Making that Bullet Collator

[GWS]

Hi GWS,
Not sure what went wrong with your print. When I printed mine, I did it horizontal as well, and it worked fine. I usually have the opposite problem in that my internal threads tend to be too tight and I need to scale them up slightly to get a good fit.

Attachment 272001

One thing that helps you is you bought the small diameter sensor, I'll bet. Did you print it smaller than .2 layer height? Just curious. I've got an idea or two to try. One is to make it bigger in diameter IS and OS, and printing a threaded sleeve to glue in. Such a sleeve will print in 20 minutes so no biggy. And I can just glue it in the bigger hole.

I got my case feeder mounted, and it's going to drop straight down to the case feeder shuttle, and I'm not terribly high above it, so I want my proximity sensor housing just as short as possible.....NEXT PRINT I may add the fillet....beats all the clean up....no wonder TylerR hates supports..... Still have much more to print.....plate, electronics box, better proximity housing.....but it's going to be cool!

For 308 / 300BLK what die are you guys using to expand the neck of the case so flat base bullets seat nicely from the feeder die?

I use RCBS's rifle tube bullet feeder which come with an "M" style die to expand the neck. It has a second 1/16" deep step that captures the bullet and sits it vertical for the merry-go-round to the seating station. You can get similar ones from Lyman or Noe. That means I can take the pull expander out of the sizer, and that helps with concentricity a lot. I also have one for .223.

If you print your feeder dies you could just order a Noe or Lyman M expander and do the same thing.

[noacess]

If you print your feeder dies you could just order a Noe or Lyman M expander and do the same thing.

The Lyman M die is seemingly sold out everywhere (at leas the 30 M1 Carbine model). For the Noe insert would I need .312 x .308 (also sold out) or would .313 x .309 work?

Thanks for the help!

[GWS]

Pretty sure .308 is what you need......309 may be for Russian? Somebody Noe for sure? (pun intended) Obviously, having RCBS I don't know Noe except by what others have experienced. There is some discussion on them on CastBoolits. Maybe a search is in order? or Call them?

[Todd S]

I’m just getting an Ender 5 pro. I’ve never printed a thing, before. This thread is what pushed me into getting one. I have a Dillon 750 with case feeder. The cost of an MBF with caliber changes is close to what I paid for the Dillon. I’ve read this entire thread and will probably read it again. Great info! I appreciate all of the time and effort you guys have put into this project!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[TylerR]

I’m just getting an Ender 5 pro. I’ve never printed a thing, before. This thread is what pushed me into getting one. I have a Dillon 750 with case feeder. The cost of an MBF with caliber changes is close to what I paid for the Dillon. I’ve read this entire thread and will probably read it again. Great info! I appreciate all of the time and effort you guys have put into this project!

Welcome to the thread Todd! I think we have just about every need covered at this point.
I just started on my new ideas for the APP press so now I have that to obsess about. Looking very promising at the moment to increase caliber change speeds.

[noacess]

Welcome to the thread Todd! I think we have just about every need covered at this point.
I just started on my new ideas for the APP press so now I have that to obsess about. Looking very promising at the moment to increase caliber change speeds.

So, what are your thoughts on building an automated inductive annealer? Seems like it’d be a great project to combine with the case feeder!

[TylerR]

So, what are your thoughts on building an automated inductive annealer? Seems like it’d be a great project to combine with the case feeder!

Haha. you got me there bro. I am going to leave that to the next guy.

[GWS]

Welcome to the thread Todd! I think we have just about every need covered at this point.
I just started on my new ideas for the APP press so now I have that to obsess about. Looking very promising at the moment to increase caliber change speeds.

Interested to see what you're up to! I've done some of that.....but more remains to be done. My interest in the next year will be to make my RCBS Summit press into a heavy duty smooth as glass..... APP.

Tonight I finished what I hope to be the finishing touches to my Proximity Sensor Outlet for my Rifle Case Collator. The collator is mounted now directly above the RCBS tube case feeder to drop straight into it. I say finishing touches, but I need to do a twist connector transition from the clear rigid tube to the Outlet. Should have that finished tonight.

Will print the Outlet in the morning (5+ hrs print) Then will start the first of the fancy rifle case collator wheels for .223. and .308.

Here's a hopeful preview of the Outlet:

The little guy on the right is the theaded insert known to work that will slip tight into the big piece.....hopefully....as I'm printing it at a fine layer height this time. If not the insert is something I already have printed at .20 and I know it works perfect.

I raised the outlet above the Tee another 6mm because of clearance problems with the BIG motor I have on this collator. My second sensor came in today, so I'm going to have a little fun tomorrow.

[TylerR]

Interested to see what you're up to! I've don some of that.....but more remains to be done. My interest in the next year will be to make my RCBS Summit press into a heavy duty smooth as glass..... APP.

Tonight I finished what I hope to be the finishing touches to my Proximity Sensor Outlet for my Rifle Case Collator. The collator is mounted now directly above the RCBS tube case feeder to drop straight into it. I say finishing touches, but I need to do a twist connector transition from the clear rigid tube to the Outlet. Should have that finished tonight.

Will print the Outlet in the morning (5+ hrs print) The will start the fancy rifle case collator wheels for .223. and .308.

Here's a hopeful preview of the Outlet:

The little guy on the right is the theaded insert known to work that will slip tight into the big piece.....hopefully....as I'm printing it at a fine layer height this time. If not the insert is something I already have printed at .20 and I know it works perfect.

I raised the outlet above the Tee another 6mm because of clearance problems with the BIG motor I have on this collator. My second sensor came in today, so I'm going to have a little fun tomorrow.

GWS, I just want to say I appreciate all your contributions and design changes to this project

[o416]

Hey Tyler,

Do you print the large collator plates at 0.12 (Super Quality) or at 0.2 (Standard Quality)? The former takes a whole day to print lol

Thx!

