The most common question about that, how to make a spring yourself, using the tools at hand, does not occur. However, there are situations, when the spring of the required diameter is not at hand. In such cases there is a need to make this element with your own hands.
It is quite possible to make a small spring
Of course, springs for responsible mechanisms, working in intensive mode, it is best to make in production conditions, where there is an opportunity not only to pick up correctly, but also to comply with all parameters of the technological process. If the non-standard spring you need to use in the mechanism, which will be operated in a gentle mode, it can be done at home.
What you need
To make a spring with your own hands, prepare the following consumables and equipment:
- steel wire, the diameter of which should correspond to the size of the cross section of the turns of your future spring product;
- ordinary gas burner;
- tool, which is a must in every locksmith shop;
- metalwork vices;
- oven, as which the heating device of household purpose can be used also.
It is easier to wind a spiral by means of devices, the design of which depends on the size and stiffness of the spring
Wire, if its diameter does not exceed 2 mm, it is possible not to subject to preliminary heat treatment, as it is easy to bend without it. Before winding such a wire on the mandrel of the required diameter, it must be unbent and carefully aligned along the entire length of the winding.
Choosing the diameter of the mandrel, the size of the spring should be taken into account, which you are going to do at home. To compensate for the elastic deformation of the wire, the diameter of the mandrel is chosen slightly smaller, than the required size of the inner cross section of the future product.
Device for winding a coil spring
In that case, if the diameter of the wire, from which you are going to make a spring with your own hands, more 2 mm, it must be preheated, as without such procedure to level it and to wind on a mandrel it will be difficult.
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1
First, what needs to be done, if you are going to make a spring with your own hands, - is to choose the material for such a product. The optimal material in this case is another spring (the main thing, to the diameter of the wire, of which it is made, corresponded to the cross section of the coils of the spring, which you need to do).
Picking up material from an old spring, you will be sure, that the wire is made of hardened high carbon steel
Step 2
Annealing of a wire for a spring, as mentioned above, will allow you to make it more flexible, and you can easily straighten it and wind it on the mandrel. To perform this procedure, it is best to use a special oven, but if you do not have one, then you can use any other device, wood-fired.
In such a furnace it is necessary to light birch firewood and, when they burn to the coals, put a spring in them, the wire from which you are going to use. After the spring heats up to red, the coal should be shifted to the side and allow the heated product to cool together with the oven. After cooling, the wire will become much more flexible, and you can easily work with it at home.
Step 3
The soft wire should be carefully aligned and started to wind on the mandrel of the required diameter. It is important to follow this procedure, so that the turns are located close to each other. If you have never been involved in winding springs before, you can watch the training video, which is easy to find on the internet.
You can use a screwdriver to wind a small spring
Step 4
That your new spring has the necessary elasticity, it must be hardened. Such heat treatment, how hardening will make the material harder and stronger. To perform hardening, the finished spring must be heated to a temperature of 830-870 °, for which you can use a gas burner. Focus on that, that the required quenching temperature is reached, can be the color of a hot spring: it should turn light red. To accurately determine this color, also focus on video. After heating to the required temperature, the spring must be cooled in transformer or spindle oil.
The colors became incandescent
Step 5
After quenching, the spring should be kept compressed for 20-40 hours, and then process its ends on a grinder, to make a product of the required size.
After performing all the above procedures, the spring, which you made with your own hands, you can start using as intended.