Playing Tricks.

[Dennis]

Sometimes Our class projects are about mechanical jewellery, so here are two examples made some years apart. They both use that thin springy metal found in hair slides. This can easily be cut to shape with shears, but has to be cold connected by slots, rivets, or screws.

The Teddy Bear brooch has tube set eyes on the horizontal part of a cross. The vertical part of the cross is a spring slotted in. The back of the brooch is screwed on. When you pull the chords the eyes come forward and ogle.

The casket ring pops open when you press the button, revealing a chained spider. You can learn to make the spider jump out at people.

The main problem for such short springs is to find a material which is durable, but soft enough to yield to finger pressure. Dennis.

[Goldsmith]

Dennis, I use clock springs as a supply of suitable steel for press button catches. Clock springs are available in all widths and a single spring will be useful for many catches. In the past I have made Easter Eggs with surprises that spring up at the touch of a button and secret panels that spring open to reveal hidden photo frames and clocks.
James

[Dennis]

Thank you, James,
Can you specify thickness and width? I have found short pieces too resistant to finger pressure. Although the ones mentioned above are very thin(0.23mm), I had to give them narrow necks to make them softer. If you have some pix of your work, that would be good.

While I've got you on my thread, could you tell us about sawblades? Towards the end of the day my hand gets heavy and I start breaking blades. Do you use Vallorbe, or do you have other favourite makes?
KInd regards, Dennis.

[Joe]

Oo pictures! yes please!

They're really engaging Dennis - I especially like the idea of a spider hiding in a flower and the way the inside reveals something quite web-like! A little bit of poetry again!

On the technical side - I'd love some advice about re-tempering these small pieces of spring steel (I assume you anneal before cutting?).

[Goldsmith]

Hi Dennis, I did reply to your question on the message section but here is my reply again.
I use Glarden Vallorbe (super gold pack) saw blades all of the time, one benefit these days as I have got older is that I now use the Knew Concept saw frames exclusively. They are so light that they make sawing easier and I have less saw breakage. For blade lubrication I use a wax candle, which is rubbed on the rear of the saw blade to save clogging up the blade teeth. My most used saw frame lately is my Knew Concept 5 inch Titanium frame.
Best regards, James

[Goldsmith]

I am afraid I didn't keep records of spring sizes, nor did I think of photographing the inner workings of the mechanisms. Back in those days I had only just perseuded my boss to allow me to photograph the workshop's finished items. This photo gives an idea what I made. The inner section of this egg has a lily pond surprise with enamelled waterlily leaves. One of the leaves has a frog on it and another is a release button, when the button leaf was depressed, a watch would spring up from under the lilypad with the frog on. The spring button would release the lilypad and the watch sprung up by means of a sprung hinge on the watch. I take it you know how to spring a hinge as sometimes used on old cigarette cases.
James

[Joe]

Heh! That's both beautiful and amusing! The ultimate from a long legacy of automata and a far cry from feeding pennies to tin monkeys!

I must say that I'm deeply engaged by the highly polished granite as water, a fabulous contrast with the finely worked gold and a tiny nod towards nature.

I also have the titanium 5" and a good stock of Vallorbe blades. Now just a few decades of practice...

[Goldsmith]

Hi Joe,
I am afraid that photo is not one of my best, I made that egg 34 years ago and my photography skills were not great then. The base was actually a piece of Moss Agate polished to seem to be water.
Here is a photo of the egg closed.
James

[Tabby66]

Such beautiful pieces Dennis and James. Automatia intrigues me but I have many many techniques to learn which currently come above it, so I'll just have to admire both your work for the time being. Enjoyable reading as usual, thank you.

Tabby

[Dennis]

Thank you for your comments. James and I can't really be mentioned in the same breath. He is the Hispano-Suiza to my Lada. However making this stuff has warded off the depression of retirement and joining the forum has added a new dimension.
By the way Joe, my springs were so thin they could be cut with shears without annealing, but they are cold connected after all soldering is finished.
Kind regards, Dennis.