Making that Bullet Collator

[GWS]

The one I see in TylerR's "bf_v1.1.5" files under "adapters" by that name is this:

Attachment 272213Attachment 272214Attachment 272215

And that part has no long v groove.....it appears to be about the same length as your chopped one and it recesses the spring end behind the funnel. Maybe you might want to try that one. "Spring_Adapter_Small.stl"

[lablover]

The one I see in TylerR's "bf_v1.1.5" files under "adapters" by that name is this:

Attachment 272213Attachment 272214Attachment 272215

And that part has no long v groove.....it appears to be about the same length as your chopped one and it recesses the spring end behind the funnel. Maybe you might want to try that one. "Spring_Adapter_Small.stl"

Well let me go have a look see. I bet I missed it! Thanks GWS.

EDIT:......Found it! not sure what the heck I was doing. I just downloaded the latest and there it was. Guess I was a little behind on the downloads.

thanks again
Joe

[TylerR]

Well let me go have a look see. I bet I missed it! Thanks GWS.

EDIT:......Found it! not sure what the heck I was doing. I just downloaded the latest and there it was. Guess I was a little behind on the downloads.

thanks again
Joe

That’s funny because I thought I had eventually gotten to changing that original part but couldn’t remember. I guess I did! I honestly have not used it so if you notice any other issues let me know. I will back home later today.

[lablover]

That’s funny because I thought I had eventually gotten to changing that original part but couldn’t remember. I guess I did! I honestly have not used it so if you notice any other issues let me know. I will back home later today.

Printed new small spring adapter....no go. See pic, I’m not sure that adjusting the diameter of the collator plate did me any favors. I did some sanding around the mouth and shortened it and the bullets go in now but more times than anything they get stuck sideways. I don’t think I’m going to have much luck with the 60 gr .32 bullets

[TylerR]

Printed new small spring adapter....no go. See pic, I’m not sure that adjusting the diameter of the collator plate did me any favors. I did some sanding around the mouth and shortened it and the bullets go in now but more times than anything they get stuck sideways. I don’t think I’m going to have much luck with the 60 gr .32

Can you shoot a quick video? It may be that you need a longer straight drop at the funnel before it reduces diameter but hard to tell just from the pictures.

I will also print one up just to make sure I am not missing something obvious.

[GWS]

TylerR & lablover: What I see is the same thing that gave me fits with the APP bullet shuttle.......tapers or fillets towards the holes. All that does for a short bullet is tilt it into the hole......better to slide them in straight.

IOW's get rid of the troughs leading to the holes. Where troughs work, is to slide in longer bullets towards the holes where the bullets then tip upright and fall. In this short fat bullet case it just causes a permanent tilt and hang. IMO for short fats, a flat surface with a sudden drop in the hole will work better. (and wax the surface with paraffin, or paste wax)

The more I think about it, the more I think that the smaller hole size in the plate may have been the wrong target....getting rid of the troughs for shorts the right target.

The easiest way to test that theory is just to fill in the troughs temporarily with plaster and test the idea......same with the plate with the bigger holes....and you may find that the bigger holes is even better.

[d278te]

Can someone point me in the direction of the files for the openbulletfeeder? I can only find the older files using the DAA motor mount on thingiverse. The thingiverse files for ammomikes upload is not up right now, all I get is a 404 error.

[TylerR]

TylerR & lablover: What I see is the same thing that gave me fits with the APP bullet shuttle.......tapers or fillets towards the holes. All that does for a short bullet is tilt it into the hole......better to slide them in straight.

IOW's get rid of the troughs leading to the holes. Where troughs work, is to slide in longer bullets towards the holes where the bullets then tip upright and fall. In this short fat bullet case it just causes a permanent tilt and hang. IMO for short fats, a flat surface with a sudden drop in the hole will work better. (and wax the surface with paraffin, or paste wax)

The more I think about it, the more I think that the smaller hole size in the plate may have been the wrong target....getting rid of the troughs for shorts the right target.

