuff:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#9664K47) and cut the pieces into 1" lengths.

But, can I taper them myself? My thought is to make a jig in a drill press.
A 1" length of spring would be dropped into a tapered hole. I would then
press a pin down the center of the spring to expand the top half into the
tapered hole. I would then push a semi-circular slide into place to retain
the spring and slide it off the pin as I pull the pin back up. The enlarged
portion of the spring would be at most 0.5" long, though probably closer to
0.375" long.

This scheme seems to me like it might work, but I have a few questions.

1) Has anyone done something like this before?

2) I presume the taper has to be a little bigger than the desired ID of the
spring, as it will spring back a little bit. How much bigger?

3) Does anyone have suggestions on a nice way to cut the spring to length
so I don't have sharp edges that cut fingers?

4) What spring material is most amenable to post-forming?

Thanks, and I look forward to the group's helpful and imaginative responses.

Dan

"Carl Ijames" wrote in message ...

At work I've ordered custom and catalog springs from Lee Spring and Century
Spring and been happy. URL's are the obvious www.leespring.com and
www.century.com. Buy extension springs, cut the loop off the end that will

grrrr, that's www.centuryspring.com, sigh

capture the wire or just flex it off to the side so the tool will pass, then
make a tool and screw them in as James suggested using the loop on the
other, bottom, end. Go with either stainless steel for corrosion protection
since they will get lots of rubbing in use.

-----
Regards,
Carl Ijames

"Daniel Koller" wrote in message
...

Hi all,

I've certainly browsed here in the past and I am hoping that someone can
offer me some relevant advice, and that this group is not too corrupted by
all the political messages I just saw.

I would like to make a spring, actually, about 200 springs. They need to
be extension springs, about 1" long and 0.25" diameter, but tapered so that
they can be fit into an Approximately 0.23" diameter hole and will go only
half way through. The upper part of the spring will stick out of the hole
and will serve as an electrical contact for a wire just as in the
electronics kits of yore.

I need these to be inexpensive (Less than about $0.20 per spring), because
I need a lot of them. If someone knows of a source of custom springs that
can make these, please let me know, and the rest of the discussion below is
moot.

Because they need to be inexpensive, I am thinking the way to go is to buy
uncut spring stock from McMaster-Carr (e.g. this stuff:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#9664K47) and cut the pieces into 1" lengths.

But, can I taper them myself? My thought is to make a jig in a drill press.
A 1" length of spring would be dropped into a tapered hole. I would then
press a pin down the center of the spring to expand the top half into the
tapered hole. I would then push a semi-circular slide into place to retain
the spring and slide it off the pin as I pull the pin back up. The enlarged
portion of the spring would be at most 0.5" long, though probably closer to
0.375" long.

This scheme seems to me like it might work, but I have a few questions.

1) Has anyone done something like this before?

2) I presume the taper has to be a little bigger than the desired ID of the
spring, as it will spring back a little bit. How much bigger?

3) Does anyone have suggestions on a nice way to cut the spring to length
so I don't have sharp edges that cut fingers?

4) What spring material is most amenable to post-forming?

Thanks, and I look forward to the group's helpful and imaginative responses.

Dan

"Carl Ijames" wrote in message
...
"Carl Ijames" wrote in message
...

At work I've ordered custom and catalog springs from Lee Spring and
Century
Spring and been happy. URL's are the obvious www.leespring.com and
www.century.com. Buy extension springs, cut the loop off the end
that will

grrrr, that's www.centuryspring.com, sigh

capture the wire or just flex it off to the side so the tool will
pass, then
make a tool and screw them in as James suggested using the loop on
the
other, bottom, end. Go with either stainless steel for corrosion
protection
since they will get lots of rubbing in use.

-----
Regards,
Carl Ijames

"Daniel Koller" wrote in message
...

Hi all,

I've certainly browsed here in the past and I am hoping that someone
can
offer me some relevant advice, and that this group is not too
corrupted by
all the political messages I just saw.

