How To Make A Spring or Click

[chris mabbott]

Hi all,

I am in a puddle of mud once again, I have a couple of old watch movements which need click springs, like the one I’ll attach from the original catalog.
Obviously these are like hens teeth, so I need to make my own. Can someone explain to me what type of steel is best for this project, it needs to have spring properties and withstand bending stress yet be strong enough to hold the power of the mainspring.

Should I start with ordinary mild steel to form it, then put it through heat treament to toughen and achieve springiness.

To my American brothers, please keep in mind that I’m in Spain, so I can’t pop down to Albertsons or Whole Foods to get a salad, some Buds and a carbon steel rods 😆 In fact, I don’t know anywhere in a 200 click radius where I can get this stuff..
Stainless Steel, eto K eh ? 🙄

Cheers,

[tmac1956]

Chris:

I think I have a few of these, but I don’t know if they are the same dimensions as the one that you need. However, I’ll be glad to send them to you if you want. Just email me a physical address to [email protected]. However, if you want to make one, I suggest mild steel – then harden and anneal.

Just let me know…
Tom

[chris mabbott]

Thanks Tom, I’ll get some measurements and drop you a line, probably tomorrow as it’s almost 1am so time to go catch a few Zzz’s 😯

[david pierce]

Chris,
I just caught your comment about “Buds”. That is just about the worst beer I ever had and I can’t stand the stuff. Some of the best beer I ever had was in England at the pubs in Birmingham. One of my favorites was called THIGSTONS OLD PECULAR.
If you can buy blue tempered spring steel in sheets you can make springs from that. It is too hard to be shaped with an endmill but it punches and sheers easily. You can rough punch the shape and then smooth it out with files and stones.
david

[arutha]

Hey chris, I had to make a new clock click spring the other day. I cut it out of an old clock mainspring. Worked perfectly, if you let me know the thickness you need maybe I could send you some?

[willofiam]

Hey Chris, sorry, I was going to respond earlier but got sidetracked and I forgot. the power of a click to hold mainsprings comes from the design if the click how it mates up with the click wheel and the point at where it pivots, this is true with all clicks in clocks and watches, the force between a click and the click wheel should draw them tighten together even without a spring. the springs function is just to keep the click in the proper area. The guys have given some great ideas if you do not have access to supplies, you could even refashion a part from a old watch. I have used a grinding wheel in the lathe, thickness can be lapped or ground down on a oil stone down to what you need. do you still have the pieces??? they can be used as a template. hope all is well, William

[Bob Tascione]

Glad David dug this post up because I never saw it.
Paul’s suggestion of using clock mainspring for steel is a great one. I have made many small springs from old mainsprings. If you need something thicker than mainspring material then going with a low alloy medium grade to high carbon steel will work perfectly. The mild grade steel that you mention would not have a high enough carbon content. I have small sheets of 1074 as well as 1095 steel on hand for making springs as well as other parts when needed. You can buy sheets of both at Amazon (I’ll dig up a link and will add it below a little later). For the part you are showing I would probably go for 1074 or 1075 but that’s just my preference.
I’ll try to find a link for you.
Adios for now,
Bob

Edit: Here’s one for 1095 http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Spring-Assortment-Tempered-Polished/dp/B00065V062/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395675792&sr=8-1&keywords=1095+steel+flat+stock

and one for 1074 http://www.tmtco.com/products/spring-steel.html

[arutha]

Hey David, were you talking about this stuff?

[david pierce]

Paul,
That is the stuff of legends. We can’t get it over here. English beer, Scottish Whiskey (LAPHROAIG Islay Single Malt) and Italian wine (the wine the French actually drink, they export their wine to the U.S.) is the best in the world.
david

[gerene]

I do agree about the Whiskey, although you need to get accustomed to the Laphroaig taste, and certainly the Italian wine. I do like English beer a lot but Belgian Beers are certainly the best in the world

Jan

[mahlon]

You people are too picky. I have noticed that after a few beers, or drinks, they all seem to taste really good Mahlon

[chris mabbott]

Hmm, Why do my serious posts always seem to take an exit onto the road to drinking or general gallivanting 😆

Thanks for your replies gents, I’m doing this on a phone so please excuse any grammatical/spelling errors..

David, out of all those words, you picked up on Bud 😆 but yes, you’re right, a loose term in reference to beer, I was going to use suds, but it always reminds me of soap. We also call Budweiser, Buttwiper, mainly due to the effect the following day

Paul, again, thank you for the offer and I will keep that in mind.

William, stay tuned for my daft bat revelation….

When I received this watch, I think two years ago, It had a load of things wrong…

Hairspring
Mainspring
Balance staff
4 out of 7 jewels
Broken regulator
Broken hands
No crystal

And obviously, this spring. Well, I’ve just discovered, as I forked out for digital parts manuals, that it was missing the click!! So I actually have the correct click spring. The problem lay in… When it arrived, someone had Jobbed a home made click in the form of a wire, that had broken. The original click was gone, thanks to my new parts catalogs, I saw the part and found a NOS replacement, so problem solved 🙄

But thank you all for the helpful suggestions, I’m sure I’ll need them in the near future.. Oh, and for the beer tip

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