[GWS]

Thanks TylerR, but I'd be exactly nowhere without your enormous efforts. Today I didn't get as far as I wanted to. My younger brother and partner had an especially bad day. He slid off a Garage roof he was sheathing and broke his left ankle landing feet down, and his right heel bone too. So he will be in a wheel chair for most of six weeks. We get too comfortable doing what we have done for years, and sometimes forget to be careful enough and watch where we step.

I did get the parts printed and they will work, but the fit required some carving in the female twist connector .... I'm not as good as you are with printing. The end down shown in the last picture, had too much of an unsupported ledge inside the twist lock ..... lots of stringing, poor bridging ...... all stuff that prints perfect if turned 180 degrees, but then I'd have the same problem with the two twist anchors being unsupported, as well as the tee, again..... Thoughts? The thread inserts work great, superglued in. RedlegEd's smaller diameter ones would also work if another thread insert with smaller threads replaced the other.

Hey Tyler,

Do you print the large collator plates at 0.12 (Super Quality) or at 0.2 (Standard Quality)? The former takes a whole day to print lol

Thx!

Think TylerR told me he printed those at 0.20. That's all I've done.

[lablover]

So by my measurements, if you go with 6.9mm as your caliber, and 180mm as plate dia, you will end up with 9.3mm from the inside of the hole to the wall of the collator. That should be enough to stop sideways ones. And the actual caliber would be 8.1mm. so .2mm of clearance.

Been a crazy week, finally getting this on the printer.....fingers crossed

[Fil131]

Happy Thanksgiving guys and gals!!!

[lablover]

Been a crazy week, finally getting this on the printer.....fingers crossed

Well the plate worked great. No more sideways bullets.....HOWEVER! now the bullets don't want to drop down the small spring using the small spring adaptor at the top. I think because these bullets are so small and lite they get stuck att he hole in the collator. The small spring adapter won't allow them to drop. I cut off the top of the small spring adapter and it started to work but now bullets are getting hung up on the spring from the small adapter and transition to the spring. AGHHHHHHHHHH. I'm thinking I'm at the end of my Witts on this 32.

Very hard to explain why the small spring adapter won't work. Being those bullets are so short and small they are literally on the edge of the collator plate. so when they drop they are dropping on the very outside of the drop hole. Once you screw that small spring adapter in they no longer have room to drop down the spring. When I hacked off the top of the small spring adapter then they had a little room to drop but then got caught on the spring inside the adapter. I'll try to get some video or pics but its almost impossible to see as the collator plate is in the way and you can't see it.

[GWS]

The spring edge should be hidden in a recess of the spring adapter. If it's not, either the spring adapter hole should be a smaller I.S. diameter, or the spring a bigger I.S. diameter so the falling bullet feels no trace of the spring's edge. I've done my share of outlets before the 3d printer was a glimmer in my eye, and into those unenlightened days, epoxy putty was used to fill in where there was edges I didn't want, and a round file used to smooth it, then a dowel wrapped in fine wet/dry sandpaper finished it. Good luck.

Of course once you make it work you can change the print file to copy that and print a clean one.....before 3d printers came the hack that worked was also the final part that worked!

One more thought.....there are springs and better springs.....the more daylight you see between the coils the worse they are for short bullets......and if the I.S. diameter of a spring is too big your short bullets will turn and jam easier. The Hornady springs that came with the Hornady Pistol Bullet Feeder (I modded to flip bullets) are tight, no see thru, smooth as glass inside.....much less friction and no chance of hangs inside those, compared to the see through variety, DAA sells.

And they are heavier gage than the Chinese imported ones, and thus deform under bullet load way less.

[lablover]

GWS
The springs I use are the small from DAA. I'm at a loss on the small spring adapter on the collator. I'm going to try and get some pictures here soon. When you see how the small spring adapter is working with the tiny bullets you will see my problem. Once I hacked off the top of it it was working but not much better

[TylerR]

GWS
The springs I use are the small from DAA. I'm at a loss on the small spring adapter on the collator. I'm going to try and get some pictures here soon. When you see how the small spring adapter is working with the tiny bullets you will see my problem. Once I hacked off the top of it it was working .

Yeah that doesn’t look right at all. That part is the original from Tom’s mods. I am
out of town right now but when I get back I will take a look at and make the necessary changes.

[lablover]

Yeah that doesn’t look right at all. That part is the original from Tom’s mods. I am
out of town right now but when I get back I will take a look at and make the necessary changes.

Thanks a million buddy. I figured something was out of skew

[GWS]

Well you got me thoroughly confused.........I've never seen an adapter that looks like that, except maybe the DT versions, but they don't have funnel tops. And the DT models are the only ones I've seen that don't recess the thread end to prevent hangs that will always occur if they are not recessed.

TylerR mentioned Tom's Mods.....that must explain it as I've never seen Tom's mods.....not impressed if that's how he modded it.

Maybe that's a fix a 3-D pen could do.......hide the spring!

[lablover]

Well you got me thoroughly confused.........I've never seen an adapter that looks like that, except maybe the DT versions, but they don't have funnel tops. And the DT models are the only ones I've seen that don't recess the thread end to prevent hangs that will always occur if they are not recessed.

TylerR mentioned Tom's Mods.....that must explain it as I've never seen Tom's mods.....not impressed if that's how he modded it.

Maybe that's a fix a 3-D pen could do.......hide the spring!

Remember I used the small spring adapter. It’s really long and has like a “V” notch in it. I cut that part off because the bullets would not go down the adapter. Which is odd because it works fine for .223. After I cut the top off the. It worked a bit better but then bullets would get caught on the spring.

This is what it looks like after I chopped it