Making that Bullet Collator

[Tazza]

That is exactly my plan. I have a small PWM controller off ebay that i use to slow it down, i just need to tweak the flipper plate and angle of the base to get it reliably flipping. Too steep of an angle and projectiles will not flip, too shallow and correct direction ones will fall and flip. One of those things that need fiddling with to get right.

The motors i have are off ebay, inline 12v 7 rpm i think. Not super powerful, but it takes a lot to stall the plate. If needed, i can upgrade the motor easily enough.

[jmorris]

One thing I have done in the past for collators that would have broad uses is to use split set collars to mount them on a round tube. They are infinitely adjustable at that point.

[Tazza]

I have used a piece of channel for the upright and two pieces of aluminium angle mounted to the base of the collator to bolt the upright to. This will allow me to adjust angle back and forth and lock in place with bolts, it will not allow me to rotate it left and right though. Split collars do look like it would make it easy too, just not something i have easy access to.

I'll try and get a picture of what i'm trying to work with on my sizer when i get home tonight. I

[Tazza]

This is my dodgy setup so far. I have made it so i can put in different flipping plates. The hope is to get nose down working for my sizer.

Hopefully these files will work.

Yes, that is a cable tie holding the motor in place. This will be replaced with a hose clamp to hold it tight, currently it's just proof of concept.

[InfringedNSocal]

This is my dodgy setup so far. I have made it so i can put in different flipping plates. The hope is to get nose down working for my sizer.

Hopefully these files will work.

Yes, that is a cable tie holding the motor in place. This will be replaced with a hose clamp to hold it tight, currently it's just proof of concept.

McGuyver ... Down Undaaaahhhh ...

[Lakehouse2012]

Looks like I'm going down this rabbit hole with you guys now.... I'll read more tomorrow night, only on page 4 tonight and it's past my bedtime...

[Tazza]

McGuyver ... Down Undaaaahhhh ...

hehe, i need to find my swiss army knife!

[razorfish]

It was a long journey but I finally finished my collator. I wanted a nose down only feeder for my Star sizer... it works flawlessly!

I ended up designing and printing my own transport pieces, but other than that it’s 100% AmmoMike’s design. Thanks for all the help!

[audleon]

P.S. - anyone used a Arduino Nano + EasyDriver + Nema17 stepper motor + Potentiometer for powering one of these ?[/QUOTE]

I don't think a Nema17 would cut it. I designed a filament measuring/spooling device that used a Nema motor to wind filament and measure it for me. I used the highest torque Nema 17 (I believe 92oz.in or something like that) that I could source and I still ended up having to print nylon gears to get enough torque. Without the gearing, it would just skip every now and then and it did NOT have very much resistance when it skipped.

[AmmoMike83]

It was a long journey but I finally finished my collator. I wanted a nose down only feeder for my Star sizer... it works flawlessly!

I ended up designing and printing my own transport pieces, but other than that it’s 100% AmmoMike’s design. Thanks for all the help!

awesome job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please post these pictures to thingiverse "I made one". Thank you!

[razorfish]

awesome job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please post these pictures to thingiverse "I made one". Thank you!

Will do. I’ll whip up a video of it working and put it on my “I made one” post too.

Thanks again for your design.

[Mark2215]

Has anyone had any success dropping nose down 95gr .380 round nose bullets. The bullet is so short it falls over unless the collator is tipped almost vertical but this stops the bullets from sliding down through the drop hole.

[razorfish]

Here’s a video of my 3d printed nose down collator.
https://youtu.be/pcq-4FwjZZU

[Tazza]

Great video, thanks for sharing

[AmmoMike83]

Here’s a video of my 3d printed nose down collator.
https://youtu.be/pcq-4FwjZZU

I linked that video in my thingiverse project. Very very nice! Thanks!

[Mark2215]

Here’s a video of my 3d printed nose down collator.
https://youtu.be/pcq-4FwjZZU

Looking good. Now all you need is one of these!

[razorfish]

Looking good. Now all you need is one of these!

True, but there are a couple more machines I’d like to automate first. I’ll circle back around to Star eventually but for now the collator and bullet feed option are way beyond where I was a week ago (feeding it one bullet at a time).

[Tazza]

I have an automated sizer that i built, i hand feed the tube....... Making the change to automated is a BIG step forward. Now, i just need to find time to tinker with mine.

[dwwright]

Thank you to AmmoMike83 and other contributors that have made this available, new build going on here. I've got two AM8 printers going one with the main body and another with the collator. My older printer has some bent smooth rods on the Y axis, so it makes the autolevel not work quite perfect. Due to that I had some slight lifting on the back side of the main body. Could also be that I have an ac window unit running just above the printer, so may have gotten too cool after I started the job last night. It's still got about 30 mm to go, but seems to have leveled out by the time it got to the interior of the main body.



I kicked off the collator wheel tonight.

[dwwright]

Both finished up overnight, I went with a .223 bullet collator since that is what my current casing collator is setup for.


The back of the main body was only peeled from the bed about 1/2" on the edge of but seems to be fine overall and didn't affect the inside of the body.