Spring compressor

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Well I thought I would start a thread to follow my build of a homemade spring compressor for changing struts.  I ran across this while searching the web a couple weeks ago and was really impressed with it.  It's only sold overseas as far as I can tell and it's pretty expensive, over 1000 dollars US and that's without shipping.  There are other ones out there that aren't that expensive but this one has alot of features that the others don't so I thought I would do some research and see how much it will cost me to build this.  Instead of an air cylinder I'm just going to use a bottle jack to keep costs down.  I would love an air operated one but 300 bucks vs. 30 bucks made that decision.  Think I have most of the issues figured out after some help from others.  Just placed an order from mcmaster carr of some drive rollers and other things to see how they will work.  Hoping to get some metal soon and see what I can come up with.  Hopefully it will be a relatively inexpensive project that will have most of the features of the other one.  So far I'm thinking around 150 dollars.  It isn't going to be as pretty as this one but will serve the same purpose and have most of the same features minus the air cylinder.  Here is a link of the video if your interested in it.  Hopefully I'll have some progress soon and provide some more info if anyone else is interested in something like this.Thanks, Scott
Reply:I watched the video, but what spring compressor are you speaking of?Saw a lovely young lady and she was standing next to something but really didn't notice a spring compressor.One more thing, those aren't safety shoes she's wearing.....  naughty boy, she really shouldn't be in the shop dressed like that.Okay, it's neat machine but a really great video....good luck with it.Last edited by FANS; 08-26-2009 at 06:25 PM.Reason: didn't spell check
Reply:Ya I had to watch the video many times to inspect all the details!  Still watch when I'm looking for parts.
Reply:Can't get much better than this in my opinion. http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-660-branick-7400.aspx Of course I haven't used the one you showed. Of course if you don't make money with them it would be hard to spend that kind of money. Looking forward to pics of your build. Pretty cool.Miller millermatic 251Miller aircrafter 330st, wp201961 Lincoln SA200Ellis 1600 bandsawLogan 820 latheSouth Bend 13"Bridgeport M Head
Reply:Originally Posted by imc188222Can't get much better than this in my opinion. http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-660-branick-7400.aspx Of course I haven't used the one you showed. Of course if you don't make money with them it would be hard to spend that kind of money. Looking forward to pics of your build. Pretty cool.
Reply:^^^ that's the same one we had in high school. i remember installing a set of lowering springs in my car in around 20 min. there so handy it's night and day.
Reply:Ponch, please be careful, and build it strong. If you ever see a spring escape, you'll never want to see it again.                                                                                                                                                  (Others here fear fuel tanks, I fear springs)                                                                                                  BTW I use a brahnick compressor.
Reply:here's one i built with the use of a 4ton bottle jack. i used this to add spacers on my truck,took less than ten minutes each to take them apart and add spacers. Attached Images It's not what you can buy, it's what you can build that matters
Reply:That's a pretty neat compressor.  One of the things I liked about the one I'm going to make is that it will hold the spring in the clamps so you can drop the strut out and slide it back in.
Reply:Well I got some packages from mcmaster today and think most of the parts are going to work out.  I placed another order of some other things right away so it will be here tomorrow and I can play around this weekend.  Ordered some different sleeve bearings and some thrust washers to allow the up and down movement.  The UHMW angle I got is going to work good.  I have one more piece to work out the details of parts to make it.  Think I have a pretty good idea of how to make that part work but just putting stuff together and working out the details.  Have a list of metal to order and then I can get started.  After I get my parts tomorrow I should know for sure that the bearing setup is going to work and then I can order the rest of the parts I was waiting on to make sure they were going to work.  I've also spent sometime on ebay last night looking for an air cylinder for this.  Found some used ones that weren't to bad.  Trying to find one with a big enough bore for the power and at least 6-8" stroke is the hard part.  I'll keep looking and eventually find one that will work.
