Making that Bullet Collator

[TylerR]

For that matter, I've never really understood why Ammo Mike designed the radial plows at each hole?......I see that it provides a ride for some of the .223 bullets around the merry-go-round, but I can't tell much more.....so they really make a difference? Trying to learn more..... (obviously for my above design radial troughs would have wrecked the concept providing more means for bullets to drop base down)

This is a great question. I think the idea is to provide a channel for the bullet to slide down in to the hole when its at the bottom, but not sure how much difference it really makes. I have not tested it without them. Having the feeder at a steeper angle tends to eliminate them from riding the top because they slide off back to the bottom more easily.

This is why I made this all parameter driven, so people could experiment with it. So who wants to print a bullet plate with ridges and no slides?

[GWS]

I just changed it so there is almost no gap there now. About 1mm.

It'll be interesting to see if the ridges are enough to derail that little bullet train.....fun stuff.

Oh, I should tell you that I had my ridges go to the end of the plates but that backfired with the baffle above it. Bullets knocked the ridges clean off under the baffle so I cut them back to a couple of mm's inside the baffle. You shouldn't have that problem.....I think.

[j_dude77]

Both. I don't think it should affect your using the small plate for .223. Either way I am going to design a plate specifically around .223 so should be a non issue.

I was asking cause I will print the new one to try for these. Seems they sometime drop off the base, but the nose has a wide meplat. I may have to reprint the collator plate, since I accidentally left brim on and the bottom of the holes are kinda rough.

[TylerR]

I was asking cause I will print the new one to try for these. Seems they sometime drop off the base, but the nose has a wide meplat. I may have to reprint the collator plate, since I accidentally left brim on and the bottom of the holes are kinda rough.

Are those .45's or something else? Are you using my standard pistol collator plate, or is this one you modified and generated? If using my stock plate and slide there is 2.5mm of ridge for those bullets to ride on. It does not look like they are bevel based so nose up ones really should not be dropping off the ridge like that.

Instead of printing a new plate just take an xacto and clean up that bottom edge.

[TylerR]

j dude, can you snap a pic that shows the angle your feeder is sitting at in its current config?

[j_dude77]

Are those .45's or something else? Are you using my standard pistol collator plate, or is this one you modified and generated? If using my stock plate and slide there is 2.5mm of ridge for those bullets to ride on. It does not look like they are bevel based so nose up ones really should not be dropping off the ridge like that.

Instead of printing a new plate just take an xacto and clean up that bottom edge.

.357 with your small plate and large flipper slide.

[TylerR]

.357 with the small plate and large flipper slide.

You are using the small pistol collator plate with the large pistol slide? You should be using the small pistol slide with the small collator plate. Unless I am mis-understanding.

[gnafin]

I was asking cause I will print the new one to try for these. Seems they sometime drop off the base, but the nose has a wide meplat. I may have to reprint the collator plate, since I accidentally left brim on and the bottom of the holes are kinda rough.

what motor are you using? looks like what i have(fc-555) if it's the same how did you drill the hole for the pin? the shaft is very hard. i had to make a adapter, just had to make it bigger.

[j_dude77]

You are using the small pistol collator plate with the large pistol slide? You should be using the small pistol slide with the small collator plate. Unless I am mis-understanding.

Yes I am using the small plate and large flipper. The nose on that bullet is .270 and the body is .359. The small slide is too wide, the nose just rides over the ridge and does not drop down. The large slide allows the nose to drop and ride up the ramp.

[j_dude77]

what motor are you using? looks like what i have(fc-555) if it's the same how did you drill the hole for the pin? the shaft is very hard. i had to make a adapter, just had to make it bigger.

My motor is the ETZGMP-38. The shaft is hard, but cobalt drill bits are harder. Just go slow when you drill it. No oil needed. That cobalt slices through steel like butter.

[TylerR]

Yes I am using the small plate and large flipper. The nose on that bullet is .270 and the body is .359. The small slide is too wide, the nose just rides over the ridge and does not drop down. The large slide allows the nose to drop and ride up the ramp.

