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Home made springs for my bit

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 7:38 pm
by ph2t
Fellas,

do any of you know what is a good source for springs? I've pulled apart all the click pens in the office and the springs are too tensile. I pulled apart some lighters and the springs are better but a too thin in diameter.

Anyone know of a good source of springs? Both my legit bits seem to turn way to hard on the floorboard surface at home. Once they start to turn the wheels sorta lockup causing really tight doughnuts that I can only get out off by stopping.

ph2t.

Re: Home made springs for my bit

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:00 pm
by noxorc
ph2t wrote:Fellas,

do any of you know what is a good source for springs? I've pulled apart all the click pens in the office and the springs are too tensile. ph2t.
I tried the pen springs also... same... too tight.

The only others I've seen, have been online.

Have you tried to twist your own?

-Nox

Re: Home made springs for my bit

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:12 pm
by kwikbb
noxorc wrote:
Have you tried to twist your own?

-Nox
all the time... but it's like coffee, it always taste better when someone elso makes it :wink: :lol:

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:27 pm
by ph2t
nox, that sounds tricky. I'd have to find some tensile wire that would work for this. And even then, being tensile I'm doubious on the fact that it would retain the new shape. To heat it up would help but then I'd have to find something to be able to hold the spring whilst it's so hot.

kwik, what's your method?

ph2t.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:34 pm
by noxorc
paper clips? thin paper clips?

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:41 pm
by kwikbb
ph2t wrote:
kwik, what's your method?

ph2t.
sorry ph2t, nox left the door open so i had to seize the opportunity (statement was not refering to springs)

in regards to the springs i haven't found any solutions short of buying them from QFM.com or someplace.
i've tried the pen thing... useless. actually now that i think of it i got these springs for my epoch that may do the trick. i'll have to try that one!

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:45 pm
by noxorc
kwikbb wrote:sorry ph2t, nox left the door open so i had to seize the opportunity (statement was not refering to springs)
when I wrote it... I was waiting for who was going to buzz in first.
And we have a winner!

ph2t... Oh come on...didn't cha get it?

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 12:14 am
by ph2t
man, now I do:lol:. I'm in brainfark mode at tha 'mo. Meetings after meetings after even more farken bloody meetings.

Man if I ever become a manager I will shoot myself!

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 12:58 am
by hogjowlz
tyco roadhugger springs. i believe bitmod.com sells them. they are pretty soft but work better than tomy's plastic thingy.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 5:50 pm
by ph2t
My old man has a piano shop, where they restore old pianos. I got him to get me some springs that are used in a piano action for regulating , timing and things like that. Some of these spings provide very thin but very tensile wire. I unwound these springs (the diameter was 8mm which is too big obviously) and I re-wound them on a 4mm diameter screwdriver. The dimensions were perfect, but the re-wound spring is now too strong! :x They fit well but the bit needs to be 3-4 times heavier for them to have any effect. At first I sorta cut them a bit too long and it pretty much killed the steering. I cut them shorter and they are better now but I need to finish the spring end off evenly so the base of the spring is flush otherwise the end of the spring cuts into the plastic of the wheel mount effectively locking in a turn. Damn!

I'm getting there fellas, slowly and un-surely.

ph2t.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:00 pm
by kwikbb
nice ph2t, didn't take you too long to get a solution going! can you get a heavier gauge piano spring or no?

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:06 pm
by ph2t
Yeah, but I'm looking at the lightest gauge as possible.

I'm gonna raid his shop on the weekend.........

:P

ph2t.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:12 pm
by CaboWabo
excellent ph2t!

so I suppose you've tried doing less "wounds" around the screw driver.
theoretically, the more times it's wrapped up, the stronger it is?

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:36 pm
by ph2t
True Cabo, but the thing is that (what I seem to find happens) when you rewind a tensile piece of metal, the structure of the "grain" changes and the wire becomes stiffer and more brittle (like annealing and raising the metals temperature and then slow cooling it). So I need to start off with wire that I think is too light (yet to find any though) and then re-wind it.

I can't remember enough of first year material science from my uni days to know exactly what happens. Enjoyed my uni days a bit too much if you catch my drift........ :wink:

ph2t.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:42 pm
by CaboWabo
true dat, you're right, I didn't even think of that...
crappola :P