spring bending???

[David454]

Iam makeing a triggergaurd/spring for a underhammer. Ive ruined 2 flat springs so far. This is how I tryed to get the bend in them. What am I doing wrong? I heat the spring to red and let it air cool. Shouldnt that make the spring so it can be shaped with out breaking.

Hasnt worked so far!! :rotf:

Do you have to keep it red for a while? Or am I just totally going about this the wrong way.

 

[Roy]

Heat the spring up and bend it while its red, or heat it up red and place it in ash (I like to use whats left from the grill). This will allow it to cool a lot slower, may take an hour or two. :thumbsup:

Either way if you want it soft to work with it needs to cool off in the ash.

 

[LRB]

It must be bent while it is red hot. Sometimes you can get away with cold bending, most often you won't.

 

[David/toledo]

You may need to draw it back some. Put it in your lead melting pot for about a 1/2 and the will do the trick. Just where the lead melts
David

 

[rich pierce]

Never bend high carbon steel cold. Must be done when "red hot" as stated above or "orange hot" is better. Spring making is not simple and anyone doing this should follow instructions from someone who has done aplenty.

 

[David454]

Ok... I shape it when its red hot and allow to cool very slow. This is anealing. Right?? After shaped and cooled will it be springy again?

 

[rich pierce]

It's not that simple and though we want to help, getting a booklet on spring making is in order. Anyone making springs shoud already be very familaiar with hardening and tempering steel.

Brief instructions, not enough info to keep you from failing:

All shaping (if you intend to forge or hammer a teper in the spring stock) and bending should be done while hot, in the incredibly bright red to orange range.

Then it should be polished to final finish carefully. No file marks are allowed across the spring but lengthwise is OK.

Then you heat till it does not allow a magnet to stick at all and quench. Since we do not know what steel you have, we can't tell you what is the best quench. Try transmission fluid first and plunge it in, red hot, and swirl around till it is cool. Take it out, clean it, and try to file it. If a new file skitters and does not cut it, the piece is hard. If it is not hard, then you have to reheat, possibly to a higher temp, and try different quenching medium. Water cools very fast and will harden springs very hard but can cause microscopic cracks that cause the spring to fail, IF it is very high carbon.

Assuming the spring is now hard, you need to temper it. There are many recipes for tempering. Do not trust your ability to simply heat it to the right color and get a good spring. Melt some lead till it is just melted and keep it that way, not as hot as hades. Soot up your hard spring in a candle and push it into the lead using a wire. Keep it in there for 10-15 minutes. Take it out and let it cool on its own. Clean it up and compress it way beyond what it will need to compress in the gun. If it does not go "Ping!" and does not bend, you have made a spring.

 

[David454]

Thank You All for the info. Ill try again and post the out come.

 

[boar]

David This one guy does like Rich,he does the magnet then quench in oil ,keep it moving in oil then he covers it in motor in a flat can, outside then lights oil and keeps it burning til gone to aneal it back,he said if is going to break it will in first 25 trys. I give you his site but i got warned other day by claude not allowed to do this Dilly

 

[Randy]

TOW sells a booklet by Kit Ravenshear called simplified V springs. It only costs a few bucks and describes the shaping, hardening, and tempering processes. Worth the price even if only making one or two springs.

 

[LRB]

Follow Rich's directions and you should have a spring. The only thing I would add, is that you need to go just a tad hotter than non- magnetic, because of the time element in getting the spring into the quench.

 

[CrackStock]

Track of the Wolf has the booklet,
Simplified V Springs
by Kit Ravenshear.

Mine was $4 plus shipping. Cheap a plenty.

CS

 

[robinghewitt]

I have promised myself that next time I come to make a folded leaf spring I will make a form for the bench press. That way I can put the bend where I want it, rather than where Murphy reckons it ought to be :cursing: