The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Thank you Curt, I will have a 'play' when I find some donor spring!
Jerry

You might do well to source some new, annealed, 1095, (or maybe 1075), spring steel from an industrial supplier. It will be easier to shape. Then you can temper your finished product. It's always nicer to begin with a clean slate, than to make something over out of something else.

In the U.S., I would suggest McMaster-Carr. In the U.K., I don't know....

https://www.mcmaster.com/metals/steel/s ... el-sheets/


How do you intend to form the dimple on the end?

Thank you Jerry,
It looks as if I can get flat strip annealed spring steel in the UK but it does not mention 1075 or 95. What does this signify?
There is a VPN reference of 150-200.
Would this be OK?
All the Best
Jerry

Jerry,
To form the dimple I had thought about shaping a punch and stamping it.
Jerry

The "95" and "75" in 1095/1075 denotes the amount of carbon in the steel. A typical spring steel would be 1095. A less aggressive, lighter duty, spring might be made from 1075. As for 150-200, that sounds like a European steel designation that I'm not familiar with.

To form the dimple, I would suggest 2 pieces of steel. One, with a somewhat shallow hole drilled in it. The other, with another hole, drilled of a diameter & depth commensurate to hold a small ball bearing of the same size as that which fits into the dimple when installed on the reproducer. The hole in the first steel plate would be of a diameter that the convex side of the dimple would nest nicely in. Placing the spring blank between the two plates and clamping in a vise would cause the ball bearing to impress the dimple into the spring stock. The depth at which the bearing is inserted in the steel plate would regulate the depth that it impresses into the spring stock. Obviously, some alignment would need to be maintained between the ball bearing in the one plate, and the shallow drilled hole in the other.

It might be best to make a series of such dimples as a first step, then drill the hole, locating its position off of the dimple. Next, basically cut & form the rest of the spring around the dimple & hole. Doing the dimple and hole first, before it's cut out of the spring steel, makes it easier to hold an otherwise small, delicate part.

I have made a couple of 'New' springs thank you for the advice.
It now works as it should and sounds really nice.

Pre tempering