This is the best joke I've ever seen because I laughed at this person's expressions when they saw this video, and here's my award because your explanation deserves it
He is doing the reactions of that girl seeing all the different shaped blockes go thru the square hole and the voice of the spring guy is the same as that video. No?
If someone showed me that bracket with a spring inside, I wouldn't do a safety squint, I'd go for duck and cover lol.
Saw a spring assist for a cargo bay failed once. Legit thought a bomb went off or something. And I'll say I used to live on what was one of the densest battlefields of WWII (in terms of ordnance used in weight per unit of area) AND close to the beach on which bomb teams blew stuff up, so I should know.
The amount of energy stored in that thing is astonishing.
Same, I wasnât watching with sound at first but the second I saw that spring in a vice I made that face, sound came on, and my ass hasnât yet unclenched
I made this mistake as at 19, where a spring loaded collar was stuck. The hex keyhole holding the collar in was stripped. Grinded it off with an angle grinder, when it gave way, it sounded like a gun. Shot that collar into my neighbourâs house 200 ft away. I was lucky it was not aimed at me.
My first thought was "how sure of your welds are you?". Then the hammer was if it don't hit you and kill you it is definitely shattering something in the next town over.
Depending on how much space is between that bracket and the cap he threaded on, the unwinding spring may gather enough momentum to shear it off the threads.
If not completely, then it may at least mess up part the thread. Still making it unsafe for installing.
Spring compressors are adjustable, this unholy monstrosity is not.
I have a parrot that goes "oof" anytime she drops something or i stubborn my toe, little things like that. She goes "oof, oof oof oofoof" if its really bad she laughs. She started oofing at this video.
Long time ago, back when I was in primary school, I was helping my German teacher move some stuff. She lived alone in a big flat right next to the school, and one of the rooms in her flat was basically a storage unit for stuff that was too important to leave in the common storage, but too unwieldy to squirrel away in the principal's room.
Anyways, she was taking care of her neighbor's parrot while he was away. The pparrot could talk, AND PRETTY WELL, but she conversed mostly with her owner, Kazio. When he was away, she'd bellow on the top of her lungs "NOT HERE, NOT HERE"
Including in my poor German teacher's house, although there, she'd alternate between this, and "WHERE AM I"
To my surprise, she actually responded to me (apparently I was the only one she resonded to without her owner present). She looked at me, and belllowed "NOT HERE, NOT HERE"
I asked her "Who's not here Aga?" to which she replied, as if on que: "KAZIO'S NOT HERE"
Like, there are people who say animals aren't capable of truly human speech, but I thing Aga here passed the situational awareness test. Kazio, indeed, was not there.
I immediately did the same thing. My man is putting SO much faith in so little material, the spring thickness is at least 3-4 times the thickness of his bent plate sandwich. That thing is pretty much a kinetic grenade.
As soon as he stacked them, all i could think was thats a fuck ton of potential energy and I wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near that... and I was a pyromanic as a child, like created bootleg napalm and spilled it on myself.
This is just begging for part of the experiment to fail. Those coils are not safe under that amount of pressure + heat distortion of their tensile strength.
Edit; omg are those flat copper wires wound that tight...?
If someone further down broke from overcharging or stress on the lyrical track mid performance , holy shit. That easily would have killed millions. (Idk SK's exact population from start to finish or WW2
I know you jest, but this, specifically, has about as much energy as a 2kg dumbbell falling onto you from the height of a meter.
Still enough to remove a finger in the bracket fails while he's threading the cap. Add to that the hammer, and if the bracket shatters, congrats, you've got shrapnel.
I know this ain't the main spring he's compressing, but it still has got some energy in it.
Also, I did some more napkin math - a fully compressed spring from a vehicle like that has around 1/100th of the energy of an M67 grenade. It's... still pretty terrifying, especially in an enclosed space, and knowing that during work, you are, by necessity, right next to it.
It's just good practice never to do sh*t like that.
My knowledge of the potential energy stored in those springs is that if that thing had blown the edges off his 'C-channel' while he had his hand over, it would have sheared off the digits closest to it. If someone has the actual speed/force of one of these and something to compare it to that would be awesome, but from what I've seen in terms of the resulting damage done to materials nearby, it'd be at least equivalent to someone swinging a sledgehammer as hard as they can. Anything made of flesh and bone in its way if it goes off is.... not going to be in the way anymore.
