Unexpected Source for Parts

[Jim Koepke]

For a while now I have been looking or at least keeping an eye out for small coil springs to use in the chucks of eggbeater drills.

The smallest the local hardware stores carry is 1/8".

Today, by accident I found a source that is ridiculously low cost.

I make long strips of wood for lighting our fire place. To light those, we use a butane lighter. One of our lighters ran out of gas and before throwing it away, I thought of taking out the flint since we have another lighter with a bad flint. The spring to feed the flint is about 2 inches long and likely 2.5 mm or ~3/32".

So, now I know where to get a good supply of springs smaller than any of the local hardware suppliers carry.

If you do not use a lighter, then just find a friend who is going to toss their disposable lighter and have them save it for you.

jtk

[Bob Smalser]

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/cid=11275/Products/Bulk_Spring_Kits

[Jim Koepke]

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/cid=11275/Products/Bulk_Spring_Kits

Thanks Bob,

That is a great source for many things, but even just buying a lighter for the spring will not lighten the wallet as much.

jtk

[ray hampton]

in case that you are a non-smoker all cigarettes lighters contain springs unless they have sprung

[Jim Koepke]

in case that you are a non-smoker all cigarettes lighters contain springs unless they have sprung

Yes, but not what you might think. All lighters with a flint spark wheel will have a spring similar to the one found in the common disposable lighter.

Some lighters use piezoelectric systems to produce ignition. I have heard of platinum ignition systems, but I have only seen it in instructional videos. I do not know if they are available commercially.

jtk

[Jonathan McCullough]

I recently went through my coffee can of ball point pens and collected the springs from the pens that had dried out. Haven't tried them out yet in the chuck of the MF 5 1/2 I fixed up, but at any rate it's another possibility.

[Jim Koepke]

I recently went through my coffee can of ball point pens and collected the springs from the pens that had dried out. Haven't tried them out yet in the chuck of the MF 5 1/2 I fixed up, but at any rate it's another possibility.

I have a lot of ball point pen springs. They were too big for some of my smaller chucks.

jtk

[ray hampton]

Yes, but not what you might think. All lighters with a flint spark wheel will have a spring similar to the one found in the common disposable lighter.

Some lighters use piezoelectric systems to produce ignition. I have heard of platinum ignition systems, but I have only seen it in instructional videos. I do not know if they are available commercially.

jtk

thanks for the correction, I do not see many electric lighters

[Jim Koepke]

thanks for the correction, I do not see many electric lighters

I used to have a piezo sparked lighter that would arc to the case. if you didn't hold the lighter in a certain way it would give the user a good jolt. I could leave it on a bar and though some would pick it up, they would yelp and quickly put it back.

jtk