Reply:Got some more parts from mcmaster today and played around for little while.  The thrust bearings didn't work how I thought they would so I'm just going to use a nylon lock washer to hold the sleeve bearing in place.  I'll still use the thrust bearings for spacers since I already have them and it can't hurt to use them.  So I think I have the raising and lowering part down.  Here is a picture of the sleeve bearing on a bolt.Here is a picture of how the whole sliding up and down is going to work.  I'm going to have a piece of angle with UHMW attached to it.  The UHMW and bolt with sleeve bearing on it will ride up and down on another piece of angle and hole everything in place.  Here is a picture of the parts in place but not put together yet.And here is the handle setup I came up with for the little adjustable table that holds the strut in place after you loosen the nut on top.  It's not neccesary to change the strut but I like how it holds the strut in place so you don't have to hold it when loosening the top nut.  I got a handle and piece of threaded rod put together.  Then got a piece of round UHMW and drilled and tapped it so the threaded rod screws into it.  This will all be inside a tube.  I'm going to weld a nut on the tube so when I screw the handle the UHMW will press against the other pipe and hold it in place.  Well I'm going to place another order from mcmaster getting all the parts I will need now that I know they will work.  Then just need to put everything together!
Reply:I ordered the rest of the parts now that I now which parts will work.  I should have most of the parts tomorrow.  I think I have the adjustable arms that hold the spring figured out to.  Have some parts coming for them to make sure it will work and then order 3 more of everything for them since I will need 4 of them total.  After that I will have eveything besides the DOM tubing that will be drilled out for a 3/4" pin for the hinges for the arms.  But think I have something in the works for that.  Still have to get a list of metal I'm going to need and order that.Not sure if anyone is interested in this but I'll keep the write up going in case anyone else is interested in building one of these.  After I get everything put together and make sure it all works smoothly I can make a parts list.  I'm pretty excited about this because I've always wanted one of these and it's also a fun project to figure out what to use to make the different parts to get it to work like the one in the video.  Thanks, Scott
Reply:Make sure to post up details and pictures Scott.  I'm very interested to see this build!www.lindgrensupercars.comMiller Dynasty 350Miller Dynasty 200DX - retiredMiller Millermatic 210Miller Spectrum 3080Miller "Power of Blue" stool  Miller Syncrowave 180SD - retired
Reply:I will post many pictures and also a parts list when I get it all together and make sure it works.  The budget will probably come in around what it costs for the cheap compressors and this will be an air operated one that has alot of nice features.I got the rest of my parts today and I also won an air cylinder off ebay for 25 bucks.  It's a 6" stroke but only a 2" bore so not sure about how much power it will have.  Guess I'll have to see and if it doesn't power the compressor I'll have to look for another one.
Reply:Just another quick update before I head out for the day.  After finding an air cylinder I decided to look for an air valve so I could raise, lower, and hold the cylinder in place.  I looked at mcmaster and they are really expensive.  So I headed back to ebay and ended up getting one for 20 bucks.  It is a hand operated one, was hoping to find the double foot operated one but the hand one will do fine for the price.  I couldn't believe how expensive these valves were.  Well I think that completes everything for the air system so hopefully the 2" bore cylinder will be plenty of power and all will work good.  Worst case I'll have to find a bigger bore cylinder to give it some more power.I'm thinking about putting an air tank on the spring compressor itself but not sure if this would help or not.  I have a pretty big compressor but I'm thinking maybe an auxiliary air tank will make sure the air cylinder has as much power as it can?  I don't know that much about air cylinders and air pressure when it comes to stuff like this.  I can hook them up and I usually know enough but have never used them in a situation like this so not sure.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!When the cylinder and valve get here I'll mount them to a wood  base for now and play around with them.  Maybe try and lift some things and see how much power the cylinder has.Thanks, Scott
