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I was going to suggest this too. They come in three different colors and each color has a different strength.
Help Me Design a Spring
- Thread starter Johnm1
- Start date
I was going to suggest this too. They come in three different colors and each color has a different strength.
All good ideas. I have thought of 'alternative' materials to use as a suitable replacement and tried a few. The problem I have is the shape of the spring. I've tried using piano wire to form something that is the correct shape to no avail yet. The spring has to 'hook' into the frame and then bend the other direction to apply the force on the hand. it also has to be very narrow to fit between the frame and the side of the hammer. I suspect I will be able to make the spring, I just haven't been successful yet. And the work around does work.
Here is a picture of a similar spring from a different firearm. It shows the odd bends that are there I'm sure to allow the spring to be installed. Those bends won't necessarily be the same.
I was struck by the similarities of the OP's pistol to a North American Arms .22 revolver. Just for fun, I fabricated a cylinder hand spring from piano wire and it has worked fine; I have not
needed to fabricate the flat hammer spring. Just Saturday afternoon musing here.
needed to fabricate the flat hammer spring. Just Saturday afternoon musing here.
If only I had a removable side plate. The piano wire would work for my application. Unfortunately mine is a solid frame and the spring has to be able to be fed into the frame from the grip side. I suspect some of the bends are there to facilitate installation.
Thanks for the photo/diagram of how you tackled it. Even if it was just for fun.
Blue68f100
Member
What thickness is the original spring. I have some Brellium/copper sheet laying around but it's not very thick. If it's close I can cut off a piece and mail it too you.
I never had an original. When I got the firearm it had a spring that I used as a sample to produce my work around. I'd have used the original except I tried to temper it thinking it was steel. Turns out Brellium/copper doesn't take too well to high heat. All I can do is approximate the space it fits in. Thickness would be atotal guess. So what ever thickness you have is worth a try. It doesn't need to apply much spring pressure. I'll have to take it apart to measure. Your offer is appreciated. But I just got back from 5 hours at the range in 105 degree heat and I need to recover. I should be able to get those later this evening.
The other springs in the gun were Brellium/copper so I'm thinking that is the right material. FYI - Brellium/copper looks like stedl after 100 years of gummy oil and oxidation.
Blue68f100
Member
The Brellium/copper I have is 0.020" thick. It came off a roll that was 12" wide. PM me your address if you want it.
Another option is find a broken spring in a recoil starter used on Lawn equipment. I had one break on my chain saw last year that I had to repair. Too cheap to replace it so I just heated up the end to remove the temper to bend the flat spring into the shape needed to anchor. It was around 1/4" wide. A small engine shop is where I would go if I needed a broken one.
Another option is find a broken spring in a recoil starter used on Lawn equipment. I had one break on my chain saw last year that I had to repair. Too cheap to replace it so I just heated up the end to remove the temper to bend the flat spring into the shape needed to anchor. It was around 1/4" wide. A small engine shop is where I would go if I needed a broken one.
It’s been a while but I managed to replicate the original flat hand spring and replace the spacer I had in place.
Initially I tried using piano wire but was unsuccessful. I’m not sure if the material I used is that much different than piano wire, but I was successful today. The material I used was called DIY Memory Wire.
It handled differently than Piano wire. The memory wire doesn’t appear to have as much potential’Spring Force’ as piano wire but it bends easier and still retains some spring force. As this installation doesn’t require much spring force it worked. All it has to do is hold the hand against the back of the cylinder.
Here is an approximation of the final spring. This was the first attempt to form the shape outside of the pistol.
It was too difficult to guess the actual shape and accurately bend it first, so I basically pushed a straight piece through from the back of the recoil shield and bent it in place. But now it functions as designed. When I had the spacer in place it would place the hand in a ‘correct enough’ position to reliably advance the cylinder but would not ‘push’ the hand far enough forward to contact the back of the cylinder while at half cock. So there were no clicks when the cylinder was spun at half cock. We now have clicks.
Initially I tried using piano wire but was unsuccessful. I’m not sure if the material I used is that much different than piano wire, but I was successful today. The material I used was called DIY Memory Wire.
It handled differently than Piano wire. The memory wire doesn’t appear to have as much potential’Spring Force’ as piano wire but it bends easier and still retains some spring force. As this installation doesn’t require much spring force it worked. All it has to do is hold the hand against the back of the cylinder.
Here is an approximation of the final spring. This was the first attempt to form the shape outside of the pistol.
It was too difficult to guess the actual shape and accurately bend it first, so I basically pushed a straight piece through from the back of the recoil shield and bent it in place. But now it functions as designed. When I had the spacer in place it would place the hand in a ‘correct enough’ position to reliably advance the cylinder but would not ‘push’ the hand far enough forward to contact the back of the cylinder while at half cock. So there were no clicks when the cylinder was spun at half cock. We now have clicks.
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I'm not sure if the below link will work. Technology sometimes gets the best of me. But here is a link to a video of how it works now. My poor picture taking skills just transferred to videos.
EDIT- see post 36 for video
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOFLsbhVDNGRGY3ehVQRJIh0zTBkiXALyHrotBU
EDIT- see post 36 for video
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOFLsbhVDNGRGY3ehVQRJIh0zTBkiXALyHrotBU
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Let's see if this works. There is more than one video in this album.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=ck1tdFphMkQwdG5NczRReFJEUHNiaU1MWGxWVmNR
Or this one that should get you directly to the video.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=ck1tdFphMkQwdG5NczRReFJEUHNiaU1MWGxWVmNR
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This one worked, nicely done!
I've been looking for a little project gun like that myself for a good minute. There's just something about those little top break revolvers.
What I want next is a 32 DA. Just a bit smaller.
As far as the Suicide Special, I have one left to finish. Another H&A Ranger. But this one is fully engraved. It came in a bag but was missing the cylinder stop. Other wise fully functional and nice looking with about 90% of its nickel. The cylinder stops vary a lot. Same concept but slightly different dimensions. I have another H&A Ranger and the cylinder stop is very close but wont interchange. I'll use it for a template but the geometry of the pin location is going to be trial and error.
As far as the Suicide Special, I have one left to finish. Another H&A Ranger. But this one is fully engraved. It came in a bag but was missing the cylinder stop. Other wise fully functional and nice looking with about 90% of its nickel. The cylinder stops vary a lot. Same concept but slightly different dimensions. I have another H&A Ranger and the cylinder stop is very close but wont interchange. I'll use it for a template but the geometry of the pin location is going to be trial and error.
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