🐼pneumatics: so where do you find the parts??

[Walter Laich]

I understand the concept of making things work with pressured air--in general terms.

Good thing is nothing can leak out and get the floor wet

But where do I find the individual parts like ram and switch/joy stick and tubing? + all the other things I probably don't know about

Not really looking to buy everything new, just want to run my press mounted sizing setup with air pressure vs. arm effort--too many surgeries on shoulder to make this fun.

don't want fully auto as the fingers that place bullet in sizer are ones that will actuate the ram (to keep fingers intact) a man's gotta know his limitations

all ideas/sources welcome

[HATCH]

https://www.mcmaster.com/

Its not that expensive. You want to just purchase NEW items as buying used pneumatic items may not the best idea.

CHARLES

[Grmps]

I am also interested in this.


wlkjr made one
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post4031987

and jmorris made a mechanical one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zbImsdkbg

[Walter Laich]

did a bit of browsing and realize that there are way too many options for me.

will wait till I get more direction/help from the masters on this forum

[bstone5]

Walter
I put together an air operated Lee press that is mounted upside down to size powder coated bullets. I can send you some pictures if you want. The Lee press was used and purchased here in Swapping and Selling, the air cylinder was from E-Bay and the controls were from McMaster Carr.
I machined some of the parts with my lathe and welded the aluminum with my TIG welder.
Over the last several months I have sized over 6000 cast and powder coated bullets with the air operated press. I will need an E-Mail address for the picture transfer.

[Walter Laich]

bstone5:

email on the way by PM

walt

[Walter Laich]

OK,
let's see if this makes sense to the experts:

what kind of cylinder do I need: dual acting or spring return cylinder

what Kind of Mechanical & Hand Operated Valve for the dual acting one?

amount of force--does this come from amount of pressure

do I slow down the speed of the cylinder and where or what restrictors would I need

I figure I would need to figure out length of throw for my sizing set up before I would know enough to order cylinder

size of fittings 1/4, 3/8??

how much pressure are we talking about?

types of fittings and type of tubing

where to find all of this?

off to read up some more

[David2011]

I have a couple of tools I would like to run with pneumatic power. The first decision was to only do it with safety switches so both hands have to be on a button before the cylinder will actuate.

[jmorris]

The one GRMPS linked to was a mechanical one I built that doesn't require air but the first one I built used pneumatics from a local surplus store or given to me vs thrown in the trash somewhere.

It isn't that fast but can keep up with casting/coating and doesn't require much input from me.


Lots of places don't waste time to diagnose and repair, "good" people cost too much. Cheaper to replace, I call it the shotgun method, throw enough money at a problem and you fix it without knowing what exactly was wrong. I fix free stuff on my time so I save money on whiskey or beer at that point, win, win.

eBay is a pretty good place too. Just do auctions and place a cheap bid, up to what your willing to throw away and forget about it. Don't get caught up in a "war" or you'll pay too much.

I might win 1:50 but when I do it's a hell of a deal, don't forget to subtract shipping from what you consider a maximum, reasonable bid.

[castalott]

I had a buddy that junked out factories.... He had tons of everything you could imagine but retired now. Try to find someone that junks...

Ebay had a lot years ago but since I have almost everything I need now, I don't look too much.

I also got some stuff from a guy that worked in a factory. They had a very strict policy on " so many hours and it's replaced regardless of condition". Then the company got to where everything had to be put in the trash...no one could have anything.... I didn't follow the logic of that practice- you are going to discard it anyway...why not give to someone who might use it. They saved $0 and lost millions thru angry workers...
$

[jmorris]

I didn't follow the logic of that practice- you are going to discard it anyway...why not give to someone who might use it. They saved $0 and lost millions thru angry workers...

It is to save money things being replaced that didn't need to be replaced. Texas Instruments for example didn't throw things away like that but everything that made its way into employees hands was supposed to go through the surplus store at that location. Not exactly free but also ment if you were the guy replacing something with another item, it didn't automatically mean you were going to wind up with the old one.

Kind of like a fellow I knew of that dirt track raced and worked as a mechanic at a dealership. Every car that can in with a particular set of heads always needed new ones, the "bad" ones seemed to win races though and it wasn't as big of a deal to loose them when the engine was claimed by another racer because he had essentially stolen them in the first place. The "everything is trash" philosophy is an aim to keep your employees honest.

Anyway, I attached a couple of photos of the pneumatic one above. The cylinder had a 2.5" bore so you take 2.5 X 3.14 X 90 (90 is the psi where my compressor starts running again, so lowest pressure the system could see in use) and you get just over 700 lbs of force. 3/8 or 1/4" line is going to make for a fairly violent cycle, without speed control valves, I used 3/16 OD brake line closer to 1/8" ID and it works fine without banging. I used the electric solenoid in the rear of the photos and it is controlled by the micro switch up front.

The feeder part is a tube that is fed by a collator, dropping the bullets base down into the plastic drum and the motor on the left rotates the drum 180 degrees and they fall out nose down. There is a plastic slider, think like a child's gum ball machine, that is slid back and forth from the feed tube to over the entrance to the die. When the slider is all the way over the center of the die the bolt that connects the slider to the gear motor contacts the micro switch, that when depressed drives the ram down sizing the bullet then the micro switch falls off the head as it is in constant motion and the ram moves up before it has gone through enough arc to begin pulling the slider back for another bullet.

The die is just a hunk of stainless steel that was bored to the ID I wanted then taper reamed on the "in" side so the bullet would drop into the lead. It is shouldered into the base plate and held in place by a double split set collar because I was lazy and didn't want to machine threads.

[44Vaquero]

For cylinders, fittings etc.
AUTOMATION DIRECT! https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Home/Home

For control valves and solenoids I usually source off of E-Bay.

I have built things like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmeWM19upys

[jmorris]

I enjoy playing with air too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih32UPvuuks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY0SwjLJge4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9YN6IzQVSw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz9xlL3F37c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9sPuZkwiJY

[44Vaquero]

jmorris, I like the can crushers,but here in Michigan pop n beer cans a worth $.10 undamaged. I freaking love the bowling ball cannon!!!!!!!

I thought you told me once you preferred to not work with air???

[jmorris]

I thought you told me once you preferred to not work with air???

I prefer not to wash dishes, clothes or kids as well, unfortunately I am not too shabby at those tasks either. Not to mention there is a difference between work and play.