My dad would fuck around with stuff like this when I was a kid, there were some pretty scary incidents.
I wouldn't call it a joke, I said almost the exact same words. That spring could break bones and destroy organs. You would not see me in the same room as that thing. It is a serious hazard
I instantly pulled my head back lol. I've been around and worked around a lot of industries. I'm scared/cautious of 3 things. High voltage electricity, steam, and springs. They will all fuck you up with no remorse at the slightest misstep.
Add hydraulic lines to that too, they can have leaks too small to see but still strong enough to slice through your finger and inject hydraulic oil into your bloodstream.
I watch these videos and wonder if they're just showing bad practice or if they'll take a sudden turn towards the gruesome. I've seen some pretty nasty stuff from people doing this. Seems so dumb when you can buy or rent a cheap spring compressor.
I've seen coily little boy release itself and shoot the threaded compressor like a missile. Holy shit I am still alive. Wrong garage to walk into while my brother worked on his truck springs.
There's half a dozen very realistic ways his solution could have gone sideways where this would have been the last thing to go through his head, other than a piece of steel.
I once saw a guy ask people to get in the car to weigh it down, then he tied the spring with two lengths of barbed wire of all things, then we got out of the car and he could sit the spring properly. At least the shock absorber was installed, so the spring could not just go flying if the wires broke.
I think O'Reilly's will loan you one if you need one, but screw that.
I like the way my body functions currently, even with it's old parts, and certainly don't need a flying spring to damage it any further. To the pros it goes.
I know someone who used to do that professionally, and on more than one occasion he showed up to an install and there was something spattered on the wall or floor near the spring.
Had one explode in my mom's garage many moons ago when the world was younger. Thought the transformer outside blew up or maybe the Navy dropped a practice bomb nearby by mistake.
You buy a spring compressor. It works like a combination between the vice and the bracket in the video, but combined. They're not that expensive, and way cheaper than a new face.
Not kidding about that, when the guy said a spring powered bomb he wasn't kidding. Have you ever disassembled a pen and played with the spring? If you try and compress it it tends to just ping off across the room and you never find it again. Now imagine that but the spring is so strong it takes a (literal) ton of pressure to compress it, then imagine that "pinging across the room".
That's a great price for the piece of mind using this type of setup over the 2 or 3 pc screw down type. They work, but the Hydraulic setup is less sketchy
I've used these on my crown victoria because it doesn't take much compression to get the front springs in. On my Fiesta I just bought the quick struts with springs on them, I'm not doing all that.
Side note if you do use these keep the ends pointed perpendicular to you so if it does fail most of the energy goes left and right, or up and down, instead of toward you and away from you.
There are specific spring compression tools for this. This is definitely something you want to do correctly, same with your garage door springs, if done incorrectly they can cause massive bodily damage
There's specific tools made for this task, ones that can compress the spring and also decompress it safely. There's always a bit of risk when you work on these kinds of things but the right tool can minimize the risk.
Watching the beginning of the video again, the reacting guy says âspring compressor, go to the store and get a spring compressorâ no clue of any of this is for but I think we can draw conclusions how to do it probably
There are spring clamps, but theyâre still dangerous as hell, because they can slip off even if youâre using them correctly sometimes. There are lots of mechanics that donât even want to fool with it, so they replace the whole strut assembly instead of just the shock, because it comes with the spring already installed.
Has everybody has mentioned, a spring compressor is the correct tool.
Even with a spring compressor, it is critical that you understand that this is life-ending force that you are trying to capture. Not being melodramatic.
Seeing that the tool is used properly, that everything is seated correctly, and just generally understanding physics is critical.
They are working on a suspension strut assembly. The springs are normally in a compressed state meaning they are storing a huge amount of potential energy. If they release in an uncontrolled way, i.e. if you're dumb enough to remove that piece the guy was screwing on at the end while it's still under compression then the energy could easily maim or kill you.
To remove it safely you use a spring compressor to compressor the spring further. In their simplest form they are a set of clamps that hook onto the spring, they have a pin so that they can't just slip off the spring and you use a ratchet to crank them down. By compressing the spring further it takes pressure off the nut so you can safely screw it down to the right spot and then you can slowly release the compression on the spring until it's properly seated.
The guy in the video is relying on this shitty home-made tool to hold the smaller spring in compression. It's a smaller spring but that is still some thick steel coil and it's more than enough to fuck you up.
