The two methods I have seen for strengthening old longsprings that have gone weak are one, ruining another spring by cutting the eyes off, slipping inside of the weak longspring and then riveting or spot-welding in place. The problems I have with this methods are one, I don't have any old springs that I want to sacrifice, and two you are making the traps a lot heavier if you do any backpacking to a set location. The other method for strengthening involves putting the longspring over a pipe and hitting it with a hammer to bend the longspring back out. The problem with this method is that if the spring is really wore out, the "strengthening" may only last a few sets before it is back to its worn out state.

My thought this morning was, Why not leave the pipe inside the longspring? This will move the flex point some, but not very far.



The result is a very strong spring. The one on the left, I cut the pipe the same width as the spring, welded it, then ground the weld flat. I didn't really like it, so I cut the pipe 1/4" short on the second one and had about 1/8" recess on each side for my weld. What do you think? Good solution to an old problem? OR do you see a shortcoming in this method? I used old galvanized pipe that I had laying around, but you could buy new black pipe very inexpensive.

I like it. If the spring is strong, you fixed it!

Can you get them fully compressed?Aren't you worried about the amount of heat on the spring from welding it?

What size pipe did u go with?

looks good, but I dont think you should weld on galvanized

Weld that galvanized!.. just hold your head back and hold your breath!

Great Idea.

Drink milk too!

chris

Way to go Grant that is an excellent idea. As long as you don't get the spring real hot no worries.

Yep, I can get them set. They are very strong now though. No, I am not worried about the heat too much. The springs were junk if it didn't work and to weld a tiny spot back in the corner isn't getting the rest of the spring very hot. Here is a picture of it with a PIT pan installed. This trap was basically my test dummy: the springs were shot and the old cast jaws were all warped and crooked. People also said not to weld the cast jaws. I welded them today just to see and it seemed to work fine. I was also told not to straighten the cast jaws, but I straightened them while they were still warm from welding and it worked fine. Now they are not perfectly straight, but I took what I thought was a junker trap and turned it into a pretty skookum trap. Just need to baseplate now.

This is just regular 1/2" inside diameter water pipe. The outside diameter looks like about 13/16".

That's using ones head! Good thinking.

Wow! I was told never to weld cast as it could cause large pits and flake off after it snaps a few times. I never did try it. I was using a 220 stick welder. Are those laminations done with wire welder on the cast jaws?
Great job! Looks excellent

Hi-nickle rod should do the trick right?

I snapped the trap off plenty of times today seeing if it would break or something. Nothing so far. I think people really get confused about cast iron versus cast steel. So I started searching on the internet last night and came away with two things: the old Victor's are cast steel and two, you can weld cast steel without much problem. I am not a welder, just a guy who bought one of those cheap 110 volt wire feeds. My welding knowledge is summed up by "If your burning holes in it, turn the heat down. If it looks like it is just sitting on top, turn the heat up." So yes, wire feed. I picked up a stick of 1/4"x1/4" cold roll and 1/8"x1/8" cold roll today (they didn't have 3/16" in stock). I tried the 1/8" first and nearly burned through it and it was not easy to form. So I grabbed the #9 wire for snare supports and cut a chunk off it. It welded easy and it formed easy. My thought at that point was, "If it is good enough for a MB650 lamination, it is good enough for an old, nearly worn out Victor double longspring."

Two more thoughts on this: For PIT pan users, the stronger the spring, the more pan tension you have. Right now I have too much pan tension on this trap (3/4" outside diameter pipe might be enough for the #3 longspring). I will fiddle with fixing the pan tension tomorrow and let you know how I fix that issue. Two, if you are worried about welding the jaws, or don't have a welder drill a hole in the spring in the very corner. Drill a hole in the center of the piece of pipe and use a bolt and lock nut to suck the pipe up into the corner, no welding required.

Though I've haven't done this before I believe I can answer your question LT.
Yes, where the tacks are the temper has been removed a short distance through what is called the "heat-affected zone". So, if all the spring's bending was to continue to be from the apex of the spring's bend, the spring would have lost strength from the tacks. By adding the pieces of 1/2" pipe, the apex of bend now has shifted from the original that was weakened from the 3 o'clock position to straight and un-prebent spring(relatively speaking) to the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock position of the piece of pipe insert. Very little bending will now occur in the original spring's bend regardless of the little loss of temper because the apex of bend has moved. The increase is spring strength comes now from the shortened and comparatively straight length of existing spring around the radius of the insert at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock. Again, I'm talking in relative terms as far as where the new bending occurs in regards to the radius of the pipe insert trying to explain that the apex of bending is away from and unaffected by the tacks.
Clear as mud eh?

Spot, I got a wire welder if you need it.

I think that was a good explanation Seldom. You could go with a slightly smaller pipe also to get the new flex points slightly further back. I might see if I can find some 3/4" outside diameter pipe to try. I have 20-30 of the older cast jaw traps that I wouldn't mind doing this to. Might as well get it right before I do all of them.

1/2" pipe is 7/8" OD and 3/4" is 1-1/8"OD. Using a larger OD insert will certainly increase the strength of the springs by moving the bending apex even closer to the spring eyes(shortening the spring)