[tsaksa]

Is there a gag shop, magic shop, or clown supply store near you? The type of spring you describe is sometimes used in gag devices. Such as the fake can of nuts that contains several spring loaded fake worms that jump out. I am not sure if that is exactly what you are looking for, but it might be close.

I used to live near a magic shop and would occasionally go in looking for something like this for non typical applications. On one visit the woman at the counter looked at me a bit puzzled and asked, "Are you a clown"? The question did not take me completely off guard. You would be surprised how often women ask me that. But it was not for a while that I realized why this particular woman had asked. It turns out that they give a clown discount!

By the way, music wire from hobby shops make a serviceable custom wound spring, but the length is limited. You can sometimes also just over stretch an extension spring to convert it for compression use. You can also sometimes rewind a spring with the right sized wire into a new diameter and length if the original was not wrapped too tightly. Just be careful springs can be dangerous.