Reply:Another good place to get hydraulic/pneumatic odds-n-ends is Surplus Center:https://www.surpluscenter.com/www.lindgrensupercars.comMiller Dynasty 350Miller Dynasty 200DX - retiredMiller Millermatic 210Miller Spectrum 3080Miller "Power of Blue" stool  Miller Syncrowave 180SD - retired
Reply:Originally Posted by kjlindgrAnother good place to get hydraulic/pneumatic odds-n-ends is Surplus Center:https://www.surpluscenter.com/
Reply:Well I got a bunch more parts today from mcmaster.  Some for the spring compressor and some "test" parts for the rim clamp.  I also got to the metal supply shop just before they closed today.  I bought 40' of 2"x2" 1/8" angle and 8' of 2" square tube.  So I'm hoping to get some stuff made this weekend.  I didn't have a list of metal with me and got to the supply house right before they closed so I don't think I have all the metal for the spring compressor but I should have enough to make most of the stand and test the carraige that will ride up and down.  Hopefully my air cylinder and valve gets here sometime early next week.  Monday I should have time to go get the rest of the metal I will need and hopefully finish these projects up next week.  Hopefully!As for the rim clamp to change tires I got alot of the parts today like the bearings and shaft and some UHMW to try and make the clamps and some threaded rods for the clamps.  I got enough metal to make the base and start the arm for the mount/dismount head.  I also found a mount/dismount head on ebay for 20 bucks.  They have a set of the plastic clamps for 90 bucks but I'm going to try and make my own before I spend 90 bucks.  I bought a chunk of 2"x2"x12" UHMW to cut up and try and make the clamps for 12 bucks.  I'm going to see how a wood router table will work on this plastic.  If it doesn't work I'll have to break down and spend the 90 bucks.  So after this weekend I will be able to see what I need to finish the arm and also make the table that spins and pick that up monday to.  I'm also going to try and make an air bead breaker for the side of the rim clamp.  Looks pretty simple design so I will work on this after I get the other projects done.That's it for now so hopefully there will be some updates throughout the weekend!   And hope everyone has a good weekend
Reply:Update,  Well I didn't get as much done this weekend as I had hoped to but ended up with some quality family time instead so at least it wasn't wasted time.  I did start the frame for the spring compressor and also built the "sled" that will move up and down on the frame to compress the spring.  The sleeve bearings and UHMW are going to work great to hold the sled in place as it moves up and down.  I drilled and tapped the sled so I could screw the 1/2" bolts into it that hold the sleeve bearings.  I need to go and get some more metal to finish the stand and make some of the other parts but it was a good start.  On friday I had to go on a road trip to pick up a plow truck for winter so I got back just in time to get to the metal supply before they closed so that I could get some metal to start.  Along with the spring compressor I started another project(I have a problem starting a bunch of projects and then it takes longer to finish them!) building a rim clamp to change tires.  They are charging 25 bucks a piece to change tires so I decided to make my own rim clamp for around 250 bucks or so.  I will start a new thread on that project.I also got to use my new dewalt multi cutter saw and it is great.  It cuts everything square and clean.  I bought a factory refurbished one for 200 bucks and it was well worth the money.Also today the air cylinder and up and down valve came so I need to get some fittings for them and try them out to see how much power the 2" bore has.  Not sure how much power each size bore has so guess I'll have to play around with them till I find one that will work good.Here are some pictures.Here is the start of the frame, it's 4' tall and 16" wide.  I'll be adding some square tubing for the base and also need to add support to stabalize the angle iron.Here is the sled with the sleeve bearings bolted on.Here is the sled on the frame.
Reply:I got some more metal for this today.  Didn't get a chance to work on it cause I was working on the rim clamp but should get some progress tomorrow.  I also got some round stock and pipe for hinges I need for the arms that hold the spring to be adjustable.  So I'm hoping to get the frame of it all welded up tomorrow and then start the arms.  I'm also going to start playing with the air cylinder and valve if I get time.  I need to get some fittings to hook them all up and see how much power this cylinder has.   I'm hoping it has enought to compress the spring or I'll have to head back to ebay and try and find another one that's bigger.
