making coil springs, which wire?

[fiatboy]

I'd like to try my hand at making some coil-overs.  Can anybody recommend a specific brand, or specification of wire?  Thanks

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ideally you want something that won't spring back a lot when you wind it around a dowel.

Of course, that makes it not so "springy" either, if you want it to actually operate as a spring.

For simple "looks like a spring", soft copper, annealed brass, or iron work well. 

Very fine electronics solder is another option.

Soft tie-wire is available at most car parts stores in at least two wire-diameters.

Craft stores have lotsa soft wire choices too.

Real car spring wire diameter can be anywhere from about 1/4" for light duty helper springs, to 1" or more for heavy vehicles.

Determine the diameter of the real-world wire, and divide by the scale you're working in to know what to look for.

 

[NOBLNG]

I have used this wire from Michaels. It is soft and has very little spring back to it. I have a large set of numbered drill bits and wrap it around the appropriate sized bit.

Edited February 17, 2022 by NOBLNG

[Ace-Garageguy]

40 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

I have used this wire from Michaels. It is soft and has very little spring back to it...

Those look really good, and thanks for the source.

[OldNYJim]

3 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

I have used this wire from Michaels. It is soft and has very little spring back to it. I have a large set of numbered drill bits and wrap it around the appropriate sized bit.

Nice job on those!  What’s your technique? Just wrap ‘em around a round thing?

[Leica007]

Frequently I use the springs from ball point pens, they are different sizes and can be cut easily, and the price is right.

[peteski]

48 minutes ago, Leica007 said:

Frequently I use the springs from ball point pens, they are different sizes and can be cut easily, and the price is right.

While those are inexpensive and easy to deal with, in most cases the wire in them is out-of-scale (usually too thin) to properly represent scale suspension springs.  Little things like that can make or break the model's realism.

 

I took one of those pen springs and measured its wire to be 0.0135" in diameter.  The comes out to 0.34" in 1:25 scale, or 0.32" in 1:24 scale.  Hmm, I guess that would work for some light duty springs.  They still look too thin to  my eyes,

[bill-e-boy]

I use something similar to @NOBLNG that I got from a craft store. It is silver plated and soft

I wrap it around a metal thread screw to get even spacing of the coils

I also use coper wire strands from power cables as in pix

 

[Plowboy]

An easy way to get the coils evenly spaced is to wrap it around an appropriately sized screw.

[NOBLNG]

10 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Nice job on those!  What’s your technique? Just wrap ‘em around a round thing?

Yes. I use the butt end of a drill bit because I can get exactly the O.D. that I want due to the incremental sizes of the bits. Once I have it wrapped tightly, I roll a straight edge (usually my little 6” steel ruler) between the wraps while still on the drill bit to set the gaps evenly. Then slide the coil to the end of the bit and file the end square. The amount of gap could be adjusted by using a thicker or thinner straight edge.

 

Edited February 17, 2022 by NOBLNG

[fiatboy]

 

Thank you very much for all this great info.  I am hot-rodding a "Tom Daniel's" kit, the "Street Fighter", a '60 Chevy sedan delivery.  And it needs a lot of help!  Actually it is a pretty pleasant build, being actually about 1/23 scale.  My last kit was a Tamiya Lotus Super Seven 1/24, more like 1/25 or 1/26.  So the "Street Fighter" badly needed a larger engine, which means I will be needing to heavily modify the front suspension.  Thanks again.  

[OldNYJim]

3 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Yes. I use the butt end of a drill bit because I can get exactly the O.D. that I want due to the incremental sizes of the bits. Once I have it wrapped tightly, I roll a straight edge (usually my little 6” steel ruler) between the wraps while still on the drill bit to set the gaps evenly. Then slide the coil to the end of the bit and file the end square. The amount of gap could be adjusted by using a thicker or thinner straight edge.

 

Those even gaps were what impressed me - nice job!  Thanks for sharing your process Greg!

[NOBLNG]

2 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Those even gaps were what impressed me - nice job!  Thanks for sharing your process Greg!

I do get some rejects.? The winding it around a screw idea might be easier…if you can get the right sized screw. One thing the drill bit method allows is the ability to wind left and right hand springs.

Edited February 17, 2022 by NOBLNG