Spring for door latch?

[dgadee]

The spring in a cabin door latch went. I took it to a locksmith in Inverness and immediately he saw it he said he couldn't do anything - he had already had a local person in the boat business looking for some for that very latch. "You would need to order 3,000 of them." I was a bit surprised because I imagined he could bend something not much more complex than this in a minute:



He talked about the difficulty of getting the correct tension, but it's only a door latch was my thought. Not much of a locksmith, was my view.

I have a book on making springs but not unfortunately with me. Where can I get the spring steel to make one myself? Is there heat treatment needed?

 

[sailorman]

how about model makers piano wire

 

[dgadee]

Ah! Good idea. Thanks - that should do the trick.

 

[prv]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clock-Spr...t=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item3cfa640863 ?

(Probably the same sort of stuff that Sailorman is suggesting)

Pete

 

[dgadee]

Just an update on this. I made a temporary spring out of the piano wire as advised and it worked ok but thought I would get it remade. Just collected it from a local locksmith who made me a spring and charged me £2. What does that say about Inverness locksmiths, I wonder.

 

[Stemar]

Just an update on this. I made a temporary spring out of the piano wire as advised and it worked ok but thought I would get it remade. Just collected it from a local locksmith who made me a spring and charged me £2. What does that say about Inverness locksmiths, I wonder.

In my experience of "locksmiths", it says that your local one is unusually good. Most are key cutters of varying skill and retailers of locks, bolts & the like at exorbitant prices

 

[dgadee]

In my experience of "locksmiths", it says that your local one is unusually good. Most are key cutters of varying skill and retailers of locks, bolts & the like at exorbitant prices

They say of themselves: "Fully certificated in Standard and Advanced Locksmithing, and the only company in the area to boast membership of The Master Locksmiths Association, we are rightly proud of our expertise and reputation as industry leaders."

 

[Alpha22]

I had some springs made that looked almost identical to that by a brass musical instrument repair specialist - a real craftsman. He charged me 50p for about a dozen. They were for spit keys on trumpets. He made them from piano wire.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Had this problem a few times now , I did has a spring company to make me some up , but the coat run into hundreds or so they said , any way what I do now is use key rings , heat them up , shape them and then heat them up again and drop then in oil , that seen to work find , last one made was 14 months ago still working well .
hope this helps you and others .