Pronto shutter Spring Rebuild

[Greg Heath]

I am in the process of rebuilding an Agfa Billy Record I camera and I have a shutter release spring that I believe is broken. I am trying to rebuild the spring. Does anyone have any experience rebuilding springs.

Do I use Music wire versus piano wire, is there a difference?

This is new territory for me. I have done plenty of shutters, so I'm not worried about that, just getting the right wire. Gotta go measure the thickness, and then will post my results. I will copy the wire as close as possible with the amount of turns. I am not too worried about the spring force, because the shutter slide should set the time. Anybody ever have to do this?

Any help or comment welcome.

Greg

 

[John Koehrer]

Not recently, but in the past.
As you said, close is good enough for this. I was never able to make them as pretty as the originals. So what, they worked.
I believe music wire and piano wire are the same. The problem is bending the stuff. It's tough and ornery. I hadn't thought about removing the temper, forming it and retempering it, but if it turns out to be too frustrating I might.

 

[Greg Heath]

I took a ride over to Ace Hardware and purchased some Music Wire, and on the third try I got it done. i might re-do it as it is slightly stronger than the other spring. i did not heat it so its a bit ugly. I also could get a junker Agfa shutter and just use that, but was concerned that it might be not as strong. everytime I tear down one of these shutters I learn something new,which I guess is good, but it sure is frustrating sometimes. i did find a great resource for new bellows:

http://www.sandehalynch.com/