Quote:
Originally Posted by svsgt1  If the toyota torsion spring is preloaded then it will work but it will only be for one direction, so two will be needed and they will have to have stops so they do not act upon each other. The illustration with the compression springs will also work but would also need to have something so they can be preloaded.
Don't get me wrong, you don't need to have a preloaded spring for all circumstances. It is just that if the mechanism won't go back to center with some force then it will need to have a preloaded spring. The springs force will always go to 0 at the rest position. |
Adam,
You really need to look at the Toyota shifter. The torsion spring has a positive stop in the center of its rotation such that it allows the spring to wind up in either direction yet provide pre-loaded self-centering at the lever's rest. Though it may not provide enough force to return-to-center for your particular application, the principle is a sound one.
My illustration was a best effort while using MS WORD, which is not the worlds best sketch tool. The springs are pre-loaded against the bars retained by clips on the ends of the pins. There need not be a gap between the lever and the two bars. I hope we're "connecting."
Cheers,
Andy