Lately I've been tinkering with electromechanical instruments, some of which are a few decades old and in rather used/abused shape. Often there are smallish extension and compression springs which are rusted out, broken, stretched beyond restoration, covered with oil that has aged into a very durable varnish, or (very often) some combination.
Many are music wire but some seem to be stainless and/or brass. Usually the diameter of the spring is 1/8", 3/16", or 1/4", which are standard sizes, but some are even smaller. The wire the springs are made out of seems to be between 0.016" and 0.05". And sometimes, of course, the spring is just plain gone so I don't really know what was supposed to be there. I've been buying some off-the-shelf springs from MSC with great success, but there remain a few that don't seem to be on anyone's shelf.
How hard is it to wind something like this from scratch? I'm guessing that to make a 3/16" extension spring, I might start with a rod a little bit smaller than 3/16", wind it with music wire to greater than the desired unextended length, cut the ends, and then use some pliers to force the ends into a hook. Probably won't look as nice as one from a factory but it'll be a start.
How do the factory ones look so perfect, with the hooks on the end in such perfect alignment, anyway? Some magical tools that I can never afford, or some simple tools that I could buy cheaply or maybe fashion myself? Any tricks to working with that skinny music wire without it poking any more holes in my fingers than I already have?
Tim.