Soft Spring(s) - finding the right kind of "soft"

DaveG

Airbush Analyst
I'm waiting on a bunch of parts to arrive to continue some exploration work that I have been fooling with. With a lull in testing, I took the opportunity to get into the shop this morning and wind a bunch of different springs to test in both the air valve/trigger, and needle tension applications.

I fooled with both wire type, stainless vs music wire, and wire size in conjunction with coil count to come up with a variety of spring rates to sample. Based on my likes and dislikes with each combination, I can head back into the shop to wind something else to fine tune the feel to suit my personal preferences to a tee ;).

Bottom springs on both sides are the ones I took out of the brush. The rest are pairs I wound to test with. I actually tried for 5 of each, wound up with 4 of each, with a pair or each baking in the oven at the moment...

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here I have just been using old carburetor jet springs to mess around with , Never thought about winding my own.
But for me I was looking for a stiffer spring vs a softer one.
 
Nobody can say that's not real customisation! Winding your own springs is a great idea if someone has the skills. Nice job Dave.
 
Nobody can say that's not real customisation! Winding your own springs is a great idea if someone has the skills. Nice job Dave.
Thank you, Sir! I learned to make the springs in a past endeavour that required precision - I was forced to build myself a spring winding apparatus that I use in conjunction with my lathe. Works a charm.
 
I looked into this once for a project but gave up and ordered from a custom spring place.
When you say oven dave, what kind of oven? Is there some formula or guide for the heat treat you're using or just your own trial and error. Did you aim for a particular rate or just kind of start at one point and move up or down?
 
When I originally started trying to find the springs I needed for the previous endeavour, I had a rep from one of the larger spring manufacturers here in the States recommend that I heat my springs in the oven @450 for one hour to reduce the springs tendency to sack. When you first wind them, they do some funky things - they immediately grow when the tension is removed from the wire, but will collapse some after you compress them the first few times...

For rate, I knew I wanted to go softer than factory, so there were two considerations - either more coils, or thinner wire, or both.
 
When you first wind them, they do some funky things - they immediately grow when the tension is removed from the wire, but will collapse some after you compress them the first few times...
That's why it seemed a bit like alchemy. Like it's a bit of an art. I couldn't see my self getting exactly what i needed so i gave up and custom ordered. Pretty cool project though. You've got more patience than i do.
Do you do a fast air quench? or just turn the oven off and let them cool in there?
 
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That's why it seemed a bit like alchemy. Like it's a bit of an art. I couldn't see my self getting exactly what i needed so i gave up and custom ordered. Pretty cool project though. You've got more patience than i do.
Do you do a fast air quench? or just turn the oven off and let them cool in there?
trust me, it took a LONG time to figure it all out :). Many, many yards of wire went into it :thumbsdown: before I got anywhere close to getting what I wanted. Once I started to see some results, it got easier - now it is just a thing.

remove from oven and let return to room temp...
 
Mine also tended to turn into an hourglass shape. I know it probably would have taken me a week just playing with it every day to get close.
 
When I originally started trying to find the springs I needed for the previous endeavour, I had a rep from one of the larger spring manufacturers here in the States recommend that I heat my springs in the oven @450 for one hour to reduce the springs tendency to sack. When you first wind them, they do some funky things - they immediately grow when the tension is removed from the wire, but will collapse some after you compress them the first few times...

For rate, I knew I wanted to go softer than factory, so there were two considerations - either more coils, or thinner wire, or both.
Somewhere in the dark recesses of my memory is a tidbit of information that relates to squeezing the springs a few times before using them... sadly that tidbit has broken away from the memory it belongs to...
 
Mine also tended to turn into an hourglass shape. I know it probably would have taken me a week just playing with it every day to get close.
that is the tension applied while winding - I have several store bought winding fixtures (some quite large and complex). I wound up using them to design a fixture to mount to the compound rest on the lathe. Wire tension is very important!
 
that is the tension applied while winding - I have several store bought winding fixtures (some quite large and complex). I wound up using them to design a fixture to mount to the compound rest on the lathe. Wire tension is very important!
Is that pun intended? :)

I was using someones design they had posted up on a site. But I just wasn't getting it right. At the point where i figured out it was going to take me longer to get it right than to order it, thats what I did. Similar deal though, it mounted to the compound rest. It may or may not have been an easy to operate design though. I would get spots that would kink or what have you. From what you're saying I guess i was having a lot of trouble keeping the tension consistent.
 
I would think that the "grain" of the metal would be important in winding a spring... as in the wire can't twist while its being coiled?

I know about this much ->. about springs
 
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