Sourcing & making springs for slot machines

[grains]

Great advice badpenny, very helpful indeed - Thank you

[watlingman]

Those Clarke springs are OK for simple jobs but not good for 3 reel mechanisms. They don't have enough longevity in them and stay stretched almost!

[badpenny]

Agreed David, there are wishy washy ones included for those needing to adjust their nail scissors or renovate paperclips.
If you're looking to change anything beefy like a clock spring or a kicker's then you'll need substantial replacements.
Otherwise I've done ok.
Like most I've never thrown anything anyway and the point I'm making most is how to effectively adjust and reuse.
After all David we haven't all got our own high tech engineering company

In the 60s when I would turn up to do my Summer stint at Uncle Gordon's arcade in Paignton, I knew that every machine he was operating would contain rubber bands somewhere inside, and would have been like that since Easter. My first week would be spent nicking ball point pens in order to rob out the springs. I soon learnt they would fit pay out fingers, and let's face it if they weren't strong enough to actuate a win, Uncle Gordon wasn't going to lose any sleep.

BP

[dickywink]

I was lucky enough to buy on Ebay some 40 year old spring kits from RS... They are really good and still turn up on Ebay occasionally... Do and save a search for RS spring kits and you will be surprised.

all the best ..... dicky

[badpenny]

I did search and it came up with drum brakes and shock absorbers.
I think it's identifying RS as in Ford RS?
You said made by RS, who are they?

BP

[badpenny]

Belay that last one, I found this https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/spring-kits/0684428

[arrgee]

As always a sage snippet of useful and creative information BP regarding adjustable end loops to springs.
I am sure that the dental picks will also be very useful in readjusting my incisors as the gleaming tooth enamel gives way under the high velocity impact from the spring as I fail to locate it correctly on its holding lug.

[tallstory]

I did search and it came up with drum brakes and shock absorbers.
I think it's identifying RS as in Ford RS?
You said made by RS, who are they?

BP

Old folks in the electrical trade, like me, remember RS as Radio Spares and that is just what they sold. They do much more now and have moved up market and won't call themselves Radio Spares any more - just RS Components. They are really a distributor rather than a manufacturer.

[sutty]

Topic moved & merged - Site Admin.

In April 21, I ordered a clock spring, and a few others, together with a bunch of bolts, from Mr Slot, in the US, but nothing ever came of it, or my money, so I have given up waiting and ordered some piano wire, of various sizes.

I decided to tackle the clock spring first, because it's the thickest I have to do, and I figured it would be the hardest. I used a DOS based calculator, and a resource I found online to work out the mandrel size, and looked at pictures of the spring to try and work out its size, and wire thickness. My calculations showed I needed less than 1m of my chosen wire, to make 40 turns, plus a few extras for the hook ends, but I was mistaken.

I ended up winding the whole metre, and after putting the ends on, ended up about 5 turns short. However, it seems to be working okay, and it looks sort of okay, so I'm going to have to live with it, at least for now. One thing's for sure, it's a damned sight better than the elastic bands I had been using, to test my mechanism.



Cheers

Sutty

[special when lit]

Looks good. Was it difficult to do?

[badpenny]

After you've formed the shape of the spring, do you then heat it and quench?

[sutty]

Thanks, though I'm not so sure about good, but I think it's probably good enough.

It was difficult, because the wire is incredibly stiff, despite the fact that it's 'only' 1.2mm thick, and I don't really have the right tools, such as a lathe. I had to clamp my drill in the vice, trying hard not to over squash the case of the drill, and then turn it by hand. I learned a few things today though, doing the smaller ones I needed, and as a result I think could have done a better job with that one, knowing what I know now, but to do it I would need longer lengths of wire than needed for the spring itself. Well, I was short anyway, as I described above, but there's another reason.

It might seem obvious, but I think the wire needs to be straight. If you leave the natural curve in it, from how it is wrapped for sending it to you, then you can't control how those bends will appear at, and in, the spring, and I think that made it a little higgledy piggledy. So, either work it with your fingers, until it is straight, so the angle, as it comes to the mandrel, won't matter, or, if possible, and I haven't quite worked out how to do this, ensure it is presented to the mandrel, in the direction of the natural curl of the wire. There must be an easy way to do that, and I managed it quite well with the small ones today, just by being careful, and always making sure it was coming to my tensioner the right way round. Actually, it just stayed the right way, all the time, so I was either lucky, or it would do that anyway, once started off right.

