Greetings GG's,
In a clumsy attempt to tweak the spring on a chuck so that the jaws
close evenly, I broke the spring (hung head here).  I still have the
pieces, but am wondering what the correct process is for getting /
bending spring steel wire without MORE broken bits of wire.

TIA!!

Tom

Tom Johnson wrote:

> I broke the spring (hung head here).  I still have the
> pieces, but am wondering what the correct process is for getting /
> bending spring steel wire without MORE broken bits of wire.
>
> TIA!!
>
> Tom:

      If you use spring temper wire you can go ahead and bend up the
spring then stress relive it to a light straw color or about 350-400
degrees. Music wire could be used as can most any "hard wire" would do.

    Mike y.

>
>
> --

Hallo Tom & helical-minded Galoots !

Tom Johnson lamented:

> In a clumsy attempt to tweak the spring on a chuck so that the
> jaws close evenly, I broke the spring (hung head here).  I still
> have the pieces, but am wondering what the correct process is for
> getting / bending spring steel wire without MORE broken bits of
> wire.

A very long time ago, I volunteered to get into the spring-making
business, as I have had the necessary tool and a large selection
of spring wire (from another, long-forgotten project).  The tool
is a simple mechanism that applies lots of drag and some leverage
to force the wire to curl around a rotating mandrel, all the time
under quite a lot of tension.  The combination of tension plus
bending causes the wire to lose most of its tendency to uncoil.
I know the principle as the "associated flow rule" but that's
the subject of another day.  Peening the corner of a bent angle
is another handy use of that rule - the angle stays put afterwards
if you cause all of its corner to be plastically deformed while
being held in the desired position.  Todd may corroborate this;
if he doesn't, then it won't work.

Simply bending the finished spring is an exercise in frustration,
as there's no tension to go with the bending.  Yagotta get it
straight from the beginning.  Springs that buckle (aren't straight
no more) got that way 'cause they don't fit the holes in the jaws.
Too big, and they won't fit down inside when ya close the jaws. Too
small, and the spring buckles before the jaws get anywhere near
each other, and then the buckled part gets pinched.  About one-third
the chucks made have the latter problem; one-third the former.  The
remaining third are so rusty you can't move 'em at all.

This time, I solemnly promise to take a stab at making the first
such set for the one optimistic Galoot who already sent one in
for duplication, and I'll report after the weekend on my progress.
This doesn't have to sound so hard ...

Best regards,
George Langford, still at work in SE PA, cooling hissownself
(not the SEM this time) down after a day of panic in the mines.
amenex@a...
http://www.amenex.com/georgesbasement/

Tom asked:

"In a clumsy attempt to tweak the spring on a chuck so that the jaws
close evenly, I broke the spring (hung head here).  I still have the
pieces, but am wondering what the correct process is for getting /
bending spring steel wire without MORE broken bits of wire."

You can wind your own springs using what's sold as "Music Wire". This is
hardenable carbon steel wire sold in the annealed (soft) condition. MSC sells a
carbon steel grade for about 4.50 for a jillion foot roll, likely to meet your
chuck repair needs well into the next meillenium. You wind it while its soft
then harden it. For small springs I've heard of old timers doing this with an
alcohol lamp. I expect you'll have to draw the temper after the initial heat
treating, just as you would with a cutting tool. I believe that there was a
thread some time back about doing this with a toaster oven - I think Esther is
a
practionix of this art.

A simpler solution might be to simply buy three new springs. Hardware stores
usually offer various sizes of small springs for general repair. I found some
that fit a Godell-Pratt chuck this way - ballpoint pen springs sometime fit as
well..

Good luck.

Ed Balko
Middletown, New Jersey
Also makin' Shaker tables, six of them nearing completion at the moment.

Tom Johnson broke a chuck spring and George Langford offered to make a new
one.

Hi Tom,

An easier way than waiting for George to wind you a spring may be to take
the chuck to your local locksmith.  Locksmiths have the most amazing stocks
of small springs, of all lengths, diameters and strengths.  Worked for me.
The guys in the shop got intrigued by the problem, I left the chuck with
them for a couple of hours while they found time to scratch around, anf
picked it up working better than ever.  Cost less than a $, and an Aus $ at
that.

Regards,

Tony B
Hobart, Tasmania

~  -----Original Message-----
~  From: owner-oldtools@l...
~  [mailto:owner-oldtools@l...]On Behalf Of
~  Tom Johnson
~  Sent: Thursday, November 04, 1999 11:33 PM
~  To: oldtools@l...
~  Subject: Bending chuck springs: HELP
~
~
~  Greetings GG's,
~  In a clumsy attempt to tweak the spring on a chuck so that the jaws
~  close evenly, I broke the spring (hung head here).  I still have
the
~  pieces, but am wondering what the correct process is for getting /
~  bending spring steel wire without MORE broken bits of wire.

I've seen a magazine tip that involves feeding music wire round a
lathe mandrel through a tube. Presumably the tube helps the holding of
the wire and might have some relevance to George's earlier advice
about the need to straighten the wire.

The lathe is rotated by hand of course.

I imagine that correctly shaping the ends must be one of the greatest
difficulty in galooterising springs.

Jeff