Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
Forum Discussion
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Now that the slider works it needs a spring to keep it pulled to the right so the drawer will stayed closed. Instead of buying a spring I'm going to make my own. I've no experience with this but there are plenty of videos on youtube showing how it's done.
WARNING - From what I've read you can really hurt yourself including losing an eye if you aren't careful when attempting to wind your own springs.
The wire I'm using is marked as music wire which is the same as spring wire. The wire comes in a coil. NEVER cut the ties on the coil.
Just uncoil as much wire as you need then cut it free from the coil. Don't try to wind a spring with the wire coil still attached.
There are a whole set of formula that can be used to calculate the size of wire and spring geometry needed for any particular application. I'm just going to wing it. Using wire diameter of .041".
This is going to be an extension spring so I want the spring coils as close together as possible. The lathe has a setting for threads per inch which in this case will be the same as wire coils per inch. So the tightest coil would be 1 inch / .041" = 24.39 coils. Round that down to 24.
Cut off a length of music wire. Put a 90 degree bend in the end.
Clamp a metal rod in chuck jaws of the lathe. The wire will be wound around this. Use the jaws to also hold the bent end of the wire.
To feed the wire I'm using this groove that is in the bottom of the tool holder.
Clamp a cutting tool on top just to hold the wire in the groove. The wire can still slide freely.
Set the lathe on it's slowest speed and making sure of eye protection and keeping hands far away from the winding bits, let it go. So here it is. My first ever spring. Far from perfect but let's see if works.
Trim it and bend it.
Attach one end of the spring to the metal slide and the other end to a wood screw.
Works like a champ. Snaps right back into position when let go.
Now that I have a latching design that works it's OK to finally Formica the front of the drawer.
When doing final assembly the original screws weren't long enough so used longer machine screws. Torqued them into the handle as tight as I dare then cut off the heads.
Use two nuts against each for locking since the slide must be loose enough to move freely. Then trim off excess thread.
OK that's first drawer done.
continued
Now that the slider works it needs a spring to keep it pulled to the right so the drawer will stayed closed. Instead of buying a spring I'm going to make my own. I've no experience with this but there are plenty of videos on youtube showing how it's done.
WARNING - From what I've read you can really hurt yourself including losing an eye if you aren't careful when attempting to wind your own springs.
The wire I'm using is marked as music wire which is the same as spring wire. The wire comes in a coil. NEVER cut the ties on the coil.
Just uncoil as much wire as you need then cut it free from the coil. Don't try to wind a spring with the wire coil still attached.
There are a whole set of formula that can be used to calculate the size of wire and spring geometry needed for any particular application. I'm just going to wing it. Using wire diameter of .041".
This is going to be an extension spring so I want the spring coils as close together as possible. The lathe has a setting for threads per inch which in this case will be the same as wire coils per inch. So the tightest coil would be 1 inch / .041" = 24.39 coils. Round that down to 24.
Cut off a length of music wire. Put a 90 degree bend in the end.
Clamp a metal rod in chuck jaws of the lathe. The wire will be wound around this. Use the jaws to also hold the bent end of the wire.
To feed the wire I'm using this groove that is in the bottom of the tool holder.
Clamp a cutting tool on top just to hold the wire in the groove. The wire can still slide freely.
Set the lathe on it's slowest speed and making sure of eye protection and keeping hands far away from the winding bits, let it go. So here it is. My first ever spring. Far from perfect but let's see if works.
Trim it and bend it.
Attach one end of the spring to the metal slide and the other end to a wood screw.
Works like a champ. Snaps right back into position when let go.
Now that I have a latching design that works it's OK to finally Formica the front of the drawer.
When doing final assembly the original screws weren't long enough so used longer machine screws. Torqued them into the handle as tight as I dare then cut off the heads.
Use two nuts against each for locking since the slide must be loose enough to move freely. Then trim off excess thread.
OK that's first drawer done.
continued
