Making that Bullet Collator

[azlester]

Tyler
What is the likelihood of getting you to do the brass slider spring adapter with more of a straight drop instead of the angle?

[GWS]

Tyler
What is the likelihood of getting you to do the brass slider spring adapter with more of a straight drop instead of the angle?

You got me stumped.......if you are talking about the Brass_Drop_Hole_Adapter, if it is a straight drop it would be aimed at your head and have to navigate another turn down to aim it below.....since the collator is normally tilted back. Otherwise I don't know what part you are talking about??? You got me stumped....but admittedly, TylerR is smarter.

[M500]

Are you referring to the Brass_Base_Up_Drop_Hole_Adapter or the Brass_Drop_Hole_Adapter?

GWS beat me to this, but could you explain in more detail?

[TylerR]

You got me stumped.......if you are talking about the Brass_Drop_Hole_Adapter, if it is a straight drop it would be aimed at your head and have to navigate another turn down to aim it below.....since the collator is normally tilted back. Otherwise I don't know what part you are talking about??? You got me stumped....but admittedly, TylerR is smarter.

Nope, I am stumped as well.

[azlester]

Are you referring to the Brass_Base_Up_Drop_Hole_Adapter or the Brass_Drop_Hole_Adapter?

GWS beat me to this, but could you explain in more detail?

Sometimes I am so dumb.... I had to move the case collator on my very small bench and when I did the spring got a bend in that 223/300blk cases were getting clogged up. When I saw your comments I went to take a picture of the set up and when I looked at the picture a giant light went off in my head!I had put the case slide in back wards and because it was back wards I had to lower the angle to get the cases to drop... the set screw was sticking out and holding the plate out too far and the cases wouldn't drop correctly. after I turned the plate around and I adjust to get more angle on the collator everything runs like a champ!
I have spent 4 + days trying to figure out what the problem was it dove me crazy! I couldn't see the trees for the forest!

[GWS]

It really IS aimed at your head! That's funny and an example of being so close to your work that you can't see the forest through the trees. Glad you got it figured out!.....talk about an easy fix......the best kind. Now have some fun.

[azlester]

I am.... I got 200 rounds of 223 loaded up and may do a couple hundred more after dinner.
it really is sooooo much easier and faster with both the bullet feeder as well as the case feeder running. It is great no to have to handle those small bullets anymore... my old hands are dancing in the street! LOL

[GWS]

I'm just about out of things 3D printing-wise to share here, but I thought somebody might find these little bin closures useful. There are aluminum ones for sale around...some reasonable priced some not so. These PLA ones are cheap yet they work fine.....and they're a little different in design, simpler, quick to print.



Download the .stl below or you can ignore.

Attachment 305801

Also for those Lee fans still using Lee's shaker case collators for pistol, you might like this printed add-on to make it collate rifle too. Does .223 and .308 fast and perfect. (faster than anything short of one of TylerR's electric collators in this thread that is....)

Again, download is strictly optional for those who might need it. Video demo below the download.

Attachment 305802



For the big center bolt to work you must drill the center hole, existing in Lees Shaker bowl, on through with a #7 wire drill bit....then use a 1/4"X20 tap and tap threads into the same hole. The smaller bolts will just screw in, no tapping necessary.

BTW, the center printed part is tapered on the bottom to fit Lee's funnel taper to their 4 holes. So you print it flat side down. The large part is dead flat. It does not need to be tapered....so the center screws to it flat side to the bottom flat.

[SWillier]

Hey Tyler, I've been through about 80% of this monster thread (not quite all of it!) looking and learning but not finding an answer.

I'm trying to make plates for the 300mm body, but the parts generator will only go as high as 200 for "collator_plate_d". I assume thats where I would change it to something like 248? I see in the Collator_Plate_generator_2,1,4.SCAD file, it lists 247.5mm(medium) plate diameter. I'm also looking at taking the preset values from the parts generator and putting them in the SCAD file to generate a plate, but not sure I'm getting that 100% correct.

Maybe the effort isn't worth while? I was going to print out caliber specific (brass base down) plates for 9mm, 40SW, and 223 instead of using the generic small pistol and small rifle ones.

Also, the development you have done is spectacular! I'm back at making collators for my press after dabbling in it years ago when it was the Ammo Mike collator. I made a 9mm bullet collator in that generation that worked fine, but never put it in full use. Looking forward to the 2 I am currently printing. One regular size for bullets and one 300mm for brass.

Thanks!

[TylerR]

Hey Tyler, I've been through about 80% of this monster thread (not quite all of it!) looking and learning but not finding an answer.

I'm trying to make plates for the 300mm body, but the parts generator will only go as high as 200 for "collator_plate_d". I assume thats where I would change it to something like 248? I see in the Collator_Plate_generator_2,1,4.SCAD file, it lists 247.5mm(medium) plate diameter. I'm also looking at taking the preset values from the parts generator and putting them in the SCAD file to generate a plate, but not sure I'm getting that 100% correct.

Maybe the effort isn't worth while? I was going to print out caliber specific (brass base down) plates for 9mm, 40SW, and 223 instead of using the generic small pistol and small rifle ones.

Also, the development you have done is spectacular! I'm back at making collators for my press after dabbling in it years ago when it was the Ammo Mike collator. I made a 9mm bullet collator in that generation that worked fine, but never put it in full use. Looking forward to the 2 I am currently printing. One regular size for bullets and one 300mm for brass.

Thanks!

Their are plates for the calibers you mentioned already in the project. The large pistol plate should work fine for 9mm and 40. The small rifle will work for .223. If you want to customize the plates I would suggest opening the file directly in openscad and just changing the parameters directly in the code. it is very well documented.

Edited to add: first off kudos for reading the thread. there is a ton of great info and not everyone takes the time. And thank you for the compliment!

