Ok, It's not a real Binford, but I think Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor would be proud.
With a home built automated boolit casting machine to make boolits, the upside down lee press was just not cutting it. When it didn't take a lot of force, it was good, but the fat boolits were a pain in the shoulder.
After seeing what others have made, I had an idea in my head. There was one video I had not seen. Tazza showed me Grem460's video, as well as his own. Grem's was extremely close to what I had in my head. Of course, the project evolved as it went, and issue would pop up from time to time and cause the plan to change slightly. It didn't take long to decide to make everything adjustable. Remaking, or rewelding parts due to misalignment is no fun.
The main cylinder is a 63x100 or 2.5" x 4". The machine is running at 80 psi. There are no timers, but there are 4 micro switches, 2 proximity switches, 4 relays, a couple lights and a run switch. Down is momentary and single cycle, up is auto. The machine stops when the bullet tube gets low, and it runs again when filled. The bullet feeder is setup for 9mm and 40, but not 45. For 45, I will drop boolits into the tube by hand. It will cycle as fast as you can drop them in. The machine stops if the shuttle does not return home, which happens if a bullet sticks over the die. Too short of a pause on the shuttle, results in stuck boolits. The up speed on the main cylinder is my timer for this, combined with the proxy sensor position. With flow control valves on all four air lines, and a pressure regulator for the entire machine, combined with adjustments on the sensors and switches, there is great adjust-ability.
This diagram is missing the home safety switch for the shuttle, as it was added after I drew the diagram.
Grem's machine is faster, with it's short throw and mechanical linkage, but this machine is plenty fast for my needs. It was fun to build, and I learned a lot. For control, I considered Arduino or PLC, but relays and switches seemed fast and simple, as I have not worked with either of the former. Actually, I didn't know what a latching relay was, until I read a comment on Grem's video, where he mentioned it. My setup uses standard auto relays, wired for a latching circuit.
https://youtu.be/ToStaWtSZQ0
https://youtu.be/1k9M_oyKS8Q
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