Reply:Can you tell us more about the saw? I don't think your 2" bore cylinder is going to cut it.  I'm figuring it will apply 314lbs of pressure to the spring with 100psi of air.  I'm thinking that with 100psi of air, you're going to need at least a 4" bore, 5" or 6" would be much better.  You might consider a Bottle jack instead.  You can get air powered hydraulic bottle jacks for around 60-80 bucks if you don't like pumpin.In the mean time....how many of those cylinders do you have?  If you have two then you could use them to clamp the rims on your tire changer.  Or maybe even one if you do a three clamp setup.  Have two clamps drop into pin holes and remain stationary and have the third pulled towards the cender with the air cylinder.  If you used a hollow shaft for the wheel to turn on then you could run the airline through the center and have a quick connect at the bottom, that would allow it to spin.My name's not Jim....
Reply:Dammit, you got me thinkin....now I'm going to have to build one.  Someday.My name's not Jim....
Reply:Originally Posted by BoostinjdmCan you tell us more about the saw? I don't think your 2" bore cylinder is going to cut it.  I'm figuring it will apply 314lbs of pressure to the spring with 100psi of air.  I'm thinking that with 100psi of air, you're going to need at least a 4" bore, 5" or 6" would be much better.  You might consider a Bottle jack instead.  You can get air powered hydraulic bottle jacks for around 60-80 bucks if you don't like pumpin.In the mean time....how many of those cylinders do you have?  If you have two then you could use them to clamp the rims on your tire changer.  Or maybe even one if you do a three clamp setup.  Have two clamps drop into pin holes and remain stationary and have the third pulled towards the cender with the air cylinder.  If you used a hollow shaft for the wheel to turn on then you could run the airline through the center and have a quick connect at the bottom, that would allow it to spin.
Reply:Originally Posted by ponch37300 The only problem I can see with using 2 clamps that drop into holes and a cylinder for the other is the rim needs to be 100% centered and I would think that would be kinda hard with only moving one clamp with the cylinder.
Reply:Originally Posted by BoostinjdmThree clamps arranged in a triangle.  The two dropped into holes would be stationary and would position the wheel.  The third would apply the clamping force that keeps the wheel in place.  It would be much faster and easier to center a wheel this way than to have multiple moving clamps  which equals multiple variables.  You would just have to do a good job figuring where your holes need to be for each size wheel.how bout instead of holes, you could do slots and lock down bolts with reference marks?  Infinately adjustable and the reference marks would help speed things up.  Lock down bolts would be similar to the way the backstop is held in place on a chop saw.The next suggestion would be to have hand cranks on two of the jaws and the air cylinder on the third, but I was trying to keep it simple.My name's not Jim....
Reply:Here is some progress pics.This one is of the sled in the frame.  You can see the sleeve bearings and the UHMW that allow the sled to move up and down freely.  I will add some braces on the verticle part of the frame to support it all.This one is from the front of the spring compressor.  The clamp is holding the sled half way up the frame.Here is a picture of the air cylinder mounted to the frame and I tapped a piece of 3/8" flat stock and screwed the cylinder rod into it and welded it to the sled.That's all for today.  I'll probably work on it some tomorrow and get the air up and running and the frame supports welded up.  I have some metal for the hinges for the arms that will hold the spring so if I get time I will start on them.
Reply:I hooked up the valve to the cylinder today and it lifted me, 190 pounds, and my dewalt multi cutter saw without blinking.  So I'm guessing it will lift 250-300 pounds without a problem.  Not sure how much pressure I will need for a spring,  I know that the little screw spring compressors that I've used with an impact, I've used a cheap impact before that probably only put out 200-250 inch pounds and they work fine.  Guess I'll have to wait and see if it has enough power when finished.
Reply:Consider a typical high performance automotive spring might be anywhere from 200-300 lbs/in spring rate. That means that it would take 200-300 Lbs to compress the spring one inch. So 300lbs of force from your ram is not going to cut it if you want to compress the spring a couple inches.The screw type spring compressors that you use an impact on, you have the screw multiplying the force. So even if the impact is only rated for XXXft/lbs, it doesn't mean anything in relation to the force you can apply on the spring.I would think you could get by on a 3" ram, which would net about 950lbs of force from 100psi. If your compressor can supply 130 or 150psi, 3" might even be fine. Keep in mind, for your limited amount of duty, even a hydraulic cylinder will work fine as a pneumatic cylinder and will likely be a lot less expensive.
