"how to" for a bullet flipper

[jmorris]

Sometimes I don't explain this in writing well enough and have been asked enough times about the bullet flipper I built so I can use the same bullet collator for my reloading machines with the sizer I built. So I took it apart and took some more photos.

The plastic drum has a blind hole, only drilled deep enough to have the base down bullet clear the steel tubing it rides inside of. I also realized that when I took the photo with the bullet sitting in it I put it in nose down but in use it would be nose up at that point.

The motor turns at the same rate as the feed motor on my sizer so it's never waiting on bullets.

The tube from the collator drops the bullet into the stack that enters from the top (base down). The motor rotates and a bullet drops in. It continues around 180 degrees and the bullet falls out into the bottom tube (nose down).

It could be made much faster with a larger OD "drum" with a lot of holes drilled around it but that was all I needed.

Had to edit it because I still wrote the description wrong, thank goodness for photos. Your welcome and it is as simple as it gets to do the job 100%.

[HATCH]

Make perfect sense to me now
I can make that easy.

Thanks

[HATCH]

I have a improvement on your design.
The bullet carrier (the Teflon piece) is drilled for a certain boolit length. So if you had a shorter boolit then the one shown in the picture it would drop in the hole on top of the boolit that is in the carrier already and jam the carrier.
What I propose is that the hole in the carrier be the same has the ID of the tube that feeds the flipper. Then have a groove cut into the carrier to the height of the smallest boolit you size for that size tube.
If you have a taller boolit it will sit on top of the boolit that is in the carrier and will fall into the groove when the carrier is rotated.
This is the same principle used on the boolit feeder attachment on the Star itself.

[jmorris]

That would work.

Wouldn't have helped me much as the shuttle on my sizer is specific to that length as well. Never had a chance to look at a star to copy it so I built the feeder for mine like a kids gumball machine. A plastic block slides back to the feed tube and picks up a bullet then forward over the hole. During the dwell time the shuttle is over the sizer die, the bolt head hits the limit switch that lowers and raises the ram sizing the bullet.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/center.jpg

[Racenviper]

Just saw video from Mr Bullet were his collator may have the option to drop boolits in the nose down position in the near future.

[HATCH]

the "near future" been like over a year now with him....
The problem with most of the collators is that you must have a tray for each bullet you use.
The only one that is nearly universal is the Hornady but it only does base first.
I have one of those and I will be building a flipper based off of the work above. It will be larger and have 4 boolit holes (12,3,6,9) and it will cover any boolit that fits the larger tube.

[jmorris]

Hatch, have you had a chance to put one together yet?

[HATCH]

Nope.
Life is just busy for me. I find it relaxing to just load tubes while the sizer does its thing.

[angus6]

The problem with most of the collators is that you must have a tray for each bullet you use.
The only one that is nearly universal is the Hornady but it only does base first.

I run a MA Systems collator and it allows base up or down depending on how you adjust it, I feed everything nose down as it feeds a lube master

[ProfGAB101]

I have designed 3 types of bullet flippers - 2 are simple gravity powered, and one is more "bullet proof" being electrical with sensor feedback.

Gravity type 1 is just too slow to keep up with both the bullet collator of choice and the Star sizer.

Gravity type 2 is much faster but can jam easily if 2 boolits pass through too close together. It would also require a very sturdy bench such that the collator and feed tubes are rigid and minimal shaking.

Power unit will keep up with the collator and the Star will be the speed limiter. This Rolls Royce model will put a dent in your wallet but a smile on your face. Best thing is for an econo version most of the parts will be 3D printable, so if you have a friend with a Rep-rap they can hook you up. I would still build a machined metal version for commercial casters as I would not trust many printed parts for long term durability and trouble free service.

I am currently without a 3D printer, but am building up a new one. When I have a functional model I'll post more.

[bmiller]

I have a 3d printer kit coming, will watch this.