The thing that caused the most problem though, was that, as it wound onto the mandrel, and became a longer and longer spring, it changed the angle, significantly, from where I had it clamped to the side of the bench, between two pieces of wood, to create adequate and consistent tension, and eventually, it decided to wind back over itself, and screwed it all up. I then had to unwind it, at the end, and then rewind the tension on, having changed that angle, then try to carry on, plus of course, I ran out of wire. Oh, and the ends are very hard to bend on, without damaging the rest of the spring as you do it. Not sure how to best do that, yet.

Anyway, if I had had say a 3m length, I could have come at it from right across the bench, not 6 inches away, and the angle change would have been insignificant. So, if I attempt to do it again, that's what I'll do.

Today's effort on one of the smaller springs is a very pleasing result to me, but even on this, much thinner wire, the ends are still tricky to bend up. Again, I only had a short lengths of wire to work with, so I couldn't come at it from across the bench, but I kept a really close eye on it, and had more tension on it, so it forced it not to go back on itself, even when it was coming at it 'off' angle.

This is my very Heath Robinson setup. If it were longer, and coming from across the bench, I'm pretty sure I could just have wound it with the drill on slow, rather than by hand. The mandrel for the smaller spring, was a 3.3mm nail, and if I had had a smooth bar, for the bigger mandrel, I'm pretty sure it would have been better again.

Cheers

Sutty

[coppinpr]

Tell me? Would this help with bending the ends? Take no notice of the price, I only show this one as an example.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001 ... mainSearch

[brigham]

Would buying a box of assorted springs not be easier?
That's what I do.

[badpenny]

At the end of my post here I described how I make adjustable spring loops for ends of springs. You may find it of use.

I asked you if you heat treat the finished product?

BP

[sutty]

After you've formed the shape of the spring, do you then heat it and quench?

No, it isn't needed, they are just springy because of their shape, and because they are wound from spring steel piano wire. I'm guessing, that they go past their elastic limit, only in the direction you are bending them, and retain it in the direction you use them. Not sure that they even lose their springiness, even in the direction you have 'over' bent them, because they still seem damned springy, even in that direction. They unwind a lot, and and get fatter, when you release them, and there is a calculator to tell you how big they will become, or more to the point, what mandrel size you will need for any given ID and wire thickness.

Here is someone with better tools, and more skill than I, but it helped with the basic principles, and with a link to the calculators.

Tell me? Would this help with bending the ends? Take no notice of the price, I only show this one as an example.

I'm not sure to be honest, but maybe so. They seem difficult to even poke your finger nail in between, to get the pliers in, and then as you bend, it starts bending the next coil, so you have to try and pin it down.

Would buying a box of assorted springs not be easier?
That's what I do.

Quite possibly, and it had crossed my mind, but I thought it unlikely to have a match to the required spring for any given requirement. I did briefly look at some sets, some time ago, and they didn't seem to have what I wanted. I'm sure you're right, and if it works for you, then it must be possible to find the right collection, but it was fun trying, and learning how to do it, of a fashion. The last one I did was much better, so I think I could do the first one well now.

Do you have a link to a set I could consider, that contains an equivalent of the 40 turn clock spring?

At the end of my post here I described how I make adjustable spring loops for ends of springs. You may find it of use.

Excellent. Very nice, thank you.

[badpenny]

Here is someone with better tools, and more skill than I, but it helped with the basic principles, and with a link to the calculators.

Excellent link, thanks.

[coppinpr]

I've often wondered, would it be possible to cut these into workable springs or are they not suitable?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3287615 ... mainSearch

[tallstory]

The video is a help (as long as you can bear the endless puns). Also I found the complicated tools he used for feeding the wire quite unnecessary. I used a couple of plastic strips, held by the fingers of my leather gloved hand, worked best. Then you can vary the pressure and the feed angle as needed. Always buy too much piano wire because the first one is usually a 'practice' one.
As others have suggested, a lathe isn't necessary as long as you have a speed controlled electric drill and a vice. The wire is trapped in the drill chuck with the mandrel and my left had controls the drill speed. I found using the drill in reverse made it easier to judge the feeding of the wire.

[sutty]

Managed another one today with which I am happy. Used the gloved hand tension and guide technique, shown above, which worked well, thank you tallstory. Tried a test wind of the much thicker 1.22mm wire, and it was not possible to hold it by hand. It was way too stiff for me, so I guess I must be too weak. Still coming up with a plan for redoing the clock spring, just for fun. I'm happy enough with what I produced, but if I can do better, now I have bought some more 1.22mm wire, then I'll do so.

New spring in background, and old in foreground. Old is 4.03mm OD, and new is 4.07mm OD, from 0.014" wire, in both cases. As you can see the old one was rusty, over stretched, and broken, so I'm pretty sure I needed a new one.