Reply:Originally Posted by chicksdigwagonsConsider a typical high performance automotive spring might be anywhere from 200-300 lbs/in spring rate. That means that it would take 200-300 Lbs to compress the spring one inch. So 300lbs of force from your ram is not going to cut it if you want to compress the spring a couple inches.The screw type spring compressors that you use an impact on, you have the screw multiplying the force. So even if the impact is only rated for XXXft/lbs, it doesn't mean anything in relation to the force you can apply on the spring.I would think you could get by on a 3" ram, which would net about 950lbs of force from 100psi. If your compressor can supply 130 or 150psi, 3" might even be fine. Keep in mind, for your limited amount of duty, even a hydraulic cylinder will work fine as a pneumatic cylinder and will likely be a lot less expensive.
Reply:Originally Posted by chicksdigwagonsI would think you could get by on a 3" ram, which would net about 950lbs of force from 100psi.
Reply:I just bought a 4" bore by 12" stroke air cylinder off ebay.  I paid 70 bucks plus 20 for shipping for it which is more than I wanted but I figured I might as well get the right one and be done with it.  They are over 300 brand new so it's not that bad of a deal.  So once that gets here I will make a new mount for it and then I will be able to finish this thing up.  Just need to make the arms that hold the spring and support the uprights and paint it.  Think I'm going to start watching ebay for cheap air cylinders to have on hand for projects so I can get them cheap and have them when I need them instead of paying more to get them when I need them!  Thanks to everyone for the help on how big of a cylinder I was going to need.  Might also still check on the hydralic rams to see how much they cost.Scott
Reply:Does anyone know the multiplying number for a 4" bore?  My grainger catalog only shows the multiplying factors up to 2.5" bore. Thanks Scott
Reply:Pi X Radius Squared.Radius of a 4" cylinder is 2"2X2=4Pi = 3.14 roughlySo 3.14 X 4 = 12.56 (surface area of piston)Take surface area times air pressure to get actual force.100psi X 12.56 = 1256 lbsI would think that would get the job done.  You might want to beef up your mount though.My name's not Jim....
Reply:Originally Posted by BoostinjdmPi X Radius Squared.Radius of a 4" cylinder is 2"2X2=4Pi = 3.14 roughlySo 3.14 X 4 = 12.56 (surface area of piston)Take surface area times air pressure to get actual force.100psi X 12.56 = 1256 lbsI would think that would get the job done.  You might want to beef up your mount though.
Reply:Well I got my 4" bore x 12" stroke cylinder yesterday.  Was really looking forward to making some progress this afternoon and evening but one of the kids ended up sick and came home from school so no work today.  I'm going to get up early and get a good jump on this in the morning.  I want to mount the air cylinder and test it out.  Then I am going brace everything good and then the base and sled will be done and just need to make the arms that hold the spring.  I have the design worked out so they can be adjustable so just have to fab them up, but like everything else so far I'm sure there will be some issues to work threw while building these.  I am really looking forward to playing with an air cylinder this big.  Does anyone know where to get air fittings at a decent price?  Mcmaster, grainger, and local are all 4-8 bucks a fitting which will add up pretty fast.  I'm just looking for some simple fittings that aren't going to cost more than the cylinder to hook up the air!  Also not sure weather to buy the air hose by the foot or just buy a hose from home depot and chop it up?  Anyone have advice on where to get air lines/fittings at a good price?Thanks, ScottI will post some progress pics tomorrow some time with the air cylinder mounted.
Reply:Made a little progress today, got the new cylinder mounted and reinforced the mounting bracket.  Still need to add some bracing for the uprights.  The cylinder is powerful and don't think I will have any problem compressing springs.  Still looking for a place to get some air fittings and hose.  The cylinder came with two fittings that are the kind that the hose presses into and it locks.  Not sure exactly what kind of hose I need for them yet.  I'm hoping that I will get everything braced up tomorrow and then start the hinge part of the arm.  Here's a couple more pics, nothing major, just showing the new cylinder mounted and it up and down.
