winding very thin springs

[coppercone2]

So I got some thin wire (0.4mm) to try to wind a spring with, its spring copper,

I am just wondering, when I tried to wind it on a 1/4 inch shaft, I got something like a 1/2 inch spring when it released.

And, is there anything I can do to make it hold together better when its wound, I was expecting it to be tightly wound, since i would it tight, but it really unfurled alot and left alot of space between the turns.

Are these things I can control with winding tension or anything else? I mean to keep it looking like it does before I release it from the shaft. Its not an inductor, its an actual spring. I assume copper is just hard to work with?


I had the same problem with thin magnet wire before, but thankfully you can glue inductors , but for mechanical objects.. maybe I thought if you tension it a little it will yield (which you would not do for a inductor because it would possibly destroy/weaker then coating). Or maybe heat? It is BeCu. If I wind it tight on a shaft and heat it up?

I only bought a small amount because its just a test run, I would like to do my remaining experiments thoughtfully.

[Whales]

> And, is there anything I can do to make it hold together better when its wound, I was expecting it to be tightly wound, since i would it tight, but it really unfurled alot and left alot of space between the turns.

Put a hole in the side of your winding rod, then put the start of the wire through this hole before starting to turn it.  This keeps the start of the spring anchored rotationally.

[coppercone2]

I did drill a 1mm hole in the shaft, i mean the spring winding spacing increased as soon as i released tension

I am wondering if I should be tightening it more and turning it slower and maybe heating it as I wind

[Kleinstein]

BeCu is usually relatively soft in the initial state and than only hardens after a heat treatment. With very thin wire chance are it is heavily cold worked and thus already quite hard to start with. So the thin wire form could be tricky with CuBe.  AFAIR the heat treatment to make is soft again uses high temperature and than fast quenching - this may not be so paractical.
The wire may already be hardend.

Some backlash is normal for winding a spring. How much depends on the material. So maybe start with 3 mm to get a final 1/4" diameter.

[coppercone2]

ok, I will just experiment with smaller winding shafts, I did not really want to mess with those parameters anyway because as you can imagine they are difficult, unless it was the official way of doing things

even thinking about tempering that thing pisses me off, its too much.

[Whales]

Ah, apologies coppercone.

I wonder if a "motor winding" machine would be useful to look at for ideas/thoughts on tension, angle and such.

[Brumby]

Some backlash is normal for winding a spring. How much depends on the material. So maybe start with 3 mm to get a final 1/4" diameter.

My experience also.

Just try smaller diameter rods until you find one that gives the correct diameter when released from the winding tension.

Heat treatment of wire is not something I would step into - unless it was simply annealing ... but even then.