detailing wnw mercedes diii motors

albatros1234 · 2 February 2011, 09:40 PM

i was fooling with my wnw pfalz motor and although lovely the rocker springs are a little soft on detail. i thought about just wrapping fine wire around the molded springs like ive seen someone do. but that makes them look just a tiny bit to thick for my tastes. so i pondered on it for a few minutes thinking of how i could easily do this so it would look better. heres what i came up with and i thought i would share:

1. drill with pin vise thru the top center of the molded springs. so when i cut them off there will be a perfectly aligned hole in the perefect spot.

2. take a common strait pin, i checked and the head of the ones i have on hand have the purfect size head to simulate the disc on the top of the molded springs. snap this off at the right length with a needle nose plier.

3. wrap fine steel wire around an extra pin and make a long spring. cut of the amount needed to simulate the rocker spring.

4. place small section of the spring on the piece of strait pin left after snapping it off.

5. glue in pre-drilled holes,after cutting off the molded springs with a hobby knife.

voila realistic looking rocker springs that are easy to make and cost virtually nothing to make. what do you guys think?

MoeLDERS · 3 February 2011, 12:48 AM

How about the spring pushing the flintsone towards the wheel in one of those cheap one-way-lighters?

Wienne · 3 February 2011, 04:00 AM

Nice idea using pins.

Have been looking into the problem myself too and have tried several things too.
Problem with this solution you get cylindrical springs. If you look carefully you'll see that the springs are conical, wider at the top. Something WNW faithfully replicates, but yes the windings themselves are a bit vague

The best solution I could come up was to use very fine wire (one needs about 8 to 9 windings in the springs (If I remember correctly) and winding this around the (conical) shaft of a dentist drill bit with the head snapped off.

That gave the right size and look, but I had a problem with the discs on top of the springs. I made these out of PE with a disc-punch. Glueing these on top of the springs made the detail so soft (remember it is very fine wire) that one could just as well use the original parts. So still looking for the right solution...

Wienne

sean69 · 3 February 2011, 07:39 AM

if you stretch some sprue you should be able to make a mandrel with the right conical cross section without too much trouble....

mike in calif · 3 February 2011, 07:45 AM

I like the first idea for its ease, and simplicity. Maybe one needs to wrap the wire around the stretched sprue mandrel, and then file down the pin head to correct diameter.

albatros1234 · 3 February 2011, 08:11 AM

actually the pin head is ever so slightly to small, and the way i address the cone shape spring was to wrap the wire around a drill bit end that was slightly wider than the pin shaft. i put it on the pinand put a small dot of ca on the underside of the head. after i glue the pin in place i took the end of the wire which i left long and tugged on it which tightened the bottom of the spring winding. if i had a camera id post a pic. it looks really good and is really easy. i was gonna use some pe discs that i have on this extra fret but the pin solves all this by being the cap and shaft in one. it seams better to make an individual spring for each pin as it was hard to cut the long spring without messing it up

mgunns · 3 February 2011, 09:50 AM

Sounds like something even I could do. Thanks for the tips.

Best
Mark

Ron Kootje · 3 February 2011, 10:42 AM

I made this Jig on my lathe very handy indeed

Ron

Morrel · 3 February 2011, 04:42 PM

Some things I tried:

- put very small nails in a dremel, then use a smal file to make them conical
Nice but I can't make 10 exactly the same
- file of those plastic springs so a wire fits under the disk (broke off)
Next idea is to make a tiny mold for a disk with latex, and use milliput to make them. I've used that before to copy tiny parts and it works great.
I'm also thinking of making a jig with 10 small copper tubes....

to put pins in the correct angle and distance.
I wish I could make them a little bigger then WNW does, but then the rockers don't fit anymore...
The springs from lighters are a little to big, already tried that.
And with all that trying things I've broken off a cylinder as well.

albatros1234 · 3 February 2011, 08:05 PM

someone could make some nice looking ones and cast them in resin so we just glue em on. other wise we gotta make springs