I would like to make a spring, actually, about 200 springs. They
need to
be extension springs, about 1" long and 0.25" diameter, but tapered
so that
they can be fit into an Approximately 0.23" diameter hole and will
go only
half way through. The upper part of the spring will stick out of
the hole
and will serve as an electrical contact for a wire just as in the
electronics kits of yore.

I need these to be inexpensive (Less than about $0.20 per spring),
because
I need a lot of them. If someone knows of a source of custom
springs that
can make these, please let me know, and the rest of the discussion
below is
moot.

Because they need to be inexpensive, I am thinking the way to go is
to buy
uncut spring stock from McMaster-Carr (e.g. this stuff:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#9664K47) and cut the pieces into 1"
lengths.

But, can I taper them myself? My thought is to make a jig in a
drill press.
A 1" length of spring would be dropped into a tapered hole. I would
then
press a pin down the center of the spring to expand the top half
into the
tapered hole. I would then push a semi-circular slide into place to
retain
the spring and slide it off the pin as I pull the pin back up. The
enlarged
portion of the spring would be at most 0.5" long, though probably
closer to
0.375" long.

This scheme seems to me like it might work, but I have a few
questions.

1) Has anyone done something like this before?

2) I presume the taper has to be a little bigger than the desired
ID of the
spring, as it will spring back a little bit. How much bigger?

3) Does anyone have suggestions on a nice way to cut the spring to
length
so I don't have sharp edges that cut fingers?

4) What spring material is most amenable to post-forming?

Thanks, and I look forward to the group's helpful and imaginative
responses.

Dan


https://www.adafruit.com/categories/458

On 2016-01-12, Daniel Koller wrote:
Hi all,

I've certainly browsed here in the past and I am hoping that someone
can offer me some relevant advice, and that this group is not too
corrupted by all the political messages I just saw.

I would like to make a spring, actually, about 200 springs. They need
to be extension springs, about 1" long and 0.25" diameter, but tapered
so that they can be fit into an Approximately 0.23" diameter hole and
will go only half way through. The upper part of the spring will stick
out of the hole and will serve as an electrical contact for a wire just
as in the electronics kits of yore.

Hmm ... stepped diameter, or tapered?

I need these to be inexpensive (Less than about $0.20 per spring),
because I need a lot of them. If someone knows of a source of custom
springs that can make these, please let me know, and the rest of the
discussion below is moot.

How about making them yourself? There used to be a really good
web site on how to make springs on a site called "bazillion.com". I
can't find it right now, so it may have moved.

Anyway -- for tapered -- let's assume that you have a lathe
(which will make things a lot easier).

Start by taking some steel and turning a taper to match the
desired ID of the spring (a little smaller, really, because of
springback).

Cut a notch in the small end, and put the end of the wire in the
slot and start the lathe turning slowly. You will need to make some kind
of guide, of course. Wind the wire up the taper a bit past where you
need to be.

As for the ideal wire to make springs -- normally steel music
wire sold in rolls from the usual machine shop suppliers like MSC.

But -- for the kind of contact springs which you are describing,
I would suggest phosphor bronze instead. It should be a good contact
material.

Starrett makes a compound leverage end nipper (No. 5, IIRC)
which is good for music wire and other spring wires. This is the kind
of tool you want to make the cuts of the wire.

Get good leather gloves to avoid cuts from the spring unwinding
when you cut it off.

Because they need to be inexpensive, I am thinking the way to go is to
buy uncut spring stock from McMaster-Carr (e.g. this stuff:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#9664K47) and cut the pieces into 1" lengths.

Your quantities seem to favor making them yourself. Over 1000
or so it is time to ask a company to make special springs. (This is
again assuming that you have a lathe.

Good Luck,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Hi all,

How does one attach a photograph in Google groups?