This is a direct result of me adding extra ridge distance to account for Bevel Based bullets. So its a damned if you do an damned if you don't. The quickest solution would again be to put a set screw in the back of the plate and push it out 1.5mm or so. Running it the way you are now, there is barely any ridge exposed to keep the nose ups riding the ridge.

[TylerR]

My motor is the ETZGMP-38. The shaft is hard, but cobalt drill bits are harder. Just go slow when you drill it. No oil needed. That cobalt slices through steel like butter.

I won't lie, I drilled two ETZGMP-38 motor shafts and one went well, and the other was just burning up bits. I ended up taking the shaft out of the motor and heating it with a blow torch to remove some of the hardness. Got it up to a dull glow and let it cool down on its own. After that the drill bit went through like butter. Sure the shaft is a bit softer now, but for this application its a non issue.

[j_dude77]

This is a direct result of me adding extra ridge distance to account for Bevel Based bullets. So its a damned if you do an damned if you don't. The quickest solution would again be to put a set screw in the back of the plate and push it out 1.5mm or so. Running it the way you are now, there is barely any ridge exposed to keep the nose ups riding the ridge.

This is the 1.0.6 slide. I have not tried the new ones yet. Just gotta try and find a compromise that works best for most. Worst case, I can try and mod the slide for what I need. Now I see why ammomike had a crazy amount of files with his setup.

[gnafin]

I won't lie, I drilled two ETZGMP-38 motor shafts and one went well, and the other was just burning up bits. I ended up taking the shaft out of the motor and heating it with a blow torch to remove some of the hardness. Got it up to a dull glow and let it cool down on its own. After that the drill bit went through like butter. Sure the shaft is a bit softer now, but for this application its a non issue.

i was thinking of doing that. i might do that as well.

[TylerR]

This is the 1.0.6 slide. I have not tried the new ones yet. Just gotta try and find a compromise that works best for most. Worst case, I can try and mod the slide for what I need. Now I see why ammomike had a crazy amount of files with his setup.

The new version only changed where the ridge hits the ramp, not how much ridge is exposed in relation to the collator plate. So the new one won't make any difference here.
I think Mike only had 4 different versions of the slide plate based on what I see in the files. I could create all kinds of variations of the slide plates, but the question is what is going to work in all these various situations, and how will people keep them all straight.

I suspect the original one I had before making the BB modification would have worked for you here. It exposed about 1.5mm (not 2.5mm) of ridge, which would have allowed the nose down to drop but kept the nose up on the ridge.

[TylerR]

I have said before that I am also willing to provide these slides in file formats other then stl if people want to modify them. I can export them as .dxf or .skp if anyone is interested.
Or if anyone wants to try DesignSpark I can give the native file format for that.

[TylerR]

The new version only changed where the ridge hits the ramp, not how much ridge is exposed in relation to the collator plate. So the new one won't make any difference here.
I think Mike only had 4 different versions of the slide plate based on what I see in the files. I could create all kinds of variations of the slide plates, but the question is what is going to work in all these various situations, and how will people keep them all straight.

I suspect the original one I had before making the BB modification would have worked for you here. It exposed about 1.5mm (not 2.5mm) of ridge, which would have allowed the nose down to drop but kept the nose up on the ridge.

I am wondering if 2mm ridge would be the sweet spot to handle both scenarios, but it would have to be tested by you guys.

[j_dude77]

I am wondering if 2mm ridge would be the sweet spot to handle both scenarios, but it would have to be tested by you guys.

I am willing to test anything. May just need a few different slides for different scenarios. I also cast 45 and 44 mag with large meplats, so would probably run into the same problem with those.

[TylerR]

I am willing to test anything.

Just posted it. The ridge is moved in .5mm. running the collator without too much angle might just be the ticket to get those noses to drop.

[r4ndy]

Is anyone using the feeder with a Dillon 750? Just upgraded from a Lee Pro 1000. I got the press setup and put the drop tube on and when the powder bar activated it rammed into the drop tube and split it in half

I have the feeder in position 4 and even if I move it to position 3 it looks like it is going to ram it.