Londontram Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I need to make rather a lot of leaf springs in 00 for various coaches and wagons, I have a few ideas but has any one got a personal method they use for trouble free manufacturing them to a consistent standard. Just looking to see if any one has a better idea than the ideas I have on ways to do them. Thanks Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londontram Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Non working I should add Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Well, yes, I do know of a couple of ways to make leaf springs, but I doubt you'll like them. One involves a lathe and other is the very tedious process of making the individual leaves from small strips of brass or nickel silver, pinned with wire then adding the hangers from fine tube and wire. Fine if you want masters for casting or a small number of an obscure size. Surely for wagons and coaches it would be much easier to buy suitable white metal castings from MJT (Dart Castings) etc? Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Someone on here posted ages ago, about leaf springs, which they made from Evergreen strip (or Slaters, etc) of suitable dimensions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Yes, I'm sure it could be done in plastic as well as metal, but the OP said "rather a lot". Whichever way it's done, I'd lose the will to live after about half a dozen. Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londontram Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 I was thinking of cutting a strip of say 40thou plasticard the width of the deepest part cutting to length the number required and filing off "steps" as required after scribing lines to represent the individual leafs warming up and bending to a slight curve, hangers and straps added from evergreens fine strips' A simple profile gauge from a bit of brass would insure consistency to the filing. Its probably taken longer to write than it would to do a spring so running off several shouldn't be to bad. Oh and nick please stop making subtle little statements, I know you don't approve of the way I do things the way you've worded your posts on here and my other thread so its simple if you don't like me or my ways just don't answer I'm sure neither of will loose any sleep over it. Regards Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium corneliuslundie Posted January 27, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 27, 2015 I sympathise as many older wagons had spring lengths not available commercially. My best attempt (not very good) is shown in post 23 on the horsebox here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/92171-modelling-19th-century-wagons-in-4mm/ I used a top spring of brass strip with the rest is plastic, bending the brass first to the required shape and then supergluing the first plastic strip to it, with solvent used for the rest. Really the spring leaves are too thick and there are not enough of them, as I couldn't get strip of the right thickness. The J hangers are only simple representations as I really couldn't work to fine enough tolerances to drill holes in the brass strip and put representations of the fixings. But even this approach palls after one vehicle - I think I have done three at different times. If I wanted dozens of springs I would certainly have put much more care into making a master, probably the same way, and got them cast somehow. I am currently struggling as to how to make respectable J hangers in two styles for a rake of seven 6-wheel coaches! I did try using really thin brass strip for the whole spring but found it extremely difficult to handle. Jonathan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 ...Oh and nick please stop making subtle little statements, I know you don't approve of the way I do things the way you've worded your posts on here and my other thread so its simple if you don't like me or my ways just don't answer I'm sure neither of will loose any sleep over it. Regards Steve Steve, I'm sorry if you've taken offence, that was not my intention. It's not a matter of approval and certainly not of liking you or your ways. Most of us are interested in learning about different techniques, so I'm puzzled by your response. My comment above was merely to suggest that the methods I'd used were tedious and time consuming, and that buying castings was much easier. Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Make one of each size/type you need and then have them cast in brass. The originals an be made in plastic if you want, but metal will make the patterns more robust. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catweasel Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Making a master in metal would be my first choice. Then cast in brass, more than you need. Offer surplus to forum members and you may recoup some of your costs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Dare I suggest 3d printing? This sounds like a job that Shapeways' FUD would be well suited to: detail parts of a hard to fabricate shape which don't require much mechanical strength on the model. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted January 27, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 27, 2015 Someone on here posted ages ago, about leaf springs, which they made from Evergreen strip (or Slaters, etc) of suitable dimensions. I'd agree that this is the way to go. And then if you need a lot (and consistent), use to make a mould and then cast. But then I am a technophobe who has not mastered CADCAM. Depending on scale, 3D printing may well be a better way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Someone on here posted ages ago, about leaf springs, which they made from Evergreen strip (or Slaters, etc) of suitable dimensions. That might have been me. I made some for a project some while ago: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79126-lms-6-wheel-insulated-milk-van/ There's some explanation of the method in post #10. Not my invention, I think I got the idea from MRJ. Having cast or 3D springs would be nice. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium corneliuslundie Posted January 27, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 27, 2015 If interested in 3D printing it may be worth looking at the website of quarryscapes of this parish. Mind you if you are of a Welsh persuasion it might be an expensive visit! No connection other than we have chatted here. Jonathan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Mikkel Posted January 27, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 27, 2015 I was thinking of cutting a strip of say 40thou plasticard the width of the deepest part cutting to length the number required and filing off "steps" as required after scribing lines to represent the individual leafs warming up and bending to a slight curve, hangers and straps added from evergreens fine strips' A simple profile gauge from a bit of brass would insure consistency to the filing. Its probably taken longer to write than it would to do a spring so running off several shouldn't be to bad. Would be interesting to see how this method works. It might be tricky to scribe the lines, but as you say it shouldn't take long to give it a try and see. I tried building leaf springs using layers of thin perspex. It was very fiddly and would be a right pain to do in larger quantities :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campaman Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 For some 1/76 military model scratbuilds I have in the past made leaf springs by using thin plastic strip. Start with a strip the size of the largest leaf and as long as you need for a quantity of springs, then cut another one to the next longest length and glue that to the first one continuing until you have the number of leafs required. Once it has all dried you should have a long length of leaf spring that you just slice a spring off from. Hope this makes sense. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold unravelled Posted January 31, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 31, 2015 How about laser cutting? Even if only for the spring leaf bundle, it might do,with strapping added later. They could be made to the corect curvature, and engraved to represent the leaves. The steps between leaves might end up slightly rounded, depending on laser quality. But good for quantity. Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arun Sharma Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 London Tram - this shape was drawn in "Inventor", enlarged by a couple of percent or so and produced as a 3D print at 16micron resolution. Subsequently, used as a master for a silicon mould from which waxes were produced - followed by as many castings as you like. What you see is one of the brass castings. The object measures rather less than an inch across the spring hangers so about the size you might expect for a 4mm axlebox/spring combination [although this particular one was actually part of a {very small} 7mm LSWR loco]. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Giles b post 30 dec 2014 http://forum.mtimag.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1106&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=420 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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