The easiest way to test that theory is just to fill in the troughs temporarily with plaster and test the idea......same with the plate with the bigger holes....and you may find that the bigger holes is even better.

I am not sure I am following all of that exactly, but I think you have probably messed with this scenario more then me. If the holes are bigger how does it prevent them from going in sideways? I do have one idea for lablover to try which should be easy to test.

Oh I get it now. You are basically saying remove the sliding slots in the plate. That does make sense to me. He could try that as well as my change and it just might do it for him.

[TylerR]

Can someone point me in the direction of the files for the openbulletfeeder? I can only find the older files using the DAA motor mount on thingiverse. The thingiverse files for ammomikes upload is not up right now, all I get is a 404 error.

If you are looking for Mikes files just check out his last post in this thread. He included a link. If you are interested in mine just look at my signature.

[TylerR]

lablover. I just posted a new version of the small spring adapter. It has a much more gradual taper to the spring. Give it a try and let me know if there is any improvement.

[lablover]

lablover. I just posted a new version of the small spring adapter. It has a much more gradual taper to the spring. Give it a try and let me know if there is any improvement.

I’ll give it a go later today. I was so close to that bullet feeder flying Accross the room yesterday..lol. I will also try a plate with no troughs as GWS suggests. I guess the good news is that the bullets don’t try to go sideways in the plate anymore but now it’s created this new problem. It’s almost like the hole in the collator base needs to be moved...hope this works. Right now I have a Lee APP clear tube running out of the bullet die...hahahahahaha

GWS, I think I may already have a plate in the scrap pile with no troughs and bigger holes. Will investigate your theory. Forgot why I abandoned it? Oh I remember, bullets fell in the hole sideways

[GWS]

GWS, I think I may already have a plate in the scrap pile with no troughs and bigger holes. Will investigate your theory. Forgot why I abandoned it? Oh I remember, bullets fell in the hole sideways

Well they sure will, if the holes are beveled anywhere. Those short bullets are a different breed for sure....and I can't stress having a waxed plate surface more...the lighter the bullets the more friction affects them.

Thing is, if the bullets are already base down on the plate, the bevels will tilt them....if they are already laying sideways, they have to turn base down to drop clean.....so the need to have a big enough hole to do that without hanging up at a diagonal.

[lablover]

Well they sure will, if the holes are beveled anywhere. Those short bullets are a different breed for sure....and I can't stress having a waxed plate surface more...the lighter the bullets the more friction affects them.

Thing is, if the bullets are already base down on the plate, the bevels will tilt them....if they are already laying sideways, they have to turn base down to drop clean.....so the need to have a big enough hole to do that without hanging up at a diagonal.

So you would also get rid of the bevels around the holes as well?

Printed new Tyler adapter...no go, they are still getting stuck even when base is down. I’ll have to try and get a video. It’s almost like the adapter is too long which makes no sense but when you see it you will understand. If I disengage the spring adaptor a little and drop it down the bullets will drop but then they get stuck sideways going down the adapter.

Like I mentioned, I’ll try and put together a detailed video which should help.

[TylerR]

So you would also get rid of the bevels around the holes as well?

Printed new Tyler adapter...no go, they are still getting stuck even when base is down. I’ll have to try and get a video. It’s almost like the adapter is too long which makes no sense but when you see it you will understand. If I disengage the spring adaptor a little and drop it down the bullets will drop but then they get stuck sideways going down the adapter.

Like I mentioned, I’ll try and put together a detailed video which should help.

Very odd. Would love to see the video. So they get stuck even with the spring completely removed? What you are experiencing is very similar to the problem I had with base up case feeding, but it doesn't make sense since the bullet should really want to fall base down, not up.

It also begs the question of, even if they make it in to the spring itself, will they get stuck sideways? Not sure if you tested that at all.

