Leaf spring, blue temper stock sources?

[milwiron]

Besides McMaster and MSC does anyone have an inexpensive source for polished, strip, blue temper spring steel for making leaf springs? The best I'm finding is about $3.00 per foot for .042 x 1/2.

[hoppercar]

I have gotten.it before at admiralsteel llc. Admiralsteel.com. there is no minimum order...they accept any size order.....I.believe there located in illinois

[hoppercar]

Havent purchased any in quite a while, so I wouldnt know about the price...you would have to.contact them...

[Mike Walsh]

If you have a water jet contact, you could get a sheet of spring steel and waterjet everything out of that. Rivet holes included!

[milwiron]

If you have a water jet contact, you could get a sheet of spring steel and waterjet everything out of that. Rivet holes included!

Yes, life is easy with a waterjet.
Before I retired one of the departments I supervised had a 7 x 15 foot (usable surface) Omax waterjet. I could program at my desk, upload the program to the machine and cut what I needed at lunch. It was capable of 50,000 psi but kept it set at 45,000 to save on piston wear. Low pressure was 20,000 psi.
Unfortunately I no long have access, not that I don't think about it on a daily basis.

[SteveM]

Isn't that what strapping is made of? You'd have to trim it to size, but a lot of times, you can get the stuff free. At my office, they just throw it in the recycling bin.

Steve

[Mike Walsh]

If you have a water jet contact, you could get a sheet of spring steel and waterjet everything out of that. Rivet holes included!

Yes, life is easy with a waterjet.
Before I retired one of the departments I supervised had a 7 x 15 foot (usable surface) Omax waterjet. I could program at my desk, upload the program to the machine and cut what I needed at lunch. It was capable of 50,000 psi but kept it set at 45,000 to save on piston wear. Low pressure was 20,000 psi.
Unfortunately I no long have access, not that I don't think about it on a daily basis.

Congrats on the retirement.

too bad you don't still have connections there - wink wink. lol

[gwrdriver]

I used plumber's snake material on a couple of projects years ago, and I still have some 1/4"x.032". 30-40 years ago they were real blue spring steel, no telling what it is now.

[Pontiacguy1]

Plumber's snake... Great idea! I bet you could pick an old one up in a flea market, junk store, yard sale, or similar for just a few bucks. Next time I'm in one of those places I will look for one... You know, for all the 1/2" scale projects that I keep talking about but haven't worked on in a while now.

[Harold_V]

Isn't that what strapping is made of?

Unfortunately, no, it is not. Strapping is available in various degrees of hardness, with none of them heat treated to be a spring.

H

[Carrdo]

Couldn't one use something like high carbon steel bandsaw blade material?

My DoAll Dart power bandsaw blades certainly look like and behave like blue tempered spring steel.

[Howard Gorin]

Spring steel at least in scale thickness is too stiff to work well.
A stack of steel leafs acts more like a bar then a spring.
Phosphor bronze is a much better material for scale leaf springs