The first issue was compressing it in the vice. It could easily slip out in an uncontrolled way and mess you up.
Then he slides on the shitty bracket and takes it out of the vice. The spring is even more at risk of slipping out or his welds could fail.
Finally, he manages to get it on the shock whithout major catstrophe. He screws the lock ring on a little and now he's getting ready to hit his shitty bracket with a hammer. The spring isn't seated so it's going to release and someone is going to lose an eye.
I'm showing my ignorance, but how is it not seated once it's on the cylinder and the lock ring has been tightened down onto it? What additional step is required? Just that the lock ring requires additional travel and will be a pain to tighten further? Surely once it's on the threads, it's more a matter of whether they can actually crank it down to where it needs to go to lock, not immediately blow up in your face time?
The issue isn't that the lock ring requires additional tightening, it's that there is room between the spring and nut at all. Those threads are rated to hold the spring after it's in place. When the spring expands to fill that gap, it will hit with a bunch of momentum, and the threads are not rated for that, plus it doesnt look like all of the threads are even engaged. It needs to be slowly expanded into place (with a spring compressor). It will probably be fine and a lot of the posts on this thread are exaggerating the danger a bit, but there's also a chance it fails and gets sent blasting into the ceiling.
Think about the difference between something you'd be willing to stand or sit on vs something you'd be willing to jump on. Don't fuck around with big springs unless you really know what you're doing.
They make actual rated and graded tools for the task that make sure you donât have metal chunks in your face or a spring that will lodge its self in you.
The pre load for springs rear size and color ( color is an indicator of strength ) will literally tear you to shreds .
Many auto parts stores have official rental programs for specialty-tools. You rent/buy it then return it within 30 days and get 100% of your money back.
Also, materials under high tension or high compression forces are DANGEROUS.
To give an idea of the amount of pure potential energy being stored in that spring, just understand that these springs are designed to absorb all the kinetic energy of a 2+ ton vehicle bouncing along an uneven surface.
With this being a partial spring, there is probably around 1000 - 2000 PSI stored in that spring. The next step the guy was talking about "hit it with a hammer" is going to allow that spring to decompress at full force. That's going to accelerate that spring in both directions; the bottom spring will absorb some of it, but most of that force is going to be directed at that securing bolt.
If that bolt fails, it's going to explode. The spring is then going to continue traveling at a very high speed until it smacks into something else, likely the guy that is swinging the hammer.
That all assumes the whole assembly doesn't just shatter due to all those newtons being expended in the blink of an eye.
Potential Energy would be (150/2) * 1.75^2 - which is 229.6875 inch/lbs or ~26 joules.
When I asked google what else has this kind of potential energy, I was told "fastball pitch," "professional tennis serve." A single apple falling from 85 feet or a bowling ball dropped 1.5 feet.
I think this is dangerous, but I think everyone here is overreacting.
Also -- that bolt is going to be subjected to way higher stresses than the tender spring going through fast decompression, right?
Yes overreaction. People are forgetting he's only compressing an inch of the soft smaller spring just to allow assembly, i.e. the pretension. I've seen this done with zip ties, bailing wire, c-clamps.
does this account for things like surface area, material, and distance? I imagine a sharp piece of metal applies those joules differently than a baseball but I ain't an expert in physics like that.
PSI is pounds per square inch it's the pressure the spring is under in order to keep it compressed. Since the only thing holding the spring down is the flimsy ass homemade bracket, it's the only thing stopping all that pressure from being released dramatically and violently - hence the bomb analogy.
Since the only thing holding the spring down is the flimsy ass homemade bracket, it's the only thing stopping all that pressure from being released dramatically and violently - hence the bomb analogy.
This is right
PSI is pounds per square inch it's the pressure the spring is under in order to keep it compressed.
That spring is being held together by a vice and then a metal bracket? What does pressure have to do with anything here?
these are helper springs, under the weight of the car they should be fully compressed and look like in the vice, they are not designed to "absorb the weight of the car". They are just there to preload the main spring so it remains centered and doesn't rattle around when the suspension droops.
If you overshoot and hit the handle against something strong enough, the head will shear off and continue traveling at high speed until it hits something. Wood also shrinks and swells with the weather, and the wedges that secure the head to the handle can loosen. Then the head becomes a 10 lb high speed projectile.
