Making that Bullet Collator

[GWS]

Heyyyy, I liked my numbered slider concept. Sure there's a lot of them, but now I know, I am running .45acp, throw in the #7 slider, lock it in, and I am good to go.

Actually, I love your numbered sliders.....I'll love them more once I get all of them printed! You have no idea how many things 3D printing/progressive reloading-wise will work better with that concept.....or maybe you do. I'm formulating a plan to replace my Pro Chucker 7's case/bullet shuttles with snap in's by caliber.......as you know I like things faster than I am capable of pulling the lever.....that means no bottleneck crashes ....... and I'm only just beginning......

Today when I get home, I will restart printing with your favorite bed.....all ready to go thanks to RedlegEd's insightfulness. Never would have occurred to this 3Dprinter beginner to zero the Z-offset when making a bed change.

[TylerR]

Question on the Brass_Feed_Base_Down_Slide. Feeding 300bo brass.. if I have it in all the way, seated to the base, doesn't seem how much the little slide is moved it would very often get one to bind and jam. Not sure but if I leave the slider out a touch, it doesn't seem to jam. Doesn't really make since since it's a large enough hole to fall..
I also notice the little piece has a ramp but faces downward towards the chute. Is that designed to let the neck ride up. With shorter brass like that did you have any issues with jams?

Yes, there is a sweet spot on how far out the slider should be to give it as much space to fall as possible, without the neck first ones falling too far and binding up. Yes, the ramp is designed to allow the neck to ride up, especially on cases like 300 BO where the neck diameter is not much smaller then the case. Also, you may be running it a tad fast. If you can slow it down just a bit it should help. I would also increase the angle slightly on the feeder. I found the 300BO brass to be far pickier then the 223 brass in my testing.

[TylerR]

Actually, I love your numbered sliders.....I'll love them more once I get all of them printed! You have no idea how many things 3D printing/progressive reloading-wise will work better with that concept.....or maybe you do. I'm formulating a plan to replace my Pro Chucker 7's case/bullet shuttles with snap in's by caliber.......as you know I like things faster than I am capable of pulling the lever.....that means no bottleneck crashes ....... and I'm only just beginning......

Today when I get home, I will restart printing with your favorite bed.....all ready to go thanks to RedlegEd's insightulness. Never would have occurred to this 3Dprinter beginner to zero the Z-offset when making a bed change.

Can't wait to hear your feedback on the bed. If you get the leveling just right with good first layer contact, you will be amazed at how reliable it is. I literally clean mine like once every 10 prints with basic windex, and with the PLA pro filament I have been using I have 0 failed prints. Then if I am in a rush I remove the 4 binder clips, place the plate on a cold surface, and the print comes off in about two minutes.

[GWS]

[QUOTE=djinnpb;5036521]Question on the Brass_Feed_Base_Down_Slide. Feeding 300bo brass.. if I have it in all the way, seated to the base, doesn't seem how much the little slide is moved it would very often get one to bind and jam. Not sure but if I leave the slider out a touch, it doesn't seem to jam. Doesn't really make since since it's a large enough hole to fall..
I also notice the little piece has a ramp but faces downward towards the chute. Is that designed to let the neck ride up. With shorter brass like that did you have any issues with jams?

IMPRESSED! Totally surprised watching the triple soldiers falling in!

I'm wondering what will happen to the 3 soldiers falling together with the outlet screwed to the bottom tho......??? Always something isn't there...

Wonder if a knocker of some kind might prevent that. maybe an old-fashion spring knocker like Hornady uses in their pistol bullet feeder mounted an inch or so above the turning plate.

[GWS]

Can't wait to hear your feedback on the bed. If you get the leveling just right with good first layer contact, you will be amazed at how reliable it is. I literally clean mine like once every 10 prints with basic windex, and with the PLA pro filament I have been using I have 0 failed prints. Then if I am in a rush I remove the 4 binder clips, place the plate on a cold surface, and the print comes off in about two minutes.

Thanks for the added info.....80C bed for the first layer, right? Then back to 70? or can it be 60?

BTW I revised the drawing above to simply the foot anchor.....

Heading home to crank up the printer.....semi-retirement is better than no retirement.....I'm tired and it's only 2PM. I hate old.

[djinnpb]

Not jamming with the slide out a touch:

You put in the same video twice! I've done that..... (when you fix it, I'll remove this copy)

I went to your site at YouTube and watched the after and posted it here.....IMPRESSED! Totally surprised watching the triple soldiers that fell in!

I'm wondering what will happen to the 3 soldiers falling together with the outlet screwed to the bottom tho......??? Always something isn't there...
Wonder if a knocker of some kind might prevent that. maybe an old-fashion spring knocker like Hornady uses in their pistol bullet feeder mounted an inch or so above the turning plate.