Reply:I made a little progress today, got the uprights supported and think everything is up for the task of compressing some springs.  I just ordered a bunch of nylon air hose and pushloc fittings to try and get the valve all hooked up to the cylinder.  I'll get some more progress done in the next couple of days and this weekend.  I'm hoping to get the arms fabed up and then get it ready for paint so I can be done with this project and then work hard on finishing up the rim clamp before winter sets in because right now I don't have room to work in my garage with out moving a bunch of stuff out!
Reply:You'll need either nylon, polyethylene, or polyurethane tubing. It is measured by outside diameter. http://www.mcmaster.com/#tubing/=3rpo5c
Reply:7A749-I appreciate the offer but it wasn't long enough and I did end up finding something in the scrape room at my local metal supply.  meat man-I think I got it figured out.  I ordered 50' of 3/8" nylon tubing and also 50' of 1/4" nylon tubing to have around for projects.  Also ordered an assortment of different sized fittings so I can see which ones work the best and then order the correct amount.  I have a couple of bins filled with stuff I've ordered that ended up not working out or being not what I thought so now I just order 1 of what I think I will need to make sure before I order a bunch of something that won't work!  I'm sure I'll use the other peices sometime down the road.  It's also really nice that when I order by 4 pm mcmaster can get stuff to me the next day.  Thanks for the help guys and I'll be posting some more pics and hopefully sometime soon will show it actually working!!!  I've always gotten rid of my old struts and springs so don't have one to "test" so I'm thinking about going to a junk yard and see if I can get one for cheap to play with.  Otherwise I'm going to have to take one off the girlfriends car and she probably won't be to happy about me taking apart her 09 malibu to "test" my project and then tell her she needs to go get an alignment!!!Last edited by ponch37300; 09-24-2009 at 09:08 AM.
Reply:Well not to much progress today.  Seems like something always comes up when I plan on getting some work done!  Had to get a new fridge this morning and switch over all the food.  Then I ended up going for a couple hour bicycle ride since I've been kinda lazy lately and winter is coming.  I did get one of the screw adjusters made that will raise and lower the fingers that hold the springs.  I believe this is a big part of a good spring compressor for safety and ease of use.  Since the rungs of a spring go up as they wind the fingers need to be adjustable to fit the spring.  If they were even on each side the spring would compress unevenly and this creates an unsafe force so I wanted to figure out how to make the arms adjustable.  The way I did this was to use 2 peices of square tube that fit inside of each other.  The outside one will be welded to the arms that swing.  The inside peice of square tube will be the one that moves up and down.  To do this I used a 6" peice of 3/4" threaded rod that I drilled and tapped for a 1/4-20 threaded rod.  I had bought some handles that also were threaded 1/4-20.  I cut a short peice of 1/4-20 threaded rod and screwed everything together.  Since I needed this to stay together and not unscrew I drilled a hole in the 3/4" and also the handle and put a spring pin in to hold everything together.I will weld a peice of plate on the top of the outside square tube and drill a hole threw it so that the 1/4" threaded rod will fit threw it but the end of the 3/4" will push against the plate.  And the square tube on the inside will also have a plate welded on the top and I will tap this for the 3/4" threaded rod.  So when I turn the handle the 3/4" rod will push against the top plate on the outer square tubing and the inner square tubing will thread on the 3/4" rod and extend.  Hope this make half sense!  I will get a pic once I get the square tubing done.  Here is a pic of the handle/threaded rod assembly.
