The Deardorff store on eBay has back springs and shackles, plus other Deardorff spares. Worth a look.
The Deardorff store on eBay has back springs and shackles, plus other Deardorff spares. Worth a look.
I was consulting Colin Graham's awesome 'Darkshop' blog extensively until it was, sadly, taken down a few days ago. I seem to remember him mentioning those Deardorff springs at some point, and that they were "a joke". I did order a tripod adapter from the ebay store and that was just fine. Anyway, I need odd sized springs because my camera backs aren't traditionally sized: one is 8x8 and the other 10x16. Maybe I should look at other spring options...ideas anyone?
Bamboo is an amazing spring material.
http://www.jeffbridges.com/perception.html "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you are right."
Or talk to a gunsmith... They make springs all the time...
Steve K
Table saw??!!!!?? Find a local sheet metal shop that has the correct kind of shears or nibbler. Or just order in cut strips as noted in the previous post. McMaster is
a good source for these.
Thanks everyone, and just to follow up here's what happened with the springs: I took Bob's advice and had the steel chopped up at a local fabricator for a small sum. Unfortunately the temper was ruined throughout. I didn't want to reorder from McMaster as it's a PITA for Canadians so I built a small charcoal forge to harden the steel and then tried to temper them on the BBQ, hah! That didn't work out very well so I ended up re-hardening the springs inch by painstaking inch over a butane/propane camping stove and then tempered them by placing on a small sheet of steel suspended over the stove and watching for what I hoped was the correct temper colour. This was sort of a desperate move but it actually worked. Much sanding and polishing later I have some half decent looking, functional leaf springs. Interesting process but "next time" I'll probably start with pre-tempered strips. Carsten's bamboo suggestion could be interesting, although I'd be worried about it splitting.
Regards from British Columbia,
Matt
Matt, not sure of what the config is on this item, but I thought that small grinder (4") could accomplish such cutting. The spring has to be in a vice or good sturdy clamp. Sure, one can use a table saw and a metal-cutoff blade (no teeth), but that's convoluting the process, IMO.
Les
Ferrous abrasive metal cutoff blade in a table saw? Someone comes in this store asking to do that, they leave with nothing. Voids the warranty on every table saw I can think of. Not like cutting aluminum (non-ferrous). Nor do I want someone returning with an ambulance-chaser lawyer after they lose an eye or some fingers. I do have German rail saws that accept ferrous carbide, but require a complete anti-static vac line and spark trap system to do it safely. I saw three examples of mini-Chernobyls last year alone where someone tried a shortcut and their containment system melted down into a blob of plastic. Lucky the whole shop didn't burn
down.
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