I may have found an answer to my question. First of all, both Lee Spring and Century Spring are prohibitively expensive. I just checked their *stock* springs and they are ~~$1-~$2 a pop. No way. I'm looking for something in the range of 10-30 cents per spring.

So just for fun I drilled a stepped hole in a block of aluminum and stuck a piece of 0.188" OD spring in the hole, and used a tapered center punch in my drill press to open the spring up. It immediately collapses. In the larger part of the hole, it can fall out, and in the smaller lower portion of the hole where it's constrained, the coils fold in. No good.

But it happens that if I turn the drill press on, the friction between the
punch and the spring tends to unwind it, and it opens right up to the OD of the punch. I was able to open the spring up to ~0.230 OD at the widest. So, with a properly shaped taper (or perhaps 2 or three to carry out the operation in steps) I think I can open the spring up to the shape I want.

I have before and after pictures I can post if I can figure out how.

Dan


On Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 1:38:28 PM UTC-5, Daniel Koller wrote:
Hi all,

I've certainly browsed here in the past and I am hoping that someone can offer me some relevant advice, and that this group is not too corrupted by all the political messages I just saw.

I would like to make a spring, actually, about 200 springs. They need to be extension springs, about 1" long and 0.25" diameter, but tapered so that they can be fit into an Approximately 0.23" diameter hole and will go only half way through. The upper part of the spring will stick out of the hole and will serve as an electrical contact for a wire just as in the electronics kits of yore.

I need these to be inexpensive (Less than about $0.20 per spring), because I need a lot of them. If someone knows of a source of custom springs that can make these, please let me know, and the rest of the discussion below is moot.

Because they need to be inexpensive, I am thinking the way to go is to buy uncut spring stock from McMaster-Carr (e.g. this stuff: http://www.mcmaster.com/#9664K47) and cut the pieces into 1" lengths.

But, can I taper them myself? My thought is to make a jig in a drill press. A 1" length of spring would be dropped into a tapered hole. I would then press a pin down the center of the spring to expand the top half into the tapered hole. I would then push a semi-circular slide into place to retain the spring and slide it off the pin as I pull the pin back up. The enlarged portion of the spring would be at most 0.5" long, though probably closer to 0.375" long.

This scheme seems to me like it might work, but I have a few questions.

1) Has anyone done something like this before?

2) I presume the taper has to be a little bigger than the desired ID of the spring, as it will spring back a little bit. How much bigger?

3) Does anyone have suggestions on a nice way to cut the spring to length so I don't have sharp edges that cut fingers?

4) What spring material is most amenable to post-forming?

Thanks, and I look forward to the group's helpful and imaginative responses.

Dan

On 2016-01-21, Daniel Koller wrote:
Hi all,

How does one attach a photograph in Google groups?

First off -- while *you* may be reading and posting in Google
groups, what you are really posting in is the Usenet newsgroup
rec.crafts.metalworking, which google has imported into their "groups".
The rules vary among the *many* servers carrying the newsgroups, and one
of the basic rules is "no binaries (which includes attached images)*in
non-binary newsgroups.

Rec.crafts.metalworking is *not* a binary newsgroup, so the
proper solution is to find a web hosting service of some form or other,
put the images there, and post the URL to view those in the newsgroup
posting.

I may have found an answer to my question.
Spring and Century Spring are prohibitively expensive. I just checked

[ ... ]

So just for fun I drilled a stepped hole in a block of aluminum and
stuck a piece of 0.188" OD spring in the hole, and used a tapered center
punch in my drill press to open the spring up. It immediately
collapses. In the larger part of the hole, it can fall out, and in the
smaller lower portion of the hole where it's constrained, the coils fold
in. No good.

But it happens that if I turn the drill press on, the friction between
the punch and the spring tends to unwind it, and it opens right up to
the OD of the punch. I was able to open the spring up to ~0.230 OD at
the widest. So, with a properly shaped taper (or perhaps 2 or three to
carry out the operation in steps) I think I can open the spring up to
the shape I want.

