SCMS guard return spring - help!

[Eric The Viking]

The Elektra Beckum KGS300 strikes again.

It scared the daylights out of me a few weeks back when the guard didn't return (and because of the angle I was looking at it I thought it had!). So I ordered some bits from Powertool Spares, including a new return spring, in case the original was getting tired.

Here are the old and the new:

It's a 1cm grid on the cutting mat. As you can see, the new one is the same steel wire, but 120mm instead of 150mm.

This isn't good: it will be a right nuisance to fit, as it'll be under a lot of tension, and the trigger will become hard to squeeze, and it will put a lot of strain on the plastic parts in the mechanism.

I've decided it's either the wrong part or a design revision I don't want to use. I'd like to slightly shorten the original one instead, say by 8mm, by cutting and bending out one of the coils. That will give more pull, without being excessive.

Has anyone done this successfully, and is there a knack to it?

Thoughts appreciated.

 

[woodbloke]

It's not difficult to shorten a spring, but you'll need a decent set of sharp, heavy duty wire cutters to get through the steel, then snipe nosed pliers to bend the end into shape. It takes a bit of effort but it's doable - Rob

 

[Eric The Viking]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement, Rob.

I had a go, and I'm quite pleased with the result:

I left a double loop at the end in case I weakened it too much, but the result is, quite by happenstance, around 8mm shorter.

Thanks once again!

E.

 

[woodbloke]

it take a bit of doing don't it E? :lol: ...nice to see you got a decent result - Rob