[jmorris]

Rick has the nose down kit for the collator working now.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?230524-Nose-down-bullet-feeder&highlight=Nose

And since this thread started I have also uploaded a video of how the one in the first post works.

http://s664.photobucket.com/user/qvideo/media/VID_20131008_114903_441_zpsdb21a12f.mp4.html

[jmorris]

Made one to collate 308 bullets for a "production" machine. Works up to 120/min.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeWZHWlVZkk

It was late, the bullets in the end are nose down collated.

[Tom_Highway]

[emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122]

[xman777]

#Jealous
Real nice stuff there.
I need to come by your shop and be inspired to build things like this. It is what I do for a living, but I don't want to do it when I get home.

[HATCH]

So you went with mechanical switches instead of optical.
Looks very professionally made.

[jmorris]

Yes, I ordered the proximity switches you found for me (thanks again by the way) but they didn't have quite enough range and I didn't want to use my last two Turk switches as they just cost too much. $276 just in switches would have caused a little "sticker shock" I would imagine.

There is the right switch out there I just needed to make it work and went with what I had on the shelf.

[HATCH]

I think those switches hagel used on his machine would of worked.

[Tazza]

That is a very cool setup!

[jmorris]

A super simple one I made flipping a 220gn 308.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3kAwt3oKQE

[jmorris]

Same one doing 9mm.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqjjiKPX5iQ

[Tazza]

If you blink, you miss it :)

[jroc]

Nice!!!!

[xman777]

How will you be controlling the cyclic rate so as not to have a log jam?

[jmorris]

The video in #21 is being fed by a collator on one of my reloading machines, that is just the speed it is dropping bullets.

Actually the same collator that is at the beginning of this video, you can see the speed it runs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cc1hUj343w

Obviously you would need a switch below the "J" to stop the collator when the "nose down" tube is full.

[jroc]

jmorris, you never cease to do the amazing. So simple and so effective. I thought your rotating drum flipper was great. It never ceases to amaze me how much you, hatch, wyman and many others have done to simplify the automation of the production of boolit making and reloading.Thanks for sharing. jroc

[xman777]

Such a neat solution. Keep it up!

[357Wheelgunner]

Same one doing 9mm.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqjjiKPX5iQ

WHEE! Dats uno happy boolitz on a roller coaster ride!:bigsmyl2:

[blikseme300]

A super simple one I made flipping a 220gn 308.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3kAwt3oKQE

You are an evil genius, got to have this! How did you machine the slot?

My current solution is based on a Hornady collator which feeds into PVC tubes that when full are flipped over and added to the Star feeder. Works OK but I like tools such as yours as the genius lies in it's simplicity.

[jmorris]

Clamped to a rotary table on my mill. Rotate around then ran out the top, just fed into the bottom, "until it looked right".


Could likely do the same thing with a jig and a router.

[Tazza]

Evil genius? I totally agree with the genius part :) The thing that always gets me with his designs is the simplicity. I look at things and work the long way out, yet he looks at it and works out a way that is so much easier and works as well, if not better. I guess it's all about perspective and experience.

Keep up the good work Jmorris, especially with sharing your new designs.

[jmorris]

Thanks but the good part about being cheap and lazy is that solutions to problems generally come out pretty simple.

[Tazza]

Simple and cgeap is good, I like that price :)

[jroc]

Does anybody know what happened to the video of Mr Bulletfeeder nose down collator.

[jmorris]

This is a video I uploaded that Rick sent me when he was testing a few of them.


http://vid664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/01PtDwnDAA_zps7a02454c.mp4


Not sure if he ever made it past beta testing.

It dropped them out where the "flipper" was and flipped the base down bullets after that for the next pass. Makes sense as they were designed for base down feeding.

[HATCH]

Glad this J flipper came out. I was gonna make one next week.

[hunter74]

Is the nose down version available for ordering anytime sone?

[HATCH]

Entirely crimson reloading.
He has a Facebook page

[dverna]

Mr Morris,

You are extremely talented. Thank you for sharing

Don