Reply:Got some more progress today.  I cut all the peices for the hinges that allow the arms to swing so they fit different diameter springs.  I found some pipe and a rod that fit really nice inside.  For each hinge I cut 2" of pipe for the top and bottom that I welded to the frame and then cut a 5" peice of pipe that will be the start of the arm.  And then the rod goes threw all of them, I drilled and tapped the 2" peices to accept a set screw to hold the rod in place.  I tacked the bottom set of hinges on the sled, I didn't want to heat the pipe up to much so I just made a bunch of little tacks to weld the pipe to the frame which turned out kinda sloppy!  I need to get a strut assembly to see where to mount the top set.  My cylinder travels 12" so I'm thinking just mount the top set 16-18" above it.  I figure that when the spring is compressed it will be at least 3-4" and the arms will be able to come down another 3-4" so to get the most versatility out of this compressor I think 18" is a good distance.  That means that I can compress the spring down to 3" if needed.  Here are some pics of the frame and the sled with the hinges tacked on.
Reply:Wow very cool, keep it up!
Reply:Well not a lot of progress but a little update.  I got all the air fittings figured out and ordered them all and installed the valve and ran 3/8 nylon tubing to everything.  I mounted a quick connect to the frame and ran a line to the valve handle.  I ran 2 lines from the valve to the cylinder and on the return I put an adjustable flow control so I can control how fast the cylinder releases the spring.  I only had one flow control and thought I should put it on the side that lowers the cylinder so it doesn't release the spring to fast.  If it ends up compressing the spring to fast I will have to break down and buy another flow control, they are around 25 bucks so trying to avoid that expense if I can.  I also bought an exhaust for the valve.  I also bought some foot pedal air controls so I'm going to see if I like these better than the handle valve.  I figured if I use a foot valve it will keep both my hands free.  I'm also going to put the whole thing on wheels so I can move it around.Most of my tools are on wheels since I have a pretty small garage and to much stuff to fit in it.  I spent most of my free time this week cleaning the garage and basement before winter sets in so I can have some room to work in the garage when it's cold out.  I also had to finish up some projects on the house so that took most of my time instead of working on this project.  But I think I cleared up enough room in the garage so I can work on stuff this winter now that everything is on wheels and can be shuffled around easy.  So I'm hoping that I will get some time this week to go get the metal I need and finish this one up finally!  I also got a strut assembly so I can size up where to mount the upper arms.  I placed an add on craigslist looking for a used strut assembly and after a week or so somone replied and said they had one I could have for free.  So now I have something to use for mock up and to test the machine out.Last edited by ponch37300; 10-04-2009 at 10:04 PM.
Reply:Well as I posted in my rim clamp thread I got back out to the garage this week to start some projects again.  Did some cleaning of the garage today to make some room to work.  Was planning on working on the rim clamp but ended up starting on the spring compressor.  Mostly just trying to figure out where I left off!Well not a lot of progress but I think I have things figured out and should get some work done tomorrow or monday.  I bought some spring compressors from HF for 8 bucks on sale.  My plan is to use the ends from them on my machine, I was having some troubles designing and making my own so figured I would just buy these for now and save some time and headaches.Can someone answer this for me, why does one end of the spring compressors have 2 hooks and the other end only has 1 hook?  If you look at my pics you can see what I mean.  I would think that 2 hooks would be better and safer than one hook.  Thinking about picking up another set of spring compressors from HF so I can have 4 ends that each have 2 fingers to hook the springs.  Any advice on this?Here are some pictures of what I plan on doing tomorrow.  Going to use a peice of 3/8" or 1/2" flat stock to offset the spring holders a little so the arms don't get in the way.  I plan on adding some gussets to the plates back to the adjustable arms to add some support.  Any advice is welcomed.  I need to start getting these projects finished one at a time, have way to many things started right now.Sorry the pics are sideways, took them with my phone and sent them to my email, couldn't figure out how to rotate them.  The first 2 show how I plan to make the offset and the 2 finger clamp part.  The third pic shows the single finger clamp that I don't think is that strong.  Right now I have 2 of each, thinking about buying another set of spring clamps so I will have 4 two finger clamps because they look stronger and would give more support.  Not sure if there is a reason why all the spring compressors I have seen come with one 2 finger and one 1 finger on each side?Last edited by ponch37300; 06-26-2010 at 08:03 PM.
