Before I start, I know that many people may think it’s unnecessary to have a spring coiling tool. You could use a lathe, buy premade springs for pennies, or even have custom springs made for fractions of a penny. HOWEVER, I have always loved the way spring coiling machines can accomplish what standard machine shop tools cannot. You can’t make a coiled spring by cutting one on a mill, and you need a mandrel for each diameter to make one on the lathe; you can’t even 3D print a decent spring. That’s my argument. I might not need a spring, but if I did, I would want a tool that can make a spring or two.
So, this is a scaled working model of the 1960s Perkins Precision Spring Coiler. There isn’t much information I can find on these tools, and even less on this version. Of the four I have seen online, I was able to reach out and get some detailed pictures and information from one owner. The basic function is that it acts as a 2-point spring coiler. The lever is cranked by hand and drives one of the two roller shafts via a worm gear. That shaft, in turn, drives the other and pushes a piece of wire to the coil point, producing a spring of adjustable diameter and pitch. There are some other cool features, such as a numerated pitch controller, reversible guides for left and right windings, and a single tension controller.
I was surprised to find this machine’s existence in the first place, but I think I was even more surprised to find that it seems to be the only tool of its kind. Spring coilers all seem to use large motors and flywheels for production scale, but no coiling machines really exist for the garage hobbyistâat least not with the versatility of this machine (talking to you, lathe owners). The original machine looks to be cast and much simpler than what I have made to compensate for the lack of material strength. I would love to see more versatile compact machines like this one available.
