Making that Bullet Collator

[r4ndy]

GWS - Can you please share what spring you are using? In the video it looks like a smaller dimension than the DAA MRBF ones. I am having issues with 55gr 223 occasionally bunching up at the top of the drop tube so I am looking for a thinner spring. Thanks

[TylerR]

GWS - Can you please share what spring you are using? In the video it looks like a smaller dimension than the DAA MRBF ones. I am having issues with 55gr 223 occasionally bunching up at the top of the drop tube so I am looking for a thinner spring. Thanks

Your best options for other springs are in the links in the manual. You can go with springs from Aliexpress or Mcmaster carr. For .223 you could use the 9mm OD spring from ali, or the 1/4"(.035") from mcmaster. The 10-11mm or 3/8" springs would also work.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832626574002.html
https://www.mcmaster.com/coil-spring...pring-stock-6/

[torpedo2k]

From the "For whats its worth department". This Hillman spring worked great for me with 9mm cases and they are in stock at most Lowes in the U.S.
#12 fits like a glove.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-16-...Spring/3115901

[GWS]

GWS - Can you please share what spring you are using? In the video it looks like a smaller dimension than the DAA MRBF ones. I am having issues with 55gr 223 occasionally bunching up at the top of the drop tube so I am looking for a thinner spring. Thanks

If they bunch up at the top of the drop tube....or IOW's at the bottom end of the spring, wouldn't a spring of thinner material make it worse? Sometimes, depending on the spring or the printed drop tube, or some other adapter or insert, I have to the opening just a hair to remove any "shelf or protrusion in the line. It's got to be a smooth transition everywhere. Often I can remedy such things with a chamfer/deburring tool that most reloaders have handy to deburr/chamfer brass necks.

What I use is not what most use.....I just bought two short lengths of 1/4" from Ace Hardware and made a clear tubing section between them.....because I didn't have a long spring then, having ordered the wrong even smaller size by mistake! That one might do .17 caliber.....but I'm not reloading that....ever.

What's funny is I like that clear tubing because not only did it make a visible section, it made it stiffer, less unwieldy.....so I kept it just the way it was.....but I had to smooth out even more places for possible trouble than you got!

[GWS]

From the "For whats its worth department". This Hillman spring worked great for me with 9mm cases and they are in stock at most Lowes in the U.S.
#12 fits like a glove.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-16-...Spring/3115901

I will have to check out the gate springs at Lowes....a local supply for long springs is interesting indeed.

[GWS]

Haha, well shoot. I may need to recruit GWS to do his excellent work on that insert. Also noticed the 7.62x39 brass insert is not contoured as well.

I have an untested one for 7.62x39, untested because I have no brass or rifle in that caliber. The swede one ..... I can make one, but again can't test it. Got to out of town again tomorrow, but I can work on the swede mauser one in the motel tomorrow night.

[r4ndy]

The bunching up is due to a bullet resting above the drop tube in the spring at a sharp angle then another bullet coming and wedging against it. I have minimized it by getting the spring to be closer to vertical as it gets to the drop tube, but it still happens occasionally. Once they get wedged like that they don’t go into the tube. A smaller diameter tube will keep the bullet more parallel to the spring and flow into the tube better. I’ll get a photo to better show what is happening but I am going to grab some that tube you mentioned from Ace. Thanks!

[TylerR]

The bunching up is due to a bullet resting above the drop tube in the spring at a sharp angle then another bullet coming and wedging against it. I have minimized it by getting the spring to be closer to vertical as it gets to the drop tube, but it still happens occasionally. Once they get wedged like that they don’t go into the tube. A smaller diameter tube will keep the bullet more parallel to the spring and flow into the tube better. I’ll get a photo to better show what is happening but I am going to grab some that tube you mentioned from Ace. Thanks!

Post processing of the drop tube with sandpaper/round file/acetone should eliminate that. Also, I am not sure how long ago you printed the drop tube, but a few months back all of the smaller tubes were changed to have a more gradual feed cone at the top. Which drop tube are you using?

[GWS]

I think we're all thinking the same, spoken out thoughts, without enough detail to know it.

I've had similar stoppages with small bullets catching even in the spaces between spring helixs stretched too far. Which is why I chose not to stretch those two short ones yet wanted to "see".....bullet have a smoother ride with nothing to catch a base edge on. Even bullet design makes a difference....boat tails don't catch as often...and on and on....

Then there's the too large diameter problem like the picture shows below (even in totally smooth surfaces like clear tube):



A little better below:



But much more reliable below:



But TylerR is also right, improving his parts is a constant mission at his house, and it's a good idea to download the project every few months with the newer always improved files. TylerR, I think even Lee has caught on to your methods......they now are constantly improving their products too......and I betcha there are more corporate spys checking on this project and even secretly downloading and building it....lurking always lurking! LOL! TylerR obviously has nothing to hide so that's just good for everybody in the hobby no matter what the color of their equipment.

