Method for producing a flat spiral spring, and bending device for producing same

A method for producing a washer-shaped segment that can be used to form a leaf spring, the method comprising:

• feeding a band-shaped material into a bending device which includes at least one drum that rotates around an axis of rotation, the band-shaped material being fed into the bending device in a tangential orientation to a shell surface of the drum, so that a side wall of the band-shaped material that determines a thickness of the band-shaped material is in contact at least in sections with a contact surface on the shell surface of the drum, and
• forcibly guiding the band-shaped material between the drum and at least one diverting mechanism that is radially spaced a distance from the drum for bending the band-shaped material into the washer-shaped segment as the band-shaped material passes the at least one diverting mechanism, and
• wherein the contact surface is located at a radially inner end of a circumferential radial groove in the shell surface of the drum, and at least one radially extending surface of the circumferential radial groove guides an abutting axial-facing surface of the band-shaped material during feeding of the band-shaped material into the bending device, and
• wherein the contact surface is orientated at an angle of less than 45° relative to a rotational axis of the drum.