[GWS]

Yep, but I can save you some time, or at least help you recognize the numbers. There are 4 plate diameters:

A.M.'s--147mm
Tyler's normal size--179.5mm
300 size--247.5mm
Mongo--297mm

But I've found TylerR's already designed plates are about as good as they get.

I use the large pistol brass plate for everything....9mm,.40, .45ACP and heck I even tried .223 rifle with it and it worked plenty fine for that too. I really like the idea of not having to print a new plate for every caliber. I've found that that's a waste of my time.

I use the 300 size collator for rifle brass mostly and the small ones for pistol.....but I don't think it matters a whit.

SWillier: Go back a few pages, where TylerR and I had a similar conversation.....I was making little ones for the one AmmoMike collator I have for use with my Lee APP. That's when I discovered how many calibers that large hole would do.....even a .223 video is there.....and that one was surprising. Go see starting about here: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...=1#post5411101

Tyler had asked my what diameter the holes were (had to customize only because it was Ammo Mike's size. Turned out the holes were the same diameter as TylerR's large pistol brass plate. They just looked huger because the plate was so small.

If I were you, I'd start by just printing the one TylerR suggested and see where you are! May save you a lot of time.

[SWillier]

I will use the standard small and pistol and small rifle plates for the 300. I initially thought I wanted to print calliber specific ones, but no need if the generic ones will work well. I will use the 300 for brass, and the "normal" for bullets. I always thought the AmmoMike one was a bit small, so the normal Tyler size will be perfect for bullets.

The Bullet one is all printed minus spring adapters and electronics box. Still trying to make a decision on what springs to use. I have the generic bender springs from back when I built the AM colator. Thinking about getting the DAA springs??

The 300 is hopefully on track now after a few aborted spaghetti factory starts. I think this is the largest thing I've printed on my Ender 3 Max, and you can tell PLA wasn't reall happy about sticking to the outside unused portions of the build sheet (Wham Bam PEX). A little acetone/ steel wool treatment seems to have fixed that.

Only last decision is 2 independant electronics boxes or one combined?

300 body printing on the Max (with a LONG way to go), ramp and hole plug on the pro. Nice to have 2 printers!

[GWS]

Haven't tried it but I wonder if this stuff would work.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MTV5UW4...d01f975e8&th=1

It's stainless steel and made to insert 1/2" tubing inside.....

[r4ndy]

Attachment 301257
Attachment 301258

Besides these files, print TylerR's Brass_Feed_Base_Down_Adapter.stl, only pivot it 30 degrees to set the base flat on the bed. This is the outlet that screws to the underside of the slide plate. And of course the clutch parts that you prefer.

It took me four months to get around to this but I printed out the parts and can confirm it works fine with the Geartisan $15 motor on the Ammo Mike bin. Was planning to use this for depriming 223 on the APP but decided to clean them first so using try Tyler case feeder, but it is good to have a backup. Thanks for sharing!

Motor: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[GWS]

You're welcome........glad it worked out!

[bigmike111]

Their are plates for the calibers you mentioned already in the project. The large pistol plate should work fine for 9mm and 40. The small rifle will work for .223. If you want to customize the plates I would suggest opening the file directly in openscad and just changing the parameters directly in the code. it is very well documented.

Edited to add: first off kudos for reading the thread. there is a ton of great info and not everyone takes the time. And thank you for the compliment!

I have read through the whole thread, about 2 years ago I went through most of it and follow along as I can.

The hardest part about reading the thread is remembering where you saw something!

[GWS]

I have read through the whole thread, about 2 years ago I went through most of it and follow along as I can.

The hardest part about reading the thread is remembering where you saw something!

Boy that's an understatement!! A smart person would list subject headers on paper, then list post #'s of posts that you want to remember, under each. I haven't been that smart. Least ways not up to today.

Page #'s don't work.....there's more than one way to view the thread....posts per page can change.

[SWillier]

Wanting to make sure I'm not missing a part ot two.

For the 300mm body, is there a ramp or wall extender file? I have "Feeder 1.4.6.4" files. I don't see either. I thought maybe the normal ramp worked, but no. I see Normal and Mongo versions, but not 300??

[GWS]

Link below is the beginning of the 300mm body.......ramp is Mongo. Don't think extenders were made for it.....that's one part I've never used.....extenders.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...=1#post5291651

The only special parts I made for it was one to knock over soldiers when collating rifle brass, and a new electrical box. Box below: (stl files that one are in the "contributions" folder....under GWS. I think the knocker is in Tyler's stuff. Forgot what he calls it.



Can't remember if sliders are Mongo or not. But from the link above I'll bet you can find it fast. I think they are. Wrong...they are normal sized for TylerR's original.

A note to TylerR: ....I took a little time this afternoon to find the spot where the 300 base was "introduced." Having found it and posted it above, I started reading from there for a few pages......and danged if that wasn't where everything started getting more exciting (IOW's where more people got interested since after the last charge, when your original size started! Might be a good place to point new people to read from.....except that it's a little far forward missing the Mongo intro. Maybe find that and have another entry point. And maybe a third where the Lee quick change starts, and a fourth where the bullet feeder dies start.

Four isn't too many to have handy. I'll work on the other three.......we also ought to add where the "Normal" size base starts......maybe even most important.

[bigmike111]

Boy that's an understatement!! A smart person would list subject headers on paper, then list post #'s of posts that you want to remember, under each. I haven't been that smart. Least ways not up to today.

Page #'s don't work.....there's more than one way to view the thread....posts per page can change.

You can get post numbers. Not sure if the number stays the same even if someone deletes a post but it’s a good start.

Even after this whole time thinking about it I won’t be smart enough to sit down and take notes. Even if I did I’d still have an unanticipated problem that wasn’t in the notes. 😂