But just be vigilant everywhere there is a transition between parts watch for "shelves" between them where bullets can hang and fix em, and find the smallest clear tube and/or springs that just allow bullets to fall loose and smooth, but not angled.

[TylerR]

I have an untested one for 7.62x39, untested because I have no brass or rifle in that caliber. The swede one ..... I can make one, but again can't test it. Got to out of town again tomorrow, but I can work on the swede mauser one in the motel tomorrow night.

I have the same issue. trying to support lots of calibers I do not personally have. I did post your modified 7.62 insert.

[GWS]

I have the samIe issue. trying to support lots of calibers I do not personally have. I did post your modified 7.62 insert.

I'll print it and beg someone to loan me some brass to test it with.....but can't til Thursday at the soonest.....and that's also when I can make the other one for the Mauser.

[rogerandre]

Dear Team,
What STL do you recommend for 38 brass and 357 brass collator plate (standard collator main body) ?
Med vänliga hälsningar/Best Regards
///Roger

[TylerR]

Dear Team,
What STL do you recommend for 38 brass and 357 brass collator plate (standard collator main body) ?
Med vänliga hälsningar/Best Regards
///Roger

I would recommend the 300mm sized collator if you have the ability to print it.

[GWS]

TylerR, must be too early in the morning....he specified standard body.

I think the main consideration for plates is that the holes work better bigger than smaller, because smaller holes tend to be less efficient at catching cases. .357's are on the long side....but too short for plates that lay down brass. So I tested them with bigger holes.....the following video was "large pistol" if I remember right. The test was more to see if they fell backwards some of the time in the big holes....and I saw no evidence of that. .....But they sure dropped fast and efficient! No, I don't normally feed that fast....it was a test looking for "fail".....and it fed perfect and fast.

[TylerR]

TylerR, must be too early in the morning....he specified standard body.

I think the main consideration for plates is that the holes work better bigger than smaller, because smaller holes tend to be less efficient at catching cases. .357's are on the long side....but too short for plates that lay down brass. So I tested them with bigger holes.....the following video was "large pistol" if I remember right. The test was more to see if they fell backwards some of the time in the big holes....and I saw no evidence of that. .....But they sure dropped fast and efficient! No, I don't normally feed that fast....it was a test looking for "fail".....and it feed perfect and fast.

Must be! I thought the question was which collator body to print.
I still don't understand how you feed those that fast.

[GWS]

Must be! I thought the question was which collator body to print.
I still don't understand how you feed those that fast.

Easy! I started off with a TylerR large pistol plate!......and I have a Dayton motor that's starts out too fast in the first place, requiring a good speed control, and I didn't turn it down enough..... I figure testing too fast ensures perfection at normal speed. Of course ample angle is important, as you often preach, so the cases lie back against the hole wall when they come front where the drop is. I think problems with plates way too often is not enough angle.

One thing I'm not a fan of is feeding a huge bucket full at a time, and is why I never have printed a base extension.....it's just not that hard to pour some more in, and IME, when things feed upside down it's most often because there's so many layers of cases....and they are forced upside down by a hundred neighbors preventing gravity from doing it's job.

[flybyjohn]

Just been looking for a few hours on the bullet nose down slider plate development and can’t find out where it started and why there is a little wall in front of the drop hole. Is it a handle? I have never had a bullet fall forward and hit it and it is too far away to even catch a falling forward bullet anyway. So I just gots to know……what is it there for?

[rogerandre]

Easy! I started off with a TylerR large pistol plate!......and I have a Dayton motor that's starts out too fast in the first place, requiring a good speed control, and I didn't turn it down enough..... I figure testing too fast ensures perfection at normal speed. Of course ample angle is important, as you often preach, so the cases lie back against the hole wall when they come front where the drop is. I think problems with plates way too often is not enough angle.

One thing I'm not a fan of is feeding a huge bucket full at a time, and is why I never have printed a base extension.....it's just not that hard to pour some more in, and IME, when things feed upside down it's most often because there's so many layers of cases....and they are forced upside down by a hundred neighbors preventing gravity from doing it's job.

I think TylerR is just checking me

So for 38 and 357 brass I should go for this one ? https://github.com/BF556/Feeder/blob...late_Large.stl

[TylerR]

Just been looking for a few hours on the bullet nose down slider plate development and can’t find out where it started and why there is a little wall in front of the drop hole. Is it a handle? I have never had a bullet fall forward and hit it and it is too far away to even catch a falling forward bullet anyway. So I just gots to know……what is it there for?

It keeps the nose up bullets from falling forward when traveling over the drop hole in the slide plate. It is possible that in your setup they do not fall forward. It depends on a lot of things, including bullet design and the amount of angle you are running the feeder at. The original design included a adjustable slider to serve the purpose, but I decided fixed was simpler. You can see it in action in this video.

[flybyjohn]

That’s what I figured but I guess with all my bullets they are about 16 mm high or shorter so by the time they would even touch the wall they would be already stuck in the hole. I did see where someone used a little piece of spring steel and stuck it into that wall with an arm that bent towards the collator plate to do that purpose.