Reply:I got the plates made up today and welded to the adjustable tubes.  Drilled and tapped the plates for 5/8x11 threaded rod.  The cheap spring compressors from HF came with metric threaded rod and I was going to use that but it was of very low quality so I made a quick trip to the hardware store to get some threaded rod that is much nicer and smoother threading.  Also I didn't have a metric tap big enough to tap the plates to match the metric all thread, but I had a 5/8x11 tap.   Think this setup will work pretty nice.Here are some pics of the progress, had some child labor today when my little brother was over.  He loves to work in the garage.The first pic is a side view with a strut in it.  The top holders are just being held there by my brother.This is a front view.Here is my child labor drilling some holes in the plate so we could tap them for the 5/8" thread.Here is a zoomed out view with the top arms just being held in place.  One thing I noticed after looking at these pics is that I don't know if I will be able to compress the spring enough before the hooks hit each other.  I think I am going to go get another set of compressors from HF and use all the 2 finger hooks, they are shorter than the single finger hooks and should give more support and I should be able to compress the spring enough then.Couple little notes that I would do different if I did another one.  I used threaded rod with fine threads for the adjustable tubes that raise the arms up and down, I would use coarse thread because it takes a long time to adjust them.  Another thing is that the tapped hole for the adjusting the height(one square tube moves up and down in the other one) is angled a little for some reason.  I used a drill press for the hole and then hand tapped it, I don't remember it going crooked but it is and this caused some binding between them.  I might have to cut the end plate off and weld a new one on with a straight hole to mae it smooth, if I do this I will also switch to coarse threads.As always I'm open for any advice you guys might have!
Reply:Well I'm sorry it took a year to complete but it compressed it's first spring today!I finished up the upper arms and tried it out today, and it worked great.  I bolted the upper arms on for now instead of welding them.  In case I need to change the height of them for some reason.  They cylinder had plenty of power to compress the spring with ease, think it was only an escort spring but it still didn't even take any pressure to compress it.  I used a couple of ratchet tie downs just in case something went wrong and the spring came flying out. I am going to add some extra bracing in some places, I tend to over build things so they can take what ever abuse I throw at them.  Then I am going to paint it.  I don't do a lot of struts but my screw type spring compressors dissapeared so I was looking for something new and came across a company that makes one similar to what I built.  The are over seas in europe somewhere and don't think they have a US dealer so I decided to take on this project.  Spent a little more than I wanted/thought but I guess that is usual designing and building something I never have before.  Had to buy parts from all over and some didn't work out so had to order new.  The air cylinder was the most expensive part but this thing is huge and has some serious power.Well here is some pics for anyone that has followed over the last year!  Now on to finish the rim clamp I started at the same time last year, I really need to learn how to finish one project before starting another!  I know some of my welds aren't the prettiest and I"m open for CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.First one is of the machine with a strut loaded up.Second is a close up of a strut loaded.Third one shows the strut compressed.Strut compressedStrut compressed
Reply:More pictures.Shows the spring compressed and the gap between the spring and strut bottom plate.These show the spring compressed with the strut taken out.
Reply:Just some more pictures.Now it's time to pick up the pace on the rim clamp and get that done!  Someday I will learn how to finish one project before starting ten new ones.Last edited by ponch37300; 07-02-2010 at 12:06 AM.
Reply:In another post I mentioned some flexing issues I was having where the cylinder is attached to the carraige.  I cut the top cylinder mount out and was able to move the cylinder about 2" forward, putting the shaft close to the carraige.  I also cut the top angle out of the carraige and put in a peice of square tube to get rid of the flex the angle had.  This transfered all the force right back to the frame.So I tried compressing the spring again and there was no major flex issues anywhere.  I think I have the bugs worked out and just have a few changes I want to make.   And add some safety chain to it with a hook that can hold the spring in the event it slips out and wants to go flying.I am in the process of building an air dryer and just got my big compressor out of storage.  Going to get this all set up and sandblast this beast.  Then spray some paint on and call it good.It took just under a year to get something that I"m happy with but I think it was worth it.  Learned a lot and had a lot of help from everyone on here.Had some pics showing the new design where the cylinder is attatched but they are to big.  Will have to resize them sometime.