Problem with ejecting sprews on Bullet Master

[hunter74]

I have an old Magma Mk 5 Bullet Master with upgraded pneumatics. That's the mould knockers and sprue knocker.

I'm struggling with the sprues sticking to the plate at especially 3 of the stations. At the other ones the knocker releases the sprues most of the time. When the sprue does not fall off at the right moment it stays on until the bullets are released when the knockers at 6 o clock station takes care of that, so it's really no harm done except a lot of sprues in the bullet bin. When casting 15000 bullets a day, that adds a lot of extra work.

On my machine the sprue knocker works together with pouring. The sprue knocker shoots out and stays on the sprue plate exactly as the pouring cykle runs on the top mould and the bullet knockers in the bottom runs their cykle. I can see that there may be a tiny misalignment at some of the mould positions because the knocker does not hit the sprue plate at exactly the same point at each station, but it's not much off.

My thoughts are that all of this is controlled by the pouring sensor under the pot and the misalignment can come from either the mould carrier arms or where they are attached to the wheel. It's not the mould mounting keys. I've measured them all, and they are the same.

A lot of rambling..... Are there easy fixes to this? Anyone?

One thing I have not tried are to adjust the psi setting on the machine. It looks like this is adjustable and it's currently set at 70 psi if the meter is right. How high can this be adjusted? This is the air pressure for the pouring and sprue knocker, right?

The bullet knockers in the bottom need about 125 psi, stated by the Magma manual, but if I understand this correctly they get the air preassure and their feed without going through the meter earlier described.

Thanks!

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[runfiverun]

I would look at the sprue plates themselves.
many times they need a slight re-cut at the top and/or a burr taken off the bottom.
if there is anything like a parallel leading down into the fill hole the sprues will lock up pretty easily.
but usually it's just a clean up [polish] right where the plate makes the turn down into the straight portion that hangs on to the lead.

[ReloaderFred]

You simply need to lube the tops of the sprue cutters. We do this on our Mark 6 by using a mix of generic Pam cooking spray, mixed with denatured alcohol in a spray bottle. I mix about 1/2 and 1/2 cooking spray and alcohol, but the percentage isn't critical. It's easiest to stop the machine via the switch, with the bullets still in the cavities, so you don't get excess spray in the cavities, which causes wrinkles. Just give each sprue cutter a couple of quick shots of lube and the problem will go away. We find we have to do this about every half hour or 45 minutes of run time on the machine.

I buy the cheapest cooking spray I can find at the restaurant supply store, but they carry it in any market, at least here in the U.S. I paid $2.99 USD for the last can I bought, and it lasts forever.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[hunter74]

ReloaderFred, it may be as simple as to add more lube on the plates. When I do that i know it releases the sprues for a while, but it's always on the same stations they bind again first. I've used both spray bottles with Magma's lube and Bull sprue plate lube added with a Qtip. Both methods work ok for a short while.

How much psi do you run on your pouring and sprue knocker?

I've also played with the thought of welding a big steel washer onto the locking nut of the knocking sylinder instead of the standard aluminum hammer. This way I may get a harder and more effective knock, but it would also increase the wear of the sprue plates. I see that some on YouTube has gone that route.

It's a shame that the sprue knocker doesn't knock multiple times as the bullet knockers. There's no way that a sprue would stay on after a cycle like that!


I'm pretty sure it's not burrs on the sprue plates that's causing the problem for me. The problem is pretty much consistent on all my mould sets.



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[6bg6ga]

ReloaderFred, it may be as simple as to add more lube on the plates. When I do that i know it releases the sprues for a while, but it's always on the same stations they bind again first. I've used both spray bottles with Magma's lube and Bull sprue plate lube added with a Qtip. Both methods work ok for a short while.

How much psi do you run on your pouring and sprue knocker?

I've also played with the thought of welding a big steel washer onto the locking nut of the knocking sylinder instead of the standard aluminum hammer. This way I may get a harder and more effective knock, but it would also increase the wear of the sprue plates. I see that some on YouTube has gone that route.

It's a shame that the sprue knocker doesn't knock multiple times as the bullet knockers. There's no way that a sprue would stay on after a cycle like that!


I'm pretty sure it's not burrs on the sprue plates that's causing the problem for me. The problem is pretty much consistent on all my mould sets.



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Take the spru plates off the molds. Take them to a machine shop if you don't have the ability to straighten them yourselves. Straighten them, run a countersink thru the top of the plates, turn the plates over and run them thru a flat finnisher to restore the bottom of the spru plate. Once you have done this the problem spru plates will cut like new. The Pam oil may work fine for plates in good condition but will not fix your problem. Once the plates are re-done the pam might work ok for all the plates.

[hunter74]

It may be the sprue plates but the same problems occurs on new plates also. I have some extra plates so I can swap them around and try to polish some of them. My plates for the Mark-X got much better after de-burring and polishing.

The Magma plates may not be straight, but they look like it when eyeballing them.....

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[Ausglock]

I use HITEK mold release mixed with Metho in a spray bottle.

[runfiverun]

I was thinking this might be a good place for some graphite spray on mold release.
I think i'll pick some up and give it a go the next time I run the master caster.