What and where to get Spring Steel

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What and where to get Spring SteelI saw a neat science demo in a catalog and copied it. It works pretty good but I would like to make a new one from spring steel, same as the one in the catalog. http://www.teachersource.com/SoundAn...nstration.aspxI only need about 15’ of spring steel. 1.Where can I find spring steel? I checked out McMaster Carr they sell it but in huge quantities 2.Can I weld it like mild steel with my Mig? Or is this another reason I need to get a Tig welder,
Reply:"Spring Steel" is a meaningless term.There are literally thousands of different recipes for steel. And several hundred of em at the very least are used in springs.What are you making?What alloy was the original made from?If you dont know, you need to do some research on what alloys are good for your purpose. Usually, there are at least ten or 20 that will work for any given use, with different heat treatment procedures, different prices, different hardnesses, different degrees of weldability, and so on.A good place to get small quantities of common alloys of high carbon steel, which is what most, but not all springs are, would be McMaster Carr- you can check their catalog online, pay with a credit card, and, in many parts of the country, get it in a day or two. If you think McMaster, which sells 3 footers of many things, is a huge quantity, then I dont know what to say.They carry a bunch of 1095, which some people call "spring steel".But you gotta know what you want.http://www.mcmaster.com/
Reply:As Ries says, there are many steels that could be heat treated for the strength and harness characteristics of a spring.  Since the steel is highly hardenable, it is best to avoid trying to weld it.If you bought the steel in the annealed condition, carefully welded with preheat/postheat, and then heat treated the whole assembly, you could maintain the desired properties.  But if you weld on the heat treated spring, areas of the weld and heat affected zone (HAZ) will be excessively hardened, and further out in the HAZ will be softened (tempered), so the properties will be all messed up.
Reply:I believe leaf springs fall more in the 1040 - 1050 range and can easily be formed and welded.  Then re-heat treated. A lot of blacksmith types use this sorta stuff all the time. If you knew yer stuff you could even weld leaf springs together and get 15 feet.Razor blades are in the 1090 range.Miller Dynasty 700Miller 350P with Aluma-pro push-pullMiller 280 Dynasty with expansion card Dynasty 200 DXMigMax 215 Enuff power and hand tools to create one of anything..... but mass produce nothing!!!
Reply:Most leaf springs are 5160.If you do a google search for 5160 steel i'm sure you can find a source for round bar in small diameters like that. Do some more searching, try www.anvilfire.com, for heat treating info.Miller EconotigCutmaster 38Yes ma'am, that IS a screwdriver in my pocket!
Reply:Thanks for the help, guys. I have never heard of spring steel so I was not sure what I wanted.I was going off of the picture in the link. The one I built from mild steel will have to suffice. I do not want to pay shipping and such. I was hoping this would be an item I could get locally if I had some more info.Thanks again reber