[lablover]

Very odd. Would love to see the video. So they get stuck even with the spring completely removed? What you are experiencing is very similar to the problem I had with base up case feeding, but it doesn't make sense since the bullet should really want to fall base down, not up.

It also begs the question of, even if they make it in to the spring itself, will they get stuck sideways? Not sure if you tested that at all.

When some make it to the small DAA spring they do travel down. When chores are done I’ll get some video
Yes, even with no spring they get stuck sideways in the adapter if they ever make it that far, I’m having 2 issues at the same time

[lablover]

Ok, no laughing at my video skills. One video without spring adapter one video with

[lablover]

With the holes so small in the collater plate the bullets are very close to the edge of the plate and bowl, so they want to fall towards the outside edge of the hole. Very hard to explain and hopefully the video shows what you all need

[GWS]

So you would also get rid of the bevels around the holes as well?

I would......those short bullets are just too equal in weight distribution....they tip and go in angled. If it was mine, I'd wax, and speed up the rotation to not let them have time to tilt.

Printed new Tyler adapter...no go, they are still getting stuck even when base is down. I’ll have to try and get a video. It’s almost like the adapter is too long which makes no sense but when you see it you will understand. If I disengage the spring adaptor a little and drop it down the bullets will drop but then they get stuck sideways going down the adapter.

Like I mentioned, I’ll try and put together a detailed video which should help.

I'm thinking the adaptor is just too small to stop that tendency to go in tilted.....in fact, if the weight is equal everywhere, I'm not sure you can ever control the tilt....sort of like a ball....they go in any direction. Now if there IS a little difference, the longer it falls the tendency to right itself increases, but the hole has to be big enough for that to happen.

[TylerR]

With the holes so small in the collater plate the bullets are very close to the edge of the plate and bowl, so they want to fall towards the outside edge of the hole. Very hard to explain and hopefully the video shows what you all need

The videos help a lot. The issue looks about what I was thinking, and I was hoping a more gently tapered tube would solve the problem, but apparently not. The issue is that the bullet is hitting the outside edge of the taper first, causing it to cant in the hole and jam up. As GWS said, the longer the tube, the more gradual the taper and the less chance of it tilting on the way down. This issue is basically like a very magnified example of exactly why I made these spring adapters longer in the first place.

The only two methods I can think to fix it, would be to either elongate the adapter even further, or to have the taper actually be offset so it is more of a straight drop on the outside edge. The first option being a two second change, while the latter is a bit more work. Hope that makes sense.

[GWS]

After seeing the video.....do you have the big size adaptor to try? The video was classic, that that's EXACTLY why I had to predrop ALL my bullets. Once I did that no more hangs even at fast speeds.

I know you all are sick of me showing my pre-3d feeder, but I'm feeding .45, .40, .9mm., and .357 using a single plate, a single subplate and a single hole size. The only thing i had to change by caliber was the tubing to the press mounted feed die.

But! I had to pre-drop everything because I had NO speed control and it was quite fast.....and I saw the same binding you are experiencing over and over.

This was the fix for me: (see I first tried enlarging the drop hole and had to repair that because it didn't help at all!)



BUT I feed no Short bullets like yours, and that's something you gotta analyze carefully.

Looks from your videos that you have the base down in the plate holes covered....that's a big start....now open up the drops.

Including videos using the above for both .45's and .357's using BIG HOLES! and enough plate tilt to hold both size bullets on the back sides of the holes.

Notice the hang from the sweeper catching a bullet just right? The flipper on the 3d collators is way better.....I need to figure a way to do that on my old collator.....just one more 3d printed project to figure out! I LOVE the freedom 3d printing gives! So much easier when it can fabricate while I do something else!
This video stops early because I had a proximity sensor to turn it off once the tubes were full....

One more thing I had to do on mine......I carved a depression in the side of the base surround....don't know that it would be necessary on yours but it's an option.....