O.K. Solved!

I have before and after pictures I can post if I can figure out how.

Please *don't*. Do as I suggested above and put them on some
web based service, and post the URL for the images in your article.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Hi Don,

Ok, understood. Thanks. So the Usenet groups still more or less exist? Haven't they all been susbsumed by Google? I've been using usenet groups for a VERY long time (20+ years!) but didn't think they were still viable as a source of information. I'm happily proven wrong.

Is there a decent freeware usenet reader that I could use instead of Google? How do I get rid of or filter all the annoying political messages at appear (at least within my set up of google) in rec.crafts.metalworking?

I presume that rec.crafts.metalworking is not moderated.

There must be a binary dump I can just link to and throw the pictures in there, but for the extra effort required, I'll wait till I have some decent pictures and not just the two quick ones I took. We'll have a couple days of digging out of the snow here, so I'll hopefully have some time to play in my shop!

Thanks for the help,

Dan


On Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 1:38:28 PM UTC-5, Daniel Koller wrote:
Hi all,

I've certainly browsed here in the past and I am hoping that someone can offer me some relevant advice, and that this group is not too corrupted by all the political messages I just saw.

I would like to make a spring, actually, about 200 springs. They need to be extension springs, about 1" long and 0.25" diameter, but tapered so that they can be fit into an Approximately 0.23" diameter hole and will go only half way through. The upper part of the spring will stick out of the hole and will serve as an electrical contact for a wire just as in the electronics kits of yore.

I need these to be inexpensive (Less than about $0.20 per spring), because I need a lot of them. If someone knows of a source of custom springs that can make these, please let me know, and the rest of the discussion below is moot.

Because they need to be inexpensive, I am thinking the way to go is to buy uncut spring stock from McMaster-Carr (e.g. this stuff: http://www.mcmaster.com/#9664K47) and cut the pieces into 1" lengths.

But, can I taper them myself? My thought is to make a jig in a drill press. A 1" length of spring would be dropped into a tapered hole. I would then press a pin down the center of the spring to expand the top half into the tapered hole. I would then push a semi-circular slide into place to retain the spring and slide it off the pin as I pull the pin back up. The enlarged portion of the spring would be at most 0.5" long, though probably closer to 0.375" long.

This scheme seems to me like it might work, but I have a few questions.

1) Has anyone done something like this before?

2) I presume the taper has to be a little bigger than the desired ID of the spring, as it will spring back a little bit. How much bigger?

3) Does anyone have suggestions on a nice way to cut the spring to length so I don't have sharp edges that cut fingers?

4) What spring material is most amenable to post-forming?

Thanks, and I look forward to the group's helpful and imaginative responses.

Dan

On 2016-01-22, Daniel Koller wrote:
Hi Don,

Ok, understood. Thanks. So the Usenet groups still more or less
exist?

It is nice to encounter someone who knows about usenet, and does
not think that Google is the be-all and end-all. :-)

Haven't they all been susbsumed by Google? I've been using
usenet groups for a VERY long time (20+ years!) but didn't think they
were still viable as a source of information. I'm happily proven wrong.

There are a number of servers around. I use www.newsguy.com.
You can either use your own newsreader via NNTP, or their PC program DRN
(Direct ReadNews). They charge, but not a painful amount. I use slrn as
my newsreader on a Sun workstation running Solaris 10. The 's' in its
name sands for "scoring", so you can both subdue articles based on
poster or "Subject: " header (or other things) or boost them to early in
the reading experience, based on similar patterns.

The www site mentioned above tells you how to subscribe, and
offers the (DRN (Direct ReadNews) reader with the subscription. For
NNTP, the actual NNTP connection is to "news.newsguy.com" once you have
your account.

