Spring strengths...

[gavinkempsell]

I'm aware there are different springs available to upgrade or downgrade gearboxes so my question isn't about changing springs...

Is a brand new spring (lets assume an M100), power output (j's) likely to decrease over the first few hundred to few thousand bb's?

Asking as feel I need to downgrade a couple of my aeg's, some I can do myself by simply replacing the quick change spring, others I would need/want a tech to sort for me. If the new springs are likely to 'soften' over use I wouldn't need to do either.

Thanks in advance.

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

Double Eagle springs might be made out of Kraft Dairy Slices, they seem to go all the over place in fairly short order, but my other guns have held up quite well over time.  It's the ultimate 'YMMV' story.  So buying gats with quick change springs makes a lot of sense ?

 

[EDcase]

Depends how much you want to reduce the power.

You can reduce it around 5 to 10fps by leaving the AEG semi cocked for a few days.

Using AUTO do a quick trigger pull so it doesn't fully cycle so the spring stays compressed.

(It only works if it doesn't have a MOSFET to complete the cycle)

Leave for a few days and test again.  Repeat if necessary

 

[Fatboy40]

It all comes down to the quality of the material / steel used and how it's been "treated". You can have have springs that can be in service for decades, in industrial applications, that retain their strength and shape but cheap nasty ones that compress incredibly quickly.

Personally I've found the XT springs from AK2M4 brilliant, definitely better than another trusted brand like Guarder. They're really consistent in their strength, so you can use them in almost any gun and know what you're getting, and I've had zero power drops over time.

They also produce an M95 which is very useful is you have a great air-seal and an M100 takes you just over a Joule limit  

 

[Leo Greer]

Seconds to what Fatboy posted. A good spring should basically never compress, whereas bad springs can lose power very quickly, or even bend.

 

[gavinkempsell]

Thanks folks.

 

[Lozart]

Seconds to what Fatboy posted. A good spring should basically never compress

Yes...and no. All springs will lose power over time because their very nature makes it happen. Bad springs just lose power more quickly. The trick is using a spring that degrades at an acceptable rate.

 

[Leo Greer]

Yes...and no. All springs will lose power over time because their very nature makes it happen. Bad springs just lose power more quickly. The trick is using a spring that degrades at an acceptable rate.

I should’ve elaborated more—a good spring should experience little to no power drop over a minimum of 100,000 cycles, and hopefully much longer, but, of course, all springs will experience some power loss.

 

[Sewdhull]

Using the springs to shoot the gun will have a small effect on the spring constant, but in Airsoft there are alot of cycles and the spring will get weaker. Airsoft cycles are quite deep and as others have said quality matters. Deeper cycles will have a greater effect than less deep ones.

Leaving it compressed will have large effect by comparison due to the permanent squish on it.

Potentially short stroking could extend its life, but I've always looked at springs as consumables.

Whilst other springs seem to have actual manufacturing specs, Airsoft springs don't seem to have even the basic info.

 

[gavinkempsell]

Thanks for the input folks, I've got a bag of springs heading my way to replace the OP one's, most of my rif's are wall hangers anyway so having a weak spring or no spring is better than having a hot potato or two.

 

[gavinkempsell]

Got a wee parcel from Huttarmouries yesterday, sure I'l find some springs in this lot that fit the bill.

View attachment 115536

 

[Lozart]

Got a wee parcel from Huttarmouries yesterday, sure I'l find some springs in this lot that fit the bill.

View attachment 115536

CLEAN YOUR KEYBOARD!!!

 

[gavinkempsell]

CLEAN YOUR KEYBOARD!!!

I was waiting on someone saying that...

 

[Sewdhull]

I would love someone to actually measure Airsoft springs to see what thier spring constant is.

It's all horribly arbitrary at the moment.

 

[Sewdhull]

This might be interesting

https://www.airsoftguns-europe.com/how-to-correctly-measure-the-real-stiffness-of-airsoft-springs

This puts the spring constant for a 100 at 550 N/m.

 

[gavinkempsell]

Was looking at the pic for ages thinking it was wrong then read the comment on the bottom.

I've seen a couple of YT video's on how to test springs & had a home made device offered via messenger, in the end I gave the hot potatoes to our local tech to sort for me.

 

[Sewdhull]

The pic is correct , the comment is wrong .

The numbers are compressed length plus the piston or cylinder, so a weaker spring has a shorter compressed length.

Preload may be an issue testing this way as the spring starts unloaded.

But it works for thier purposes.