Material Search

[Snikrepmada]

I'm looking for some help in trying to find steel that fits a certain criteria. I have exhausted my normal sources (McMaster-Carr, Small Parts, etc.) and come up empty, and yes I have searched Google. The steel I'm looking for needs to be high carbon spring steel, .042" thick and .125" wide.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[raimundo]

check out a cheap plumbing snake, look for the .042 dimension on it, and cut the width to suit your project.
also go to a small engine repair (snowblowers, mowers,) for a briggs and stratton windup spring that can be straighted out, after removing it from the metal carrier its in.
other possiblities are electricians fish tape, and perhaps less springy and not carbon, the various dimensions of wiper stiffener.

Or tell us what you are trying to make and perhaps someone here has already got something that they could reccommend.

[jtoddoneal]

Not sure if you have come upon a supplier yet, but here is a source that meets your .042 spec. in Cold Rolled Annealed, Blue Tempered, and Scaleless Tempered Spring Steel---They are located in Philadelphia and called "Industrial Spring Steel"---http://www.industrialspringsteel.com/index.htm

[Snikrepmada]

And the brilliant idea of the day award goes to...raimundo.
The electricians fish tape fits my purpose exactly there could not possibly be a better material, and best of all I had 3 of them sitting on the shelve in the garage. It is funny how you get tunnel vision and can not see what is right in front of your face.

To jtoddoneal the industrialspringsteel.com and precisionsteel.com were companies contacted by Google searching. While I'm sure they are good suppliers they wanted me to purchase more than I needed and the cost was to high for the amount I would have used. But I appreciate the help.

Crowd Sourcing FTW!! Thanks again!!

[Tygart]

I already posted this in another thread but,

I have been using Filing cabinet folder strips.

You can find them at an office supply store, they are folders have have a rod though them with a hook on each side that rides on a bar inside your filing cabinet.

I am sure there are different ones with all different sizes and thickness. Some of mine have little cuts in the middle of the metal so I am going to use those as handles.