I was trying to heat a spring to reduce some of the pressure it took to compress it. This did'nt go to plan. I've tried quenching it to turn it springy again but it has no effect. Any suggestions? It's a small spring from a domestic appliance.
yeah 300 series stainless steels will work harden when the wire is drawn to make them springy, you can also make phosphor bronze springs the same way. If you have a lathe its not hard to make small compression springs if you have hard drawn wire (as opposed to annealed)
today I had a go at making some small compression springs as I wasn't prepared to pay the minimum order quantities for half a dozen so thought I'd have a go at making my own. I need stainless steel springs so got some hard drawn stainless steel. this is available from the far east via ebay etc...