J
JCD
Guest
If you need a softer spring for your airbrush you can make one from a broken guitar string.
I picked up a Holbein, a fine airbrush but the needle spring was too strong, I was slowly clipping it down but after I broke a string on my guitar I thought "I'll make a new spring for it"
You do need a variable drill (goes from zero up to some #) as well as a mandrel (metal rod like a dremel shaft or the smooth part of a drill bit, etc) that is smaller in diameter than you want the final size of the spring as the spring will expand some when the tension is released.
I took the spring from the Holbein and kept shoving different thing in it until I found something that rattled around slightly.
I chucked up the mandrel and slid the wire under one of the jaws at about an 70 - 80 degree angle, wearing a glove I held the wire taught and very slowly started the drill and feeding the wire, by varying the angle you can change the space between the coils or make tight coils at the start and finish.
I have a couple of uneven spaces but I can't tell it by using the brush, it is smaller diameter wire than the original spring and it's wonderful, went from finger cramp to butter.
While not dangerous I would recommend eye protection, it would be a bad day if something got out of hand and that wire whipping around took out an eye.
Jim
I picked up a Holbein, a fine airbrush but the needle spring was too strong, I was slowly clipping it down but after I broke a string on my guitar I thought "I'll make a new spring for it"
You do need a variable drill (goes from zero up to some #) as well as a mandrel (metal rod like a dremel shaft or the smooth part of a drill bit, etc) that is smaller in diameter than you want the final size of the spring as the spring will expand some when the tension is released.
I took the spring from the Holbein and kept shoving different thing in it until I found something that rattled around slightly.
I chucked up the mandrel and slid the wire under one of the jaws at about an 70 - 80 degree angle, wearing a glove I held the wire taught and very slowly started the drill and feeding the wire, by varying the angle you can change the space between the coils or make tight coils at the start and finish.
I have a couple of uneven spaces but I can't tell it by using the brush, it is smaller diameter wire than the original spring and it's wonderful, went from finger cramp to butter.
While not dangerous I would recommend eye protection, it would be a bad day if something got out of hand and that wire whipping around took out an eye.
Jim
