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Kvoyle Spring Works

Report · since 1996

Index
§0 Statement of the owner Compression · Extension · Torsion · Runs of 10-2,500 Hamilton, Ontario

I've wound springs in Hamilton since 1996, ten at a time or two thousand, and I still check the first one off every job with my own hands.

Fig. 0. Statement of work, signed Ros

Spec. 0000 · Wound 1996 · Still in service

§1 Specimens

The card index

Three spring types, the jobs I turn away, the August note and the money, laid out the way the cards sit on my bench. Open a tab, or follow a card to its full sheet.

C-01

Compression

Push · Fig. 1

A compression spring drawn side on, with free length, outside diameter and wire diameter marked FREE LENGTH OD WIRE d
Fig. 1. Closed and ground ends, 1.0 mm music wire

Spec

Wire
0.2-8.0 mm
OD
2-75 mm
Length
Up to 300 mm free
Ends
Open, closed, or closed and ground

Typical jobs

  • Return springs for valves, pedals and latches
  • Replacements for seed drills, balers and old shop presses
  • Ten-piece prototype packs for something not built yet

Limits

  • No vehicle suspension coils or engine valve springs
  • Nothing over 8.0 mm wire or 5,000 pieces

Spec. C-01 · Music wire

Full sheet
E-02

Extension

Pull · Fig. 2

An extension spring with a machine hook on the left and a crossover hook on the right, length inside hooks marked MACHINE CROSSOVER LENGTH INSIDE HOOKS
Fig. 2. Close wound, machine and crossover hooks

Spec

Wire
0.2-8.0 mm
Hooks
Machine, crossover, side, extended
Tension
Initial tension wound in to your figure
Length
Up to 300 mm inside hooks

Typical jobs

  • Gate and screen door closers
  • Belt and chain tensioners on farm machinery
  • Counterbalances on hoppers and lids

Limits

  • No re-tempering a stretched spring. I wind a new one.
  • Runs over 5,000 go to a high volume plant

Spec. E-02 · Hooks formed

Full sheet
T-03

Torsion

Twist · Fig. 3a

A single torsion spring in side view and end view, with the legs set ninety degrees apart and the outside diameter marked SIDE VIEW END VIEW OD LEG 1 LEG 2 90° ±5° LEG 1 LEG 2 RH WIND
Fig. 3a. Single torsion, 90° legs, right hand wind, 2.0 mm music wire

Spec

Legs
Straight, radial, hooked or offset
Wind
Left or right hand
Bodies
Single or double
Angle
±5° as standard, ±2° when the drawing asks

Typical jobs

  • Lid and hatch hinges on feed bins and tool chests
  • Pedal and lever returns on old tractors and shop jigs
  • Double torsions for seat and lid hinges

Limits

  • No garage door torsion springs. They're dangerous to fit and belong with a door installer.
  • Nothing heavier than 8.0 mm wire

Paulo joined in 2009 and has had the torsion bench ever since. If I could wind only one kind of spring for the rest of my life, it would be these. The legs are the whole job.

Spec. T-03 · Legs formed by hand

Full sheet
X-04

What I won't wind

Out of scope

  • Garage door torsion springs
  • Vehicle suspension coils and engine valve springs
  • Wire over 8.0 mm, or runs over 5,000 pieces
  • Flat, clock and constant-force springs
  • Springs for firearms or medical implants
  • Re-tempering or repairing a used spring

Each of these is somebody else's trade or somebody else's risk. Where I can, I'll tell you who to ask.

The reasons, §5
N-05

The August shutdown

A note from Ros

We shut for two weeks over the August long weekend. The big coiler gets torn down and re-shimmed, and I go up to the lake.

If you know you'll need springs in August, tell me by the first of July and I'll wind them before we go.

The full note
R-06

Rates in brief

Canadian dollars

$85
Setup per spring design, waived on a repeat within 12 months
$140
Prototype pack of 10, wire up to 3.0 mm, setup included
$0.65-0.95
Each, 1.0 mm compression in a run of 500

Minimum production order $250, not counting setup.

Every rate and term

§2 Abstract

Who is writing

I'm Ros, and this is my shop. Before Kvoyle I spent eleven years setting up coilers at a large spring plant.

The jobs I liked there were the ones the plant didn't want: forty springs for a press someone was keeping alive, ten prototypes for a man with an idea. In 1996 I rented one bay in Hamilton, bought a second-hand coiler and a bench grinder, and started winding those jobs myself.

Today there are three coilers, Paulo, who took over the torsion bench in 2009, and one part-time hand. Most work still arrives as a broken spring in an envelope or a drawing with a coffee ring on it, and the envelope stays clipped to the job card until the batch ships.

Short runs are the whole point. Setting a coiler takes the same hour whether you want ten or a thousand, and I'd rather spend that hour on your ten. The rates sheet shows what that hour costs, and the procedure shows what happens to your ten after it.

RosOwner, winder, first-off checker

§3 · Table 1
Capability at a glance
MeasureRangeNote
Wire diameter0.2-8.0 mmMusic wire, oil-tempered, stainless, bronze and more
Run size10-2,500Pieces per design. Past 5,000, a high volume plant will be cheaper.
Prototypes5 daysWorking days, packs of 10, setup included
Production10-15 daysWorking days after you approve the first-off
Minimum order$250Not counting the $85 setup
DeliveryFridaysFree within 60 km of Hamilton on orders over $500

§5 Next

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