Specialised spring - make or mend?

[N_Cook]

Tascam Porta one mixer and cassette deck. The heavy duty torsion spring that
gives end stop latitude to the sliding part holding the cassette heads
broken so no play function. Somehow one of the long arms has snapped, both
are long. About 2Kg over 25mm of arm brings the arms parallel (using pliers
and weigh scales). I have a glorious collection of salvaged springs from
decks etc but not a near one except one perfect one but wrong handedness,
one arm has to clear some metal work. 5mm outside diameter of the 2.5 turns
of close packed coiled part
Anyone successfully "spliced " similar back? One arm now about 8mm long ,
brass pin barrel or something and some straight spring steel? Would
soldering iron temp affect the spring ? There is space in that area for the
bulking. Or learn to make a spring from scratch?

 

[PeterD]

On Tue, 2 Nov 2010 16:23:53 -0000, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

... Would
soldering iron temp affect the spring ? There is space in that area for the
bulking. Or learn to make a spring from scratch?

No temp of soldering iron won't affect it, but spring steel is really,
really hard to solder.

I'd make one from scratch, you can buy the material at a *good*
hardware store (spring wire, AKA piano wire) in various dimensions.
Wear safety glasses when working with the stuff, just in case it
breaks while bending.

 

[Meat Plow]

On Tue, 02 Nov 2010 16:23:53 +0000, N_Cook wrote:

Tascam Porta one mixer and cassette deck. The heavy duty torsion spring
that gives end stop latitude to the sliding part holding the cassette
heads broken so no play function. Somehow one of the long arms has
snapped, both are long. About 2Kg over 25mm of arm brings the arms
parallel (using pliers and weigh scales). I have a glorious collection
of salvaged springs from decks etc but not a near one except one perfect
one but wrong handedness, one arm has to clear some metal work. 5mm
outside diameter of the 2.5 turns of close packed coiled part
Anyone successfully "spliced " similar back? One arm now about 8mm long
, brass pin barrel or something and some straight spring steel? Would
soldering iron temp affect the spring ? There is space in that area for
the bulking. Or learn to make a spring from scratch?

I would never 'rig' something like you suggest. I've done it before and
almost always ended up with a rerun. You can make a spring if you can
figure out how to temper it.



--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse

 

On Tue, 2 Nov 2010 16:23:53 -0000, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

Tascam Porta one mixer and cassette deck. The heavy duty torsion spring that
gives end stop latitude to the sliding part holding the cassette heads
broken so no play function. Somehow one of the long arms has snapped, both
are long. About 2Kg over 25mm of arm brings the arms parallel (using pliers
and weigh scales). I have a glorious collection of salvaged springs from
decks etc but not a near one except one perfect one but wrong handedness,
one arm has to clear some metal work. 5mm outside diameter of the 2.5 turns
of close packed coiled part
Anyone successfully "spliced " similar back? One arm now about 8mm long ,
brass pin barrel or something and some straight spring steel? Would
soldering iron temp affect the spring ? There is space in that area for the
bulking. Or learn to make a spring from scratch?

Purchase the proper annealed spring steel from a place like this and

make your own http://www.meadmetals.com/annealedspringsteel.htm

 

[Mark Zacharias]

"N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote in message
news:iapdu3$vfg$1@news.eternal-september.org...

Tascam Porta one mixer and cassette deck. The heavy duty torsion spring
that
gives end stop latitude to the sliding part holding the cassette heads
broken so no play function. Somehow one of the long arms has snapped, both
are long. About 2Kg over 25mm of arm brings the arms parallel (using
pliers
and weigh scales). I have a glorious collection of salvaged springs from
decks etc but not a near one except one perfect one but wrong handedness,
one arm has to clear some metal work. 5mm outside diameter of the 2.5
turns
of close packed coiled part
Anyone successfully "spliced " similar back? One arm now about 8mm long ,
brass pin barrel or something and some straight spring steel? Would
soldering iron temp affect the spring ? There is space in that area for
the
bulking. Or learn to make a spring from scratch?

Tascam is pretty good about parts on older models...

Mark Z.

 

[mm]

On Tue, 2 Nov 2010 16:23:53 -0000, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

Or learn to make a spring from scratch?

You can buy spring wire at a hobby store. I don't know what they use
it for, maybe to push airplane flaps back.

The small diameters were under a dollar for 18 inches. I don't
remember how thick they get.

 

[N_Cook]

mm <NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
newsta1d6921ckqv0h73f1pldjpg9lbscjvtn@4ax.com...

On Tue, 2 Nov 2010 16:23:53 -0000, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

Or learn to make a spring from scratch?

You can buy spring wire at a hobby store. I don't know what they use
it for, maybe to push airplane flaps back.

The small diameters were under a dollar for 18 inches. I don't
remember how thick they get.

I'll have a look around hobby and hardware places - I've never come across
it anywhere.

 

[N_Cook]

Some valve retaining clip spring wire was the right 0.9mm diameter.
Interesting seeing the formed torsion spring unwind a bit in the heating
stress-relieving process. Hopefully my third attempt will work and not bind
on the turns area, got all the angles now and right mandrel but the turns
have to seat in a recessed and hidden hollow.

 

[N_Cook]

Back in working order , how long will my spring last?. About 2mm of slack ,
for wear or spring give, before the actuating spigot bottoms out in the slot
of the metal slide carrier

 

[mm]

On Wed, 3 Nov 2010 11:58:00 -0000, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote:

Some valve retaining clip spring wire was the right 0.9mm diameter.

Great. I'm glad you got it.

FTR, they undoubtedly had that diameter at a hobby store that sells
this, for under a dollar a piece.

When I thought you might need something bigger than what you are
using, I had in mind 3 mm. thick. I must have beeen thinking about a
different part, or the same part from 40 years earlier.

Interesting seeing the formed torsion spring unwind a bit in the heating
stress-relieving process. Hopefully my third attempt will work and not bind
on the turns area, got all the angles now and right mandrel but the turns
have to seat in a recessed and hidden hollow.

I haven't done any heat treating yet. I was still trying to get it
to go over the hinge pin on my 42-inch high picket fence gate, and
also rest agaisnt the gate and the post which has the hinge, so it
would close the gate. It got hard to fit, so I went back to using
the very heavy duty spring that was on the fence when I bought the
house, but I set it very loosely; it doesn't slam; and it won't make
the gate fall apart like I think it did the last time. For years I
didn't use a closer at all, but I'm hoping to go away for 2 or 3
months and I think it would be better if the gate were closed, even
after the mailman comes. He'll shut it if I ask him too, but this is
simpler or more reliable.