Handling Bulk Flat Spring Material

[Dick_Morris]

I have a 100' roll of .042"' x 1/2" spring material I have to unleash. Any suggestions on a safe way to do it?

[Fred_V]

Stand back!!

[John Hasler]

Fabricate some sort of a caged or enclosed spool for it. Put it in there and cut the bands. Then feed it out as needed.

[Russ Hanscom]

Yes to John's method. I have done that, Built a box of wood of plywood and wood strips slightly larger than the roll. Leave one corner open, cut the bands, dispense as desired. Works great.

[Rwilliams]

The late Bob Reedy lived up in the hills southeast of Sacramento and had few visitors. I stopped by a few times to visit and see what was happening in his shop. At that time he was constructing the Mogul that was his first steam locomotive build project. He showed me the leaf springs he had recently completed the week before my visit. I was ready to make my leaf springs and he immediately warned me of the danger of the coil of spring steel wanting to unwind all by itself in a rather short amount of time.

He had a beautiful Maine Coon cat with 4 half grown kittens that followed him everywhere in his shop like a pack of dogs. They kept him good company and were always right in the area where he was working. Not even the noise of the machines seemed to bother them as they had acclimated to the usually shop noises as being normal and not threatening. He described how the coil of spring steel got away from him and wanted to straighten out in fast forward. The big furry cats had no use for this strange new event and took off in all directions of the compass in warp speed. The sight of the 5 cats all in rapid acceleration mode all at the same time was worthy of a video had he had a camera to record the rare event in action. After the action of the spring steel and the cats slowed down, he made up a containment box as described above and life returned to normal.

[hoppercar]

Wrap it with several electrical, zip, pull ties....then pull it thru, and uncoil it as you need it.....works for me

[tetramachine]

A buddy of does clocks, and unwinding coiled springs is a daily occurrence. He has an old blanket that wraps around the spring, and he clips the wire through a hole in the blanket. No drama.

[John Hasler]

A buddy of does clocks, and unwinding coiled springs is a daily occurrence. He has an old blanket that wraps around the spring, and he clips the wire through a hole in the blanket. No drama.

That may eliminate the drama, but where do you store a 100' long piece of spring steel? Keeping it coiled seems much more convenient.

[Dick_Morris]

Thanks. I was leaning towards a box with a slot for dispensing, but wanted to verify that there was no magic solution.

[Bill Shields]

put it in a trash can or oil drum....

pull it out from the center not off the OD

[little giant]

I use a couple of hose clamps, keep one tight and the other one loose. Slide the loose one until it touches the tight one and tighten, loosen the other hose clamp and move to feed out stock.

[blff cty lcmtv wrks]

unwrap it and throw as far as you can. seriously, we had all kind of flat spring stock at work. it was supplied in rolls that you describe, and it was securely tied. the roll was had bailing wire tied around it in three or four places. we would slide the wire around until the end was loose, and then just work off what you need. clear as mud. huh? if that don't work, go back to plan a. I had a coil spring in a recoil starter get away from me. it never went back on the lawnmower. I still crank it with an electric drill.