scottyb70
Well-known
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
Nothing to be done but to bend your own - sometimes hardware stores have odd bits and devices from which you can take a spring of roughly identical dimensions to start with.
It is wise to scour garage sales, flea markets and the like for broken basic cameras to take apart as a source for spare screws, nuts and springs.
It is wise to scour garage sales, flea markets and the like for broken basic cameras to take apart as a source for spare screws, nuts and springs.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
It can be a complex science of its own when it comes to shutter springs that need a defined tension - I have had a very low success rate when it comes to that. But for basic hinge and transport springs, ratchets and the like, it is easy: Pick a roughly similar, a bit longer spring from your pile of scrapped undesirables, soften it by heating it to dull red over a bunsen and letting it cool down in air, bend/cut it to the new shape, reheat and drop into a bit of oil for shock cooling. If too stiff or elastic, repeat with adjusted hardening temperature. Hotter is stiffer, but also more brittle, cooler s flexible, but may easier bend out of shape - experienced metal workers can estimate the hardness by the surface colour. Chrome or nickel plate to taste.
Sevo
kuzano
Mentor
Gotcher spring here, by gumm!!!
Gotcher spring here, by gumm!!!
I have a spare Perkeo I frame that I will never use. It has all the front folding components and springs intact. It opens smartly and locks into place as it should.
The Perkeo I and II are identical in that particular area as well as other components. I've included a pic of the spring and the camera frame. The main differences are the actual very front standard and the mechanism for shutter count/stop in the top.
Look at these pics and watch for my PM if you want it.
Gotcher spring here, by gumm!!!
I have a spare Perkeo I frame that I will never use. It has all the front folding components and springs intact. It opens smartly and locks into place as it should.
The Perkeo I and II are identical in that particular area as well as other components. I've included a pic of the spring and the camera frame. The main differences are the actual very front standard and the mechanism for shutter count/stop in the top.
Look at these pics and watch for my PM if you want it.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
In theory, yes, if the spring is merely tired. However, camera springs will more often be damaged by structural fractures or corrosion, where resetting and hardening won't help any more.
so for example a spring needs more omff, heating and dropping in oil might make it more stiff? the hotter the oil, the stiffer the tension?
The oil is generally cold (there are some advanced hardening techniques employing warm or hot coolants, but you won't need to consider that until you start making shutter main springs) - the variation is in heating the metal.
It is not entirely easy - you may need a dozen attempts to start with, and even in the long run you'll produce some amount of rejects, as the small diameter of camera springs and frequent existence of surface platings make it rather hard to heat them to the right point. Dull red heat is enough for softening - bright red may already alter the composition of the steel. In hardening, you have to aim for even lower temperatures - springs usually need temperatures where the surface of bare steel would turn yellow to blue (to make it harder, you often can't see that on camera springs, as their surfaces are plated or otherwise treated).
Sevo
scottyb70
Well-known
Sevo is sending me the springs, Thanks for the help.
FallisPhoto
Mentor
Andrew, making a spring is one thing and bending one from music wire is something else entirely. Everyone I've ever heard of just bends them out of music wire, I guess mostly because they don't have a foundery and blacksmith's shop, and because tempering fine wire is extremely difficult. However, since what you are looking for, along with everyone else, is readily available in the form of music wire, doesn't it make sense to try the music store (piano wire, guitar strings, mandolin strings, zither strings and etcetera) (instead of the hardware store, as someone else here suggested)? As for bending them, you coil them around nails, pieces of tubing, dowels, twigs, chicken legs or whatever else you have at hand that looks like it will be a little under the right size (takes experience to figure out the right size mandrill for a given coil size), and you make the sharp bends with hobby pliers. It isn't hard to shape the springs, but it might take you a few tries to get the strength and size right. Fortunately, the average guitar or zither string will have enough wire in it for quite a few tries.
Last edited:
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
Charles, i didnt know it was music wire! i might take a closer look at my guitar now!!!
i dont play it much anyway LOL
Guitar wire is a mess of steel, brass, nylon and spun wires - few of them are ueful. But piano wire covers quite a few gauges. For even bigger strengths or non-round shapes, you'll have to resort to other sources, like obliging metal workshops in your vicinity, parts rescued from scrap, or cheap, trivial things things containing springs, like fountain pens, clothes pegs or spring-driven toys and alarm clocks.
Sevo
Last edited:
FallisPhoto
Mentor
I meant the finest guage steel strings for guitars, of course. They make pretty good springs.
Oh, and for those little hair-like springs, the extra fine wires they use to make old-fashioned cheese cutters work pretty well.
Last edited: