Making that Bullet Collator

[TylerR]

Go to Adapters folder on github and check out the Lee_Tube_Adapters.

[XDrebel]

Go to Adapters folder on github and check out the Lee_Tube_Adapters.

Thank you TylerR. I downloaded files. Will check them out. Not sure about getting it done this weekend. Have youngest granddaughter's birthday party Sunday afternoon. Saturday is taken up with outside chores of grass mowing and tree cutting, splitting and limb hauling.

[GWS]

Not knowing exactly how they will be used, you may or may not have jams when stacked with the beveled top ones TylerR modified.....You said you printed the "Clear tube adapters" which have straight inlets not tapered, so being tapered, sometimes a stack with too much angle possibility will cause a case to go angled, then the next base jams between it and the tube or under the overhead offset if present.

Such is not a problem if you are just dropping cases directly into this "Lee Tube Adapter" But these have a twist lock on top insinuating that it connects to other parts above it. It's been my experience that if other parts go above it (excepting where a collator drops it straight in....electric or a Lee style shaker, then a straight line adapter without any "offsets would work better.

So if it works good, fine, if it jams let us know......can be fixed pretty easy to straight line like the original tube adapters.

These are the straight entrance versions.....the end where the twistlock is, the hole is the same diameter as the Lee tubing I.D.

This is the 10mm version.

Next picture is the 14mm version but showing the end where the Lee tube goes in, which is .50mm bigger than that bigger Lee Tubing O.D. Ditto for the 10mm version, that hole is likewise .50mm bigger dia. than the smaller Lee Tubing. Again the other end is also the same I.D. as the larger Lee tubing I.D.

I chose to round the offset inside so that the printer will bring those well with the wider finger grips down on the bed. I don't think the minuscule void between tubing and adapter will matter....and it will print cleaner on my printer.

[TylerR]

Thank you TylerR. I downloaded files. Will check them out. Not sure about getting it done this weekend. Have youngest granddaughter's birthday party Sunday afternoon. Saturday is taken up with outside chores of grass mowing and tree cutting, splitting and limb hauling.

Nice. I have been snowblowing all day here.

[TylerR]

Not knowing exactly how they will be used, you may or may not have jams when stacked with the beveled top ones TylerR modified.....You said you printed the "Clear tube adapters" which have straight inlets not tapered, so being tapered, sometimes a stack with too much angle possibility will cause a case to go angled the the next base jams between it and the tube or under the overhead offset if there.

Such is not a problem if you are just dropping cases directly into this "Lee Tube Adapter" But these have a twist lock on top insinuating that it connects to other parts above it. It's been my experience that if other parts go above it (excepting where a collator drops it straight in....electric or a Lee style shaker, then a straight line adapter without any "offsets would work better.

So if it works good, fine, if it jams let us know......can be fixed pretty easy to straight line like the original tube adapters

I had the same question. If he is running a tube straight from the collator then the cone entry is the only answer for the top adapter. Otherwise it has to be some kind of offset adapter.

[GWS]

Or make .stls of the straight wall versions......

Like these if I did it right. just a little worried other printers might not allow the Lee tubes to slip in with only .5mm over diameter. Mines does when printed at layer height of .12mm. So now you have two choices tapered hole or straight. Let us know how it all works out.

[M500]

Here is another file you might be interested in. It is cut down from one of the proximity drop tubes. Slips over the LEE tubing. Slide it up and down to where you want. Haven't tested it yet, but think it should work.

[TylerR]

Or make .stls of the straight wall versions......

Like these if I did it right. just a little worried other printers might not allow the Lee tubes to slip in with only .5mm over diameter. Mines does when printed at layer height of .12mm. So now you have two choices tapered hole or straight. Let us know how it all works out.

Not sure I am following GWS, could be because I am slow. The drop hole on the collator body is 16mm dia. If you attach the top adapter, it is going to go from a 16mm hole directly to a 10mm or 14mm hole. The only thing those top adapters can be used for is to twist in to the collator body.

[GWS]

Not sure I am following GWS, could be because I am slow. The drop hole on the collator body is 16mm dia. If you attach the top adapter, it is going to go from a 16mm hole directly to a 10mm or 14mm hole. The only thing those top adapters can be used for is to twist in to the collator body.

You're not slow. But I'm obviously forgetful. I forgot you and most of your followers are not old school like me, and don't mount the prox switch directly below the collator or nearly so, sometimes with an inch spacer between for longer cases. Instead you mount the prox near the bottom.......So I should just back off and let you guys work this out!! Apples don't mix with oranges! But I should explain why I said what I did in the posts above:

Your B2 Drop_Tube Alt_X, the short one, starts with a funnel on top is designed to receive cases directly from the Brass_X_Drop_Hole_Adapter mounted to the collator's slide plate.....its MADE to work there and works great. It comes in various sizes because the MIDDLE & BOTTOM of that Drop tube is sized to just allow your chosen case to fall and remain close to the sensor......so then the bottom is that minimum diameter. And that's where the top Tube Adapters that I posted twist lock into the bottom of the Drop Tube and into which you push a Lee clear tube into.......and that's NOT a spot I want a funnel.

Then at the bottom of the clear tube, I use various parts to tie it to a particular press.....and not necessarily the bottom companion part of the adapter set......quite often I telescope smaller clear tubes until I can go directly into an APP insert, or a SixPack insert.....but that's another story. For now the bottom adapter can twist lock into couplers, or other parts to fit your needs.

The following picture shows how my case collators drop cases using a prox switch. The bottom part is the clear adaptor top I.D is made the same I.D. as the bottom of the chosen drop tube size....bottom I.D. is made .50mm larger than the clear tube O.D. Hope that clears up my divergent side of things.

Slide_Plate, Brass Drop_Hole_Adapter, spacer, downtube, Tube adapter.

That black spacer between the black collator outlet and the green downtube is wide holed so as not to interfere.....that it was even necessary, was because when a case stops the motor the last case to drop above it caused problems being half in and half dropped.

Video below is old and I no longer use my old Proximity Tee, which was a drop tube/prox housing in one piece.....TylerR figured out a better way and I prefer his design now, but the bottom Tube Adapter is the same, since my Tee exited at the same diameter as the Adapter does, as does TylerR's short downtube in that hole size...so same outcome with older parts. Sooo added a few .223, collates to tube fill, and stops, cases still left up there.....then stroked the press a few times, cases autofeed until empty....as shown....I think that's the goal....



So having explained and maybe clarified, maybe confused more, I will leave this to you guys.....no more interruptions....

[TylerR]

You're not slow. But I'm obviously forgetful. I forgot you and most of your followers are not old school like me, and don't mount the prox switch directly below the collator or nearly so, sometimes with an inch spacer between for longer cases. Instead you mount the prox near the bottom.......So I should just back off and let you guys work this out!! Apples don't mix with oranges! But I should explain why I said what I did in the posts above:

Your B2 Drop_Tube Alt_X, the short one, starts with a funnel on top is designed to receive cases directly from the Brass_X_Drop_Hole_Adapter mounted to the collator's slide plate.....its MADE to work there and works great. It comes in various sizes because the MIDDLE & BOTTOM of that Drop tube is sized to just allow your chosen case to fall and remain close to the sensor......so then the bottom is that minimum diameter. And that's where the top Tube Adapters that I posted twist lock into the bottom of the Drop Tube and into which you push a Lee clear tube into.......and that's NOT a spot I want a funnel.

Then at the bottom of the clear tube, I use various parts to tie it to a particular press.....and not necessarily the bottom companion part of the adapter set......quite often I telescope smaller clear tubes until I can go directly into an APP insert, or a SixPack insert.....but that's another story. For now the bottom adapter can twist lock into couplers, or other parts to fit your needs.

The following picture shows how my case collators drop cases using a prox switch. The bottom part is the clear adaptor top I.D is made the same I.D. as the bottom of the chosen drop tube size....bottom I.D. is made .50mm larger than the clear tube O.D. Hope that clears up my divergent side of things.

Slide_Plate, Brass Drop_Hole_Adapter, spacer, downtube, Tube adapter.

That black spacer between the black collator outlet and the green downtube is wide holed so as not to interfere.....that it was even necessary, was because when a case stops the motor the last case to drop above it caused problems being half in and half dropped.

Video below is old and I no longer use my old Proximity Tee, which was a drop tube/prox housing in one piece.....TylerR figured out a better way and I prefer his design now, but the bottom Tube Adapter is the same, since my Tee exited at the same diameter as the Adapter does, as does TylerR's short downtube in that hole size...so same outcome with older parts. Sooo added a few .223, collates to tube fill, and stops, cases still left up there.....then stroked the press a few times, cases autofeed until empty....as shown....I think that's the goal....

So having explained and maybe clarified, maybe confused more, I will leave this to you guys.....no more interruptions....

See, I knew you would set me straight. The config makes sense, and could be used with stock parts, minus the spacer you are using. I added both the funnel and straight wall versions to github.

Edit: I added a short and long spacer as well, since I can see that being needed for longer cases.

[GWS]

See, I knew you would set me straight. The config makes sense, and could be used with stock parts, minus the spacer you are using. I added both the funnel and straight wall versions to github.

Edit: I added a short and long spacer as well, since I can see that being needed for longer cases.

Short and long spacer? Didn't see that....in the Down Tube section? Bet you are a bit tired of adding new parts......wow! Everybody's got a new wrinkle......

Now lets start a new thread on reloading for howitzers. May need it for Putin's war. Oh! Need much bigger 3D printers too....

[XDrebel]

TylerR or GWS

Was going to try and start a print on some of the other pieces I haven't tried to print yet. Loaded up the Drop_Tube_Alt_10mm in Cura and it gave me an error message stating the model isn't watertight and may not print correctly. I got to looking and found where it was. It's below and to the left of the numbers for the size. I tried to use Cura's tool to fix and it stated it couldn't. I also checked and the other sizes seem to have the same thing. Wasn't sure if you were aware of this issue and how much problem it will create when printing.

I was going to try to upload an image of the screen, but I can not get it to work.

[GWS]

My IdeaMaker slicer repaired it.....try this one.

Drop_Tube_Alt_10mm-export.zip

DesignSpark isn't perfect, but so far its .stl renditions have been repairable with IdeaMaker with just their "Autorepair." One click. Maybe worthwhile to download IdeaMaker just to fix DSM .stl renditions.... I've found it easier to do that than to find and fix glitches in the source file in DesignSpark.

But warning: use your slicer to turn the model upside down for the best print.

[XDrebel]

My IdeaMaker slicer repaired it.....try this one.

Drop_Tube_Alt_10mm-export.zip

GWS that's not the newer version with the Photoswitch and LED Knob ports in it listed in the Drop Tube Files for BFF Feeder V1.4.6.5

Here is the link to files on github. Was not listed this way when I downloaded all file to my computer, sorry for the confusion.


6. Drop Tubes/Drop_Tube_Alt_Light_10mm.stl

https://github.com/BF556/Feeder/blob...Light_10mm.stl

[TylerR]

Short and long spacer? Didn't see that....in the Down Tube section? Bet you are a bit tired of adding new parts......wow! Everybody's got a new wrinkle......

Now lets start a new thread on reloading for howitzers. May need it for Putin's war. Oh! Need much bigger 3D printers too....

Honestly couldn't decide on where to put them. They ended up in the Main Body folder since that is where the drop hole adapters are, and the spacers are an extension to that. They could also go in the Drop Tube folder or Adapters folder.

[TylerR]

GWS that's not the newer version with the Photoswitch and LED Knob ports in it listed in the Drop Tube Files for BFF Feeder V1.4.6.5

Don't worry about the Cura error. Yes there are some files that give that but they print just fine.

The file GWS posted is actually the latest (short) version.

I would also recommend you grab the absolute latest version of the files by using the method described in the readme. To download click the green "Code" button, then click "Download Zip".

[TylerR]

FYI I renamed the entire Drop Tube's folder today. The versions designed for prox are the official latest version. They are now just labeled with the original file names. Drop_Tube_X and Drop_Tube_Alt_X. Everything else is legacy at this point and they have have been tagged with "Orig" at the end. Since I took the time to also make the light sensor versions of the Alt tubes, I kept them in there and tagged them with "Light". Just a little house keeping. As GWS said, the options are getting voluminous at this point.

[XDrebel]

TylerR thanks for explaining that. I thought it was me . The files I had downloaded didn't have the light designation in the file name. Thats the one I need to print because I purchased all the hardware initially for that. I just seen the name change a little bit ago when I went back into GitHub.

[GWS]

This video shows why it's best to print it upside down.....the twist connector prints perfect that way. But I heat my bed to 65C to make sure it sticks.

As for printing "anyway" Cura may.....but IdeaMaker requires you "repair" first.....doesn't have the option to print anyway.

And yes the one I just posted is the latest version downloaded by "code" 15 minutes ago. The part printing in the video is old and was doctored. So now my files are updated again....for the hundredth time Bet TylerR had no idea what a life's work this would turn out to be.

Honestly couldn't decide on where to put them. They ended up in the Main Body folder since that is where the drop hole adapters are, and the spacers are an extension to that. They could also go in the Drop Tube folder or Adapters folder.

I was wondering....didn't even think to look for them there....and now I know (remember) where to find the drop hole adaptors, too.

[XDrebel]

Yes Sir I agree printing it in upside down will probably work better. It just dropped the other way when I opened ii and gave me the error message. I've rotated to try and print.