Springy-dingy thingies

So, thanks for the invite,

I found this site because I was looking for a really quick way to properly temper the replacement spring I made for my 3d printer heatbed. These are a 10 x 10" PCB mounted to an Aluminum plate (back-to-back construction) which utilize 24v DC @ 5-10 Amps to heat the plate. The etched traces of that single-side copper-clad PCB are essentially a 'short circuit' which gets very hot, very quick, and heats the opposite side - aluminum plate to between 100 and 150 degrees, and the whole PCB-Plate assembly is floated on 4 SS corner springs, tweaked for level.

Clever, huh? All this so the 3D printed plastic object(s) can 'adhere' until they are finished printing. In my case, the springs provided were a bit too large in diameter and had raw, unfinished ends with sharp points. In the course of printing, 2 of them managed to penetrate the protective hard coating on the PCB, and connect to at least 1 ground and 1 24v DC line. One spring sparked brightly as it welded into place, and the other literally threw off it's nice shiny SS coating, sparkled like a firework and glowed like a lightbulb - then turned black and of course lost all it's spring :-)

Using my speed-controlled hand-drill and several varieties of wire, I made replacement several replacement springs (some weak, some very strong) but because of the purpose (heat-bed LEVELLING) they would all have to be the same, so I would need 4, and they would need to be 'springy' and they would need to be tempered... so I went looking.

Enjoy: http://www.deansphotographica.com/ma.../projects.html
and http://www.instructables.com/id/Make...gs-in-seconds/
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAawhg6JtyY
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR83JRrtfVo
and http://educypedia.karadimov.info/library/springs.pdf

I'll try to contribute as much as I can whenever I can. I am a skilled Metal, Plastics and Woodworker, have made many gadgets, gizmos and useful pieces over the years and use these skills mainly in the support of my hobbies in Mechanics, Electronics, Robotics and most recently... 3D printing.

I am a bit of a cross between McGuyver and Nicola Tesla and really enjoy solving complex problems for family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow tinkerers when they have either lost a critical part and need something fabricated, or hit a wall on an idea.

Hope I can help anyone here that may need a hand as well.