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What I Found Out About No:3 American Latch Springs

W

wlw-19958

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Hi There,


I receive about a month ago a 2nd Model No. 3 and the latch
didn't act right. It had a little play before the spring would come
into play and lifting the latch all the way to unlock the barrel
became very hard at the end of its travel.

I looked into it and discovered the spring was a crude replacement.
I took the latch spring out of my No. 3 1st Model to use it as a
model for making a replacement spring. As you can see, the crude
replacement is significantly smaller than the original.

I made a couple of replacements but they didn't fit. I just couldn't
get the latch to sit low enough to re-install the latch cross screw.
This seemed weird but my replacement springs were patterned
after the No. 3, 1st Issue and I was trying to put them into a 2nd
Issue. I didn't think there was any changes in the latch and
latch spring but apparently when they changed the cylinder
retainer, they also changed the depth of the cutout for the
latch and there isn't as much clearance as there was before.


Cheers!
Webb
 

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Last edited:
Hi There,


Continuing on:

Working on the problem of clearance, the 1st Issue spring extends
up under the latch as can be seen in the pic. So, I had to cut off
some of the longer arm of the spring. Now the lower arm doesn't
extend all the way under the latch and the latch will now sit low
enough for me to get the latch cross screw in and now the latch
works like it should.


Cheers!
Webb
 

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It's interesting to see the side-by-side profiles. The old spring and your new spring are about the same length but the distance between the legs of the springs differ. Your spring has more distance between the legs which would apply more tension to the latch when closed. Nice work!
 
Hi There,


Thanks for the complement!

I when back and measured the depth of the cutout on my two
No. 3 Americans and this is what I found. The No. 3 2nd Model
cutout is .349" and the cutout for the 1st Model is .360" deep.

My presentation isn't the best. The longer lower arm extends
under the latch to the cross screw. This is where the latch is
the tallest and clearance is at the minimum. The .011" dif-
ference is just enough to keep the latch from aligning with its
screw hole on the 2nd Model. Therefore, the long arm had to
be shortened enough so that it doesn't extend as far under
the latch.

I wish I had an original 2nd Model spring to measure and com-
pare. If someone has one and can post pics, I would appre-
ciate it. It would give size context to the part if the part is
displayed with a ruler would be great!


Cheers!
Webb
 
Hi There,

Incendiary said:
Webb - what kind of steel did you use for this project?
Click to expand...


I made my springs from both 1095 and 1075 to test for different
spring qualities between the two steels. The spring stock was
.020" thick and 3/16" wide. There wasn't enough difference to
warrant worrying about it.


Cheers!
Webb
 
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