Perkins Spring Coiler

[Cory]

Hello,

I have found a Perkins Multi-Spring Master Coiler in great shape. I cant find much info about these machines. I do have the manual tho. When were these made? Were they made for custom spring orders? Or did they use them in prototyping shops? I have figured it out a little and made a few useless springs.

After coiling a spring using Precision Brand Music Wire does the spring need to be tempered? I read somewhere it does. Thoughts?

Does anyone have one of these they still use?

Thanks,
Cory

 

[Cory]

Pictures of this Machine

 

[lazz]

That is nice....
It puts my Diacro to shame....

 

[Winterfalke]

I know the custom springs we made out of music wire for mil-sim were good to go as coiled, no heat treat necessary.

 

[Jkh62]

That is a beautiful machine.

I received my standard Perkins winder yesterday from my Fleabay purchase. Other than years of inactivity a few shots of WD40 got things moving and I was taking note of what works , missing , etc.

Mine has the drive wheel for the super small wire and missing the three normal range feeder wheels. They do not look hard to make and I need to take some dimensions from the other wheels to turn some blanks. I am missing either the large or small pitch point which is minor. Over all I am very pleased that all major parts are present and working. Its impressive because they really are built like a Rolex with heavy cast body / frame , pressed in roller bearings with hardened gears and shafts.

I managed strip mine and blast the main body and get some fresh paint on it.
Serial number #1361

 

[4GSR]

If the company is not around today, you will have to make your own tooling for these machines. They are considered specialized machines. I've seen a few machines like this in a spring shop years ago making springs. Seem like there were cams that controlled the way it made loops on the ends for extension springs, either open or closed end for compression springs, as well as cutting off the finished spring from the wire feeder.

 

[Jkh62]

This is a pretty simple compression spring winder , nothing exotic to re-make as Perkins Gear has been long gone as far as I know.

 

[Jkh62]

Progress...

 

[guythatbrews]

That is very cool. And you can find it in the dark!

It's great to see stuff like this rebuilt.

 

[Jkh62]

The others color choice in enamel was John Deer green which did not really feel right.
After the dirt came off I discovered the worm gear is bronze. The hand crank wheel has a thrust bearing.

Perkins really did an amazing job building these machines.

 

[Ox]

"Rebuilt"?

or

"Cleaned and Painted"?


------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[Jkh62]

"Rebuilt"?

or

"Cleaned and Painted"?


------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Both.

Sandblasted & painted.
Pack bearings or replace if bad.
Machine and heat treat missing wire rollers wheels.
Machine and heat treat missing and damages guide fingers.
Need to make wire deflector "tips".

These are hand operated machines and built like tanks so it would be hard to wear one out from normal use. The shafts are hardened & ground and ride in roller bearings. Unless a machine was really abused , dropped or left outside and rusted up restoring one is not hard. Missing or broken parts are a different ballgame if you can not machine them yourself.

 

[Jkh62]

Have my feed rollers made now to make the missing guides......

Anyone have any info on the difference or revisions in the Perkins coilers ?

My machine serial number is : 1361
My friend’s serial number is : 5048

Mine has a “cam” that rotates with a smaller rod that passes thru it to the rear of the machine.

The rod has small diameter pins protruding out. The rotating cam / guide is locked in rotation by the front thumbscrew on the side.

His machine has what looks like a slotted insert ( instead of my cam ) with interchangeable pin insert. To guide the wire ?

Solid and no smaller diameter rod passing thru.

Will be interesting to have the two machine side by side and compare operation.

 

[Jkh62]

Had some spare time to make missing and some parts that were revised from my machine to the one my friend has. The adjustment screw and stop that adjust the coiling point ( diameter ) is a larger diameter on the later Perkins winders (3/8-24) and mine is a 1/4-20, and bent.

Made a replacement from 0-1 tool steel except my locking collar was too big a diameter to let it swing clear of the machine base so I made another from 3/4" stock. Made missing thumb screws and ordered some 3/16" brass rod for the center shaft locking piece.

Need to make a few coiling points and harden them and will give it a try.


Old and new~

More robust and finer adjustment~

Coiling point blank~

 

[Jkh62]

It's alive.....

Made a few coiling points, hardened them and stuck a piece of .045" wire in it and started turning knobs....

Pretty F'ing cool & now to practice.
Going to need some nippers, good needle nose pliers and cutters. Also learned that the pivoting cam is supposed to pivot with the socket head screw tightened down. I had some paint on the surface and there is about 3 thousands clearance. A few strokes with a file on the surface and good to go.

 

[animal12]

Sweet machine ya got there , nice job !
animal