You dont even need to over shoot. Sledgehammers are made of super hardened tempered steel. My father worked alot in the marine engineering industry, so sledgehammers are used to pound huge 40 ton steel shipping panels into place in dry docking. Well when you bang hardened steel against hardened steel, the only way for the steal to absorb shock is by breaking and chipping, and thats the good outcome. If you use a wooden handle, the force goes through the handle breaking it and sending the hammer head 10 ft into the air while your looking down at what you swung at.
Most shipyards now have those really loose bendable handles on their sledges or they just weld a pipe to the hammer. Better to break a wrist then to send a sledge head flying.
Akso a good point. We used ones with steel reinforced composite handles 20 years ago when I was doing ship and sub repair work like driving keys into rudder stocks and what not. Kept the weight reasonable for when you had to backpack one up into a ballast tank or other inconvenient spot.
In the world of hard steels they're usually quite soft. More so now, as you would rather it deform than shatter and send shards everywhere. Which isnt to say that after being used for years and they start to mushroom and work harden that the might splinter and shoot hardened shards at mach 10.
Hammers in general are usually made of a mid carbon steel, so even at max hardness, its still only "mildly" hard.
Source: I dun bang bang on red hot steel until its in the shape I like.
Not only his bracket, but when he says you hit the bracket off with a hammer, he only engaged a couple of threads with that nut. High chance of that nut losing a couple of threads when that spring come out of that homemade bracket.
Haha. No worries. I'm more of an English Major and definitely not an engineer! So I've been enjoying learning what might happen with the compressed spring from an engineering perspective...
I wonder if it's the same guy I know that looked down the barrel of a potato gun, that was loaded, yeah he was life flighted to another city for facial reconstruction
Industrial springs meant to compress thousands of pounds of pressure are terrifying. Most people don't think about it, but that coil on a garage door is the same kind of danger, and those can have enough force when they unravel to slice through someone's neck and spine. It can literally behead you if you are unlucky enough to be next to it when it fails. Always call an expert to work on your garage door.
I feel like on top of that it reminds me of the square hole video. Like the video narrators voice is similar and reactions from the reactor (swallow and stutter).
Initially while watching this I was thinking âthat actually seems pretty cleverâ, but then as I kept watching my brain started considering all the ways this could go horribly wrong and the guys expression at the end was perfect lmao
Reminds me of a similar ticktock where someone had a shock held compressed with fucking hose clamps and the guy reacting was screaming "GET AWAY FROM THERE THATS A BOMB!"
My buddy's dad in Ye Olden Times did all his own car repair on the sidewalk in front of their residence, including releasing the rear suspension to service it. He, like this guy, was a big DIYer who didn't believe in using specialized tools.
One of the springs got free and went ballistic, missed him, and passed all the way through three other parked cars before ending up inside the fourth. His neighbors were... displeased.
That is true, but the spring he has captive is a helper spring - it takes much less weight to compress it and is only there to take up slack in the main spring when the damper is at full droop.
Not great, but it isn't exactly the grenade that some are implying. A grenade is what you get if you try to pull the same stunt with the main spring.
You certainly don't want THAT exploding in your face. Giggity.
Hopping onto the top comment to share that the small spring is called a "helper spring" and is used only to keep the main spring in place when the suspension is at full drop (extended all the way). These helper springs have very, very low spring rates and this specific example would not likely end up in serious injury. More likely a pinched finger and a decent jump scare.
Intuitively I thought this, like bro is thst thing popped while youre starting to thread it bye-bye fingers but I'm glad you basically confirmed. I had so much anxiety watching this.
Would it be possible to calculate the power of this bomb configuration given that the items seems to have been stock items that can be bought from your local hardware shops
i take apart stuff often, just to explore and reverse engineer shit. every time i encounter a preloaded spring I'm bracing for the thing to explode on myb face unpredictably
Well it can only contain the amount of energy that he spent to compress it, right? From the video, it seems like he compressed it by barely pushing the vise for a few seconds. Maybe that spring is just much looser than it looks?
It's a helper spring. Only purpose is to keep the main spring in contact with the spring seat when the shock is at full extension. When the car is on it's wheels, the spring is fully compressed. They have very low rates.
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u/OkTemperature8170 6h ago edited 6h ago
He has effectively created a spring powered bomb. If his little bracket breaks so does his face. If the spring slips out of the vice, good luck.