Finally got the spring made, installed and working today, with the help of a new friend, John. He had a tool he’d made for making jewelry and is somewhat similar to one shown in one of the YouTube videos using a hand crank drill assembly with large drill chuck mounted on a base secured to a work bench.
The epilogue to this saga and the “fun part”...this evening I received an email notice from eBay reporting availability of a NOS latch. Now I have another one for a spare.