Hah! I did update it after I realized it. Sent to a friend and he said "what happened?" Somehow it happened everytime I tried to record it. Opps! That's some good thinking there. I'm going to screw on the output chute to see how bad the multiple soldier drops are and if like TylerR said, more angle.. Maybe that mitigates it a bit.

Yes, there is a sweet spot on how far out the slider should be to give it as much space to fall as possible, without the neck first ones falling too far and binding up. Yes, the ramp is designed to allow the neck to ride up, especially on cases like 300 BO where the neck diameter is not much smaller then the case. Also, you may be running it a tad fast. If you can slow it down just a bit it should help. I would also increase the angle slightly on the feeder. I found the 300BO brass to be far pickier then the 223 brass in my testing.

So I completely didn't even notice that it was going so much faster than it should be. That was the slowest. You mentioning the speed made me go check my original base (same motor) and ended up being a bad QC of a China speed controller (sure glad I bought several). Barely cracked it would go to 9vdc whereas my other would go low about 2.1vdc. So had a spare, swapped and it starts slow like as it should and drastically improves reliability and gives them time to drop. I was so excited to try the new base I didn't even notice that it was booking too fast.
And you were right on the angle. They really like more angle.

Is there a chance that the slide ramp stl could be split for the little ramp and slide? I can't seem to get it to fit easily with the ramp facing upward and thought about printing another to check it.

[djinnpb]

i'm wondering what will happen to the 3 soldiers falling together with the outlet screwed to the bottom tho......??? Always something isn't there...
Wonder if a knocker of some kind might prevent that. Maybe an old-fashion spring knocker like hornady uses in their pistol bullet feeder mounted an inch or so above the turning plate.

I attached the outlet chute and filled each slot with 3 soldiers and as long as it's going slow enough they drop in order just fine. But more angle definitely lessens the occurrence.

Still kicking myself for the speed controller not having the low end speed. I still have to mount thing thing.

[lablover]

Guess I better adjust the height for the 32 acp bullets. Kept trying to stack 2 on top of each other. I even angled the feeder back more and no dice. The little flipper won’t even knock them off.

Also need to print a new slider plate, 4 ain’t workin.

[cdstang]

Thanks for the added info.....80C bed for the first layer, right? Then back to 70? or can it be 60?

BTW I revised the drawing above to simply the foot anchor.....

Heading home to crank up the printer.....semi-retirement is better than no retirement.....I'm tired and it's only 2PM. I hate old.

Why are you guys heating your print beds to 80C? What type of print bed surface are you printing on that it takes that much heat for PLA? Or are you using ABS?
Im printing on spring steel with PEI and only go up to 40C first layer then to 35C. Im printing with PLA+.

[TylerR]

Guess I better adjust the height for the 32 acp bullets. Kept trying to stack 2 on top of each other. I even angled the feeder back more and no dice. The little flipper won’t even knock them off.

Also need to print a new slider plate, 4 ain’t workin.

I printed out all the slide plates so I can experiment with them to find the best combo.

[TylerR]

Why are you guys heating your print beds to 80C? What type of print bed surface are you printing on that it takes that much heat for PLA? Or are you using ABS?
Im printing on spring steel with PEI and only go up to 40C first layer then to 35C. Im printing with PLA+.

My printer is in my cold basement, and I am using PLA+ which requires higher temps. I find 220/80 for the first layer and 210/70 gives me perfect prints everytime.

[lablover]

I printed out all the slide plates so I can experiment with them to find the best combo.

I need to do the same, been crazy busy around here!

[lablover]

Why are you guys heating your print beds to 80C? What type of print bed surface are you printing on that it takes that much heat for PLA? Or are you using ABS?
Im printing on spring steel with PEI and only go up to 40C first layer then to 35C. Im printing with PLA+.

I think every printer is different. I print on glass bed at 60 and get great prints. I also cheat a little bit and sometimes for long prints ad a little hairspray or maggigoo stick to the bed

[GWS]

I think every printer is different. I print on glass bed at 60 and get great prints. I also cheat a little bit and sometimes for long prints ad a little hairspray or maggigoo stick to the bed

I think it's the bed that makes the most difference, not so much the printer. I was using Creality's factory bed with my new CR-10 V2 and it was printing perfect at 60C and 210C.......for a time.....I mean it was new and my first print was in August! Now it's 3 months later, and it's harder than hell to get a perfect print.

So I listened to Tyler as he swore by Polypropylene, sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to give it a little tooth.......and tonight is my first print following his suggestions of 220C/80C for the first layer, and 120C/70C for the rest of the print.

