VV2-55 Spring Question

[Lah Ca]

I pulled the drum out the naptha in the paint tin to have a look. Here are the results after less than 24 hours. No brushing. No rubbing. No nada. Just rinsing a couple of times in the naptha bath.

I put everything back in the naptha to let it all steep some more. It will be a bit yet before I have time and space to move on to the next phase. Despite the excellent work of the naptha, I suspect that extracting and cleaning the spring will still be messy.

[Lah Ca]

I have the spring out. It was quite mild mannered until about 60 to 75% of the way through. Then it got a bit wild, but I was prepared.

It appears to be in good condition but is heavily caked with solid clumps of graphite. I will have to clean and polish it.

spring.jpg (69.56 KiB) Viewed 40 times

I built a wooden drum/barrel retention box, which I can mount in a variety of orientations. (I think) I will be able mount a bar over part of it to help retain the spring when it goes back in. The drum/barrel is tight in the box but it can be turned with some minor effort which may help with reinserting the sping. Don't really know. I am just making it up as I go along.

Curiously, the centre spindle cannot be removed from the bushing that has been press fit into the drum. This was handy as I could pull the spidle out most of the way through a centre hole in the retention box and then clamp the spindle to help retain the drum.