Subject: Re: Need Springs

From: [email-masked] (Jon Gellman)
Date: Mon, 22 May 1995 14:26:56 GMT

Harold Borders <[email-masked]> wrote:
>I am building 1 1/2" scale arch bar trucks and I need a source for the
>springs. The plans call for 3/4" dia, 1 1/2" ht. and 300# rate. Can
>anyone help?
>
>--
>________________________________________________________________
>
>Harold W. Borders (Buddy)
>Instrumentation Specialist
>University of Pennsylvania
>Physics Department
>209 South 33 Street
>Philadelphia, PA 19104
>
>Work (215) 898-8591
>Home (610) 352-5417
>_________________________________________________________________
>
>
McMaster -Carr, as always is the best first place to look. They have an excellent selection
of all sorts and sizes.

Jon

Jon Gellman Effects
[email-masked]
NYC, NY

---

From: John Young <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 May 1995 20:33:25 GMT

> springs. The plans call for 3/4" dia, 1 1/2" ht. and 300# rate. Can   

The springs for my 1 1/2" scale arch bar trucks came from Allen Models
I have built the trucks as part of my Allen ten-wheeler tender.
Although I bought the castings for the entire locomotive,
I am sure that Gene Allen will sell you just the springs.
I don't have the address handy, but Allen Models advertises in both
Live Steam and Modeltec magazines. Good luck with your model(s).

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From: [email-masked] (J. Kimberlin)
Date: 22 May 1995 17:30:49 -0700

In article <[email-masked]>,
>springs. The plans call for 3/4" dia, 1 1/2" ht. and 300# rate. Can   

In addition to McMaster-Carr and Allen Models, you might just try surplus 
or worn out valve springs from automobile engines or motorcycle engines.  
Go to an auto junkyard, for instance.  These things are usually scrap and 
do come in lots of different diameters and lengths.

Otherwise go to a machinery or tooling supply house and get springs for 
die sets.  Danly, Carr-Lane, and other make them in a nearly infinite 
variety of diameters, wire sizes, and elasticity, etc.  Personally, I'd 
get old auto valve springs - do, in fact, since we do engine testing 
where I work and the dumpster is always full of them.

Regards,

JerryK

---

From: [email-masked] (Michael J. Edelman)
Date: 24 May 1995 12:15:13 GMT

Charles Lamont ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article: <[email-masked]>  Harold Borders <[email-masked]> writes:
: > 
: > I am building 1 1/2" scale arch bar trucks and I need a source for the   
: > springs. The plans call for 3/4" dia, 1 1/2" ht. and 300# rate. Can   
: > anyone help?                                         ^^^^  

: This is a polite request to American posters not to use "#" as the
: universal unit of everything. To the rest of us it is totally meaningless:
: 300 what, pray?	 

Well, why do you think it's called a 'pound sign' in Murca? We Murcans
are a simple folk, you know.

--mike

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 25 May 1995 14:24:07 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Charles Lamont <[email-masked]> writes:
[...]
>
>In the US you do not seem to use it just for pounds (mass? force?), you
>also seem to use it to signify something like member of a range of sizes
>or gauges, viz. "Throgmatroyd's #2 Grinkling Fludger", or am I wrong here?
>
[...]

I'm pretty sure Throgmatroyd's is actually a British firm. Anyway, you
can say either "number" or "pounds" for "#", depending usually whether
it's got a number before or after it. Never seen "#" used in connection
with hash, but I'm not in the food processing business...

                      ...when I sit down to write
Don Holly             my intentions are always blameless however deplorable
                      the ultimate effect of the act may turn out to be.
                                           --Joseph Conrad

---

From: Charles Lamont <[email-masked]>
Date: 24 May 1995 07:49:16 +0100

In article: <[email-masked]>  Harold Borders <[email-masked]> writes:
> anyone help?                                         ^^^^  

This is a polite request to American posters not to use "#" as the
universal unit of everything. To the rest of us it is totally meaningless:
300 what, pray?	 

In an example problem we were given to help us get to grips with the units of
viscosity, we had to give our answer in units of tons per acre-fortnight. 

-- 
Charles

---

From: Charles Lamont <[email-masked]>
Date: 25 May 1995 07:38:02 +0100

> are a simple folk, you know.

Ah, well, this is enlightening to a degree, in that I did not know it was
called a pound sign in America.  BTW, UK keyboards are different to US
ones, as well as a dollar, they have: 

            ____            
           /    \
          |                                               /   /
           \                                            --------
 both     -----      "pound" Stirling         and        /   /     "hash"
            |                                          --------
           /                                            /   / 
          /__---__-

The latter does not signify anything in the UK (apart from root's prompt
in a UNIX shell, and a usually purposeless button on an extension phone).

Whatever the answer to this is, we still have the problem of the spring rate.
"300 pounds" is not a spring rate.  Spring rate means the change in force
exerted by the spring for a unit change in length.  You need to state the
length unit too; for example "300 stones force per hand" or "40 N / mm".

Oh, and just a reminder, Harold was after a source for these springs.
My humble apologies for hijacking your thread, sir.
  
-- 
Charles

---

From: Mike Rehmus <[email-masked]>
Date: 25 May 1995 15:44:46 GMT

Just for general information, the pound sign # really does have a use, at least here 
in the US and I believe elsewhere.  The # signifies the end of an action to the 
telephone company equipment.  So, for example, suppose one dials 011 44 1242 567 
8910 to call a friend in the UK.  The telephone system goes off and waits for a 
while to make certain you are really done typing in numbers.  The length of 
telephone numbers is a variable depending on the country called.

Well sir, just punch that old # key and hear the telephone equipment spring (no 
# pun intended) into action. 

The # key is also used to signify the completion of instructions or other input to 
automtic answering equipment, etc.

Best regards,
Mike Rehmus

---

From: [email-masked] (Barry Workman)
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 06:09:16 GMT

Gee, did you use the # for tons, acre, or twoweek?  the # is called
"the pound sign" to differentiate from those funny crossed
cursive "L" found in the UK.  Just as I was getting used to the 
pounds-shilling-pence system you changed everything.  Now you
see signs that tell you 2 P off. <^_^>

-- 
    - Barry Workman