I knew it was better when I found the purge lines at the beginning of the print after the EZABL Pro leveling, was pretty darn hard to pull up.....I think I stretched it twice it's length like a rubber band to get it up....so I knew layer 1 would not come up like those in the picture below, a printing disaster day before yesterday where every single corner came up. The disaster, I set in front of the reprint going on now on the new pp. bed just installed!



The only flaw in the whole print is these fine cobwebs in front which wipes off.......all corners are glued until cold.



Didyah notice the really open fill in the first picture? I'm trying out another feature of IdeaMaker....Adaptive Fill. It's pretty cool I must say. the fill starts out open and gradually closes before the 4 solid fill top layers. We will see if there's any downsides......I doubt it for these parts....this print took 5 hours 10 minutes even using Adaptive layers mostly .12 high.

Below, Done....Adaptive Layers and Adaptive Fill. One thing I like is the super smooth bottoms with Polypropylene. Wish the tops could be as smooth. The areas with .012 layers also smooth. I can see where some things need are best to print the whole thing with .012....but that process is a lot slower.....still learning.



TylerR: I love the PolyPropylene! It sticks! Thanks for the advice! Tomorrow the two rifle plates.

[TylerR]

I think it's the bed that makes the most difference, not so much the printer. I was using Creality's factory bed with my new CR-10 V2 and it was printing perfect at 60C and 210C.......for a time.....I mean it was new and my first print was in August! Now it's 3 months later, and it's harder than hell to get a perfect print.

So I listened to Tyler as he swore by Polypropylene, sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to give it a little tooth.......and tonight is my first print following his suggestions of 220C/80C for the first layer, and 120C/70C for the rest of the print.

I knew it was better when I found the purge lines at the beginning of the print after the EZABL Pro leveling, was pretty darn hard to pull up.....I think I stretched it twice it's length like a rubber band to get it up....so I knew layer 1 would not come up like those in the picture below, a printing disaster day before yesterday where every single corner came up. The disaster, I set in front of the reprint going on now on the new pp. bed just installed!

Those prints look perfect!

[GWS]

Those prints look perfect!

They just about are.....

One fly in the ointment. I will have to redo my favorite Proximity part where it connects to your dump nozzle. The twist connect is too tight for Ammo Mike's part. Will have to get some measurements. Sure would make it easier on me if stupid Autocad could read your cad files. I need another anyway.....time to order another sensor, too. I still prefer the stop switch just under the base. That I'm a Divergent you already know.

Oh! One question: the little slider on the slider: what do you suggest to hold it still in place so it doesn't slide while collating?

[TylerR]

They just about are.....

One fly in the ointment. I will have to redo my favorite Proximity part where it connects to your dump nozzle. The twist connect is too tight for Ammo Mike's part. Will have to get some measurements. Sure would make it easier on me if stupid Autocad could read your cad files. I need another anyway.....time to order another sensor, too. I still prefer the stop switch just under the base. That I'm a Divergent you already know.

Oh! One question: the little slider on the slider: what do you suggest to hold it still in place so it doesn't slide while collating?

I made the tolerance on that part very tight, so on mine friction keeps it in place. I had to put a little grease on it to get it to slide at all. Is it loose on your print?

[TylerR]

Is there a chance that the slide ramp stl could be split for the little ramp and slide? I can't seem to get it to fit easily with the ramp facing upward and thought about printing another to check it.

I separated the two parts in to two stl files. The little slider is posted in the downloads.

[TylerR]

Wonder if a knocker of some kind might prevent that. maybe an old-fashion spring knocker like Hornady uses in their pistol bullet feeder mounted an inch or so above the turning plate.

I can create another version of the sweeper that sticks out further to knock those off, although I found that even though it looks a bit odd the vertical ones seem to fall just fine at the right speed.

[GWS]

I made the tolerance on that part very tight, so on mine friction keeps it in place. I had to put a little grease on it to get it to slide at all. Is it loose on your print?

Did you print yours at .12 or .20? at .12, it's smooth as glass, and slides like it's got bearings! No slop mind you, just smooth. Will have to think of a way to lock it where I want it, but I sure don't want to glue it. Maybe something tiny under the big slider hole with a soldering iron tip. Will have to think first....don't want to ruin perfection!

One thing I noticed ... that at least for .308 and .223, the opening can be the same. I don't load bigger cartridges on a progressive.

I can create another version of the sweeper that sticks out further to knock those off, although I found that even though it looks a bit odd the vertical ones seem to fall just fine at the right speed.

I'm thinking that one could just drill a hole just forward from the back, and stick an all-thread with a nut on each side of the plate wall that protrudes in enough to knock them over.....say an 1" above the plate that sticks into the space a little maybe a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch.....obviously such would be adjustable to what works.