One of the rules which helps a lot (but slows down the startup
of the newsreader) is to give negative scores to articles with more than
one newsgroup in the "Newsgroups: " header. The more newsgroups, the
more negative the score, and the more likely it is to be killed totally.

Also -- strong negative scores for political party names and
candidate names help greatly, as well as for certain frequent posters
who will quickly become obvious.

The number of free news servers is slowly decreasing. One of
the common ones recently shifted to a paid mode.

"eternal-september.org" is in general a bad choice, because they
have a habit of protecting trolls, so kilfilling sometimes focuses on
the news server.

Is there a decent freeware usenet reader that I could use instead of
Google?

Depends on your platform. I know mostly ones for unix/linux
flavors, and do not use Windows for anything connected to the net. (Nor
for much else, given the choice. :-) Others here can suggest Windows
based newsreaders.

How do I get rid of or filter all the annoying political
messages at appear (at least within my set up of google) in
rec.crafts.metalworking?

A killfile, or the scoring feature in slrn and strn. (Both of
the latter are unix/linux flavored programs, while there are some for
Windows.) Both of the above may require you to compile from source,
though slrn comes pre-compiled on Solairis 10's "Software Companion" CD
of freeware. Not sure what you can find for Windows. Perhaps some of
them have been ported.

I presume that rec.crafts.metalworking is not moderated.

Back when it was formed, nobody foresaw the need for moderation,
and the amount of work needed to reform it as moderated is perhaps
beyond reasonable -- aside from finding enough people willing to serve
as moderators these days. We've lost a *lot* of good people.

There must be a binary dump I can just link to and throw the pictures
in there, but for the extra effort required, I'll wait till I have some
decent pictures and not just the two quick ones I took. We'll have a
couple days of digging out of the snow here, so I'll hopefully have some
time to play in my shop!

Not sure whether I will even have power come tomorrow, thanks to
that snow. We'll see. :-)

There are a number of sites which will host photos for free --
often at the cost of some advertising. If *I* need to put up some, I
have my own web server, though it is more likely to be an entire project
related page rather than a couple of photos.

There used to be a local site which was called "The Dropbox"
which was run by a local metalworking club -- but the name was bought
a few years ago, so that is no longer an option -- though whoever bought
the name might serve the function.

Thanks for the help,

You're welcome.

Good Luck,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On Wed, 20 Jan 2016 17:51:50 -0800 (PST), Daniel Koller
wrote:

Hi all,

How does one attach a photograph in Google groups?

I may have found an answer to my question. First of all, both Lee Spring and Century Spring are prohibitively expensive. I just checked their *stock* springs and they are ~~$1-~$2 a pop. No way. I'm looking for something in the range of 10-30 cents per spring.

So just for fun I drilled a stepped hole in a block of aluminum and stuck a piece of 0.188" OD spring in the hole, and used a tapered center punch in my drill press to open the spring up. It immediately collapses. In the larger part of the hole, it can fall out, and in the smaller lower portion of the hole where it's constrained, the coils fold in. No good.

But it happens that if I turn the drill press on, the friction between the
punch and the spring tends to unwind it, and it opens right up to the OD of the punch. I was able to open the spring up to ~0.230 OD at the widest. So, with a properly shaped taper (or perhaps 2 or three to carry out the operation in steps) I think I can open the spring up to the shape I want.

I have before and after pictures I can post if I can figure out how.

Dan

Dan..there is no way to attach photos to this or MOST Usenet groups.
They are text only..non binary.

If you have to attach something..attach a link. This of course means
you have to have a place to present your pictures from..there are many
many such sites out there..I prefer this one

https://picasaweb.google.com

As Ive been dabbling with photography...here is a link to a dabbled
with photo (Grin)

https://picasaweb.google.com/1040422...82216262276210

And the master link to all my photo albums that are "public"

https://picasaweb.google.com/104042282269066802602

I should also mention that Picasa has a rather decent photo editing
suite that can be installed on your computer...if you so desire.

Gunner