How to Make a Flat Spring? Step by Step Guide for Newbie

With regular usage, firearm often demands some maintenance and restoration. That helps to increase the lifetime of any gun.

No matter what the repair aspect for your revolver is, you will always need a few springs.

Many intricate gun parts demand specialized springs but finding those can get difficult at times. That might lead to shelving the project.

Nonetheless, you can simply modify springs in such cases. Customized springs can get the job done without much difficulty.

Herefore today, we will demonstrate ways to make a rare spring- the flat spring. That too, without any elaborate tools and lengthy instruction! You may also like some of the Choke for 00 Buckshot from our list, so take a moment to check them out.

So take out your toolbox to make a flat spring!

What is a Flat Spring?

Flat springs are a specialized sort of joining tool. You can frequently find such springs in older firearm designs.

In most cases, these are used to hold miniature fragments inside a revolver. These small and stamped metal fragments can reach the intricate ends without much effort.

Hence, flat springs are more or less thin metal sheets holding different gun parts in their place. For more amazing products like this, check out our guide to the Choke for Buckshot.

Uses of Flat Spring

As mentioned earlier, flat springs are mostly used to join intricate gun parts. Apart from that, there is a handful of usage of flat springs.

One of the most common usages of flat springs is electrical conductors. If you want to invest in a new trigger, make sure to check out how to adjust a timney trigger.

Flat springs were commonly used in older gun models. That’s why such springs are becoming rare these days. However, modifying springs can make your gun restoring project plain sailing.

Things You Will Need To Make a Flat Spring

There is no extravagant tool involved in the making of a flat spring. To know how to measure shotgun choke size, click here.

The first thing you will need is some good quality spring steel. Leftover steel bands can be a substantial option in this case.

In addition, you will need an active source of heat and some oil. The oil will help in hardening up the soil post-modification. And that’s all!

Stencil to Make a Flat Spring

If you are going to make a flat spring for the first time, a stencil or a sample is a must have. Try to look for older springs inside the revolver. That might help to an extent.

But what if you don’t have a stencil? Don’t worry! We are here with a brief. Flat springs more or less resemble the shape of a teardrop. There is a hole in the middle as well. The radius extends lengthwise in one direction.

You can do a bit of paperwork to create a stencil from scratch.

Steps of How to Make a Flat Spring

We will start the process with a stencil. For that, we will need a hand shear. The shear will help to rough out the edges of the steel band.

Move the shear lengthwise following the older spring. Then will work along the width. For the round ends, we will trim a portion on one side. And with that, the rough cut is done!

After roughing out, it is now time to cut out the hole. If you want to go by the standard measurement, the diameter of the hole will be 1/8^th of an inch.

Nevertheless, you can always go for some customization. Using a drilling tool will create the whole with little effort.

Here’s a piece of advice. Thin metal sheets tend to move around places. So, keep a handful of grip pliers handy to hold the metal sheet in place.

Now it’s time for smoothening the edges. In our trials, we found belt sandpapers the most effective for detailed works.

Besides,  this sandpaper works great to form the radius of the round end. To make the structure sturdy, you can always go for a separate radius as well.

The next part of the task involves an intricate understanding. Hardening steel involves two steps.

In the first stage, the steel plate is made pliable for modification under high heat. The next step involves quenching the steel under rapid water or oil.

The hardening process may vary depending on the utility of the metal alloy. In this case, we want the tempering to cut off a portion of the hardness with enough ductility for the intended job.

Professionals use a heat-treating oven for this task. However, most of us don’t own one at home. So we will use a simplified alternative here. Instead of an oven, we will use a MAPP torch.

When heated, steel changes its color. That way, it is easy to understand how hot the steel is. We are looking for a dull red color.

As the steel sheet here is very thin, it often gets difficult to control the temperature. Uneven heating is another issue in this case.

Remove the spring steel from heat as soon as it starts taking the color and immediately dip in oil. We recommend submerging the steel in oil until it cools down completely. Occasional swirling makes the process faster.

The next step will be to further stabilize the steel by hardening. Steel calls for 600 degrees for tempering. Following the previous method, we are looking for a blue color here.

As tempering is a delicate process, using a torch isn’t the right choice here. For that, we will follow an alternative pattern.

Heat your lead melting pot and immerse the spring in hot lead. The tempering process will take around 15 to 20 seconds. If the steel starts to go grey, you will need to start over. So, keep an eye for the blue tint.

Making Flat Springs

Final Words

After all these steps, the only thing left is to test the flat spring. Although the functionality may vary, we want the steel band to spring back. And with that, we are done with making a flat spring.

With proper precaution, making a flat spring is a task of no sweat. You can now customize these rare springs without any worries. Let us know about our experience. That helps us to improve in the future.