How many of you out there own automated or semi-automated casting machines?

[LAH]

Auto machine, a Ballisti Cast & Magma. Semi Auto: Magma Master Caster.

[Hootmix]

Mine's a Ballisti Mark 2,,i think ,could some esplain the difference between the Mark ii & the Mark iv. In the process of trying to put some of the wire's back in the main panel ,,photo's ,,drawing's anything would be a big help.

[CGT80]

I just joined the club by building my own copy of the master caster, but with a 100 pound pot and 2500 watt element. It has the Hatch PID setup and is run by air cylinders.

[Nick Quick]

CGT80, any pictures would be really appreciated. We all love to see ingenuity and craftsmanship.

[Hootmix]

Hey nh7792,,,i just got a 1995 ( best I can tell) mark II,,would there be a chance we could visit via E-mail ,,have some question's ?? I'm in OKLA.

"coffee's ready",,,,Hotmix.

[CGT80]

CGT80, any pictures would be really appreciated. We all love to see ingenuity and craftsmanship.

Post 68 and 80 of my thread: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...r-caster/page4

68 has a link to my google drive with photos, and 80 has the automated videos. If you want to read more about how it was built, start with post 1. Thanks to photobucket, the pics are gone from the individual posts.

[HATCH]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNymkXBbVPs

[nh7792]

Sure. And I think I may have a PDF of the old Mark-2 manual. It's the old 4 mold version.

[Hootmix]

Hey nh7792,,mine is a 4 mould unit.


"coffee's ready",,,,Hootmix.

[CGT80]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNymkXBbVPs

Thanks, I didn't think to just post the video, as he asked for pics, but a video is worth a thousand pictures.

[NoZombies]

Actually, I've got an automated casting machine... though I need to do a fair bit of work to get it running again. It's a "Compucaster Mk1". It's a neat machine that never made it past prototype stages. So many projects...

[LAH]

Actually, I've got an automated casting machine... though I need to do a fair bit of work to get it running again. It's a "Compucaster Mk1". It's a neat machine that never made it past prototype stages. So many projects...

Picture would be nice.

[oldsman]

I am in the process of installing a HATCH system on my master caster

[Chilmonty]

I Have a Dillon RL1050 for Each caliber I reload!!!

And then I wake up.

[No_1]

I may have missed it earlier in the thread but does anyone have a source (besides Magma) for the mould tappers?

[ReloaderFred]

If you can get the numbers, or specs off of them, you can probably order them from zoro.com, which is owned by Graingers, but is cheaper. I order my sprue cutter tappers from them for my Mark 6. It was going through quite a few of them for awhile, due to the machine skipping a pour and catching the tapper rod and bending it.

Hope this helps.

Fred

PS: A lot of what Magma sells comes from Graingers, with a lot of it Dayton.

[No_1]

Does your machine have mould tappers and if so are they the same as the sprue cutter tappers? Also, would you provide the replacement numbers for the tappers you use?


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[ReloaderFred]

The mold tappers on my machine are different than the sprue cutter tapper, and without taking the machine apart, I can't get the numbers for you. The Bullet Masters aren't maintenance friendly, as you know, when it comes to working on the carousel, and I haven't had to replace the mold tappers (yet).

Here's the cylinder I've been using for the sprue cutter tapper: https://www.zoro.com/speedaire-round...j6/i/G1990152/

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Tazza]

For a tapper for the mould halves, can't you just put lumps of weld or something like this to the guide that holds the F shaped parts open? As the Base of the F bit goes over it, this should make the mould shake and drop, or that is what i thought they were meant to do.

Another alternative was to setup a timer on a cylinder to make it hit then release, hit and release every .3 or .5 seconds. My brother set this up on my MC and it works quite well, the cylinders i use were free thankfully, as the multiple impacts make them fail over time from fatigue. If you sweet talk Hatch, he may be able to hook you up with a smart relay to control the on/off time that you can tune to work with your cylinder, make it hit at just the right frequency.

[No_1]

As some may already know and for those who don't, Hatch is my brother - needless to say we have discussed this at length. When I set my machine up 7 years ago I had a small hydraulic power pack from an old tube notching machine and a box full of timers. A PLC was on my mind but the timers were free so I went that route. I could add a couple more timers to accomplish the double tap or change to a PLC controller such as what he offers to accomplish a double tap but since the action needed to release stuck boolits is horizontal bump I feel the double tap method is just a band aid for the problem. That being said I believe I can fix something up quite easily with 2 or 3 inexpensive cylinders and a proximity switch for about $75 that will do what needs to be done. I was hopeful I would find a couple hydraulic cylinders but it appears it will they will be pneumatic. This might be the time to implement an update to pneumatics for the whole works. For those interested in my original build minus the pictures (thanks photobucket) please click --> HERE <--