87 replies to this topic

[jmorris]

The sorter rollers are not parallel or it would only sort one size (see photo). On the end where the brass falls onto the rollers the gap is narrow. On the opposite end, before the 2” rollers end, they open to .525" just over .44mag OD. Because of the precision necessary you can’t just use a piece of pipe. For example to sort 38super (OD of .406) from 9mm (OD of .394) from 380 (OD of .374) you are only looking at a .032” change over 12” of travel. So if you had .016” run out on each roller all of the above cases would dump into the same bin (and you couldn’t call it a sorter). I used seamless 4130 chrome moly tubing for the rollers. The rollers counter rotate (clockwise for the drive roller and counter clockwise for the driven roller) so they don’t “grab” the cases; instead they “float” down until they have enough clearance to fall through. The incline was arbitrarily set so the cases flowed down in a quick but controlled manner. The speed of the hopper also has to be matched to the speed that brass travels down the rollers to prevent the cases from “stacking”. This is accomplished by the box below the gear reduced roller motor (AC); it is an adjustable (0-30v) dc power supply that runs the (very) gear reduced hopper motors (DC). One can be made for less than the $7000+ commercial units, but when a regular Dillon case feeder costs $200, you know it’s still not going to be “cheap”.

FWIW I wouldn't mind sorting brass (no mud, grass, gum or cigarette butts) like you are talking about Charles, but I would imagine shipping would cost too much.

Attached Files

•  HPIM0259.JPG   1003.91K   735 downloads

[slavex]

any chance you have any specs or drawings on that beasty that you would be willing to share? I'd love to get together with some of the guys from work to build one of these for my club.

Oh and I love the hitech paintbrush sweeper!

[jmorris]

No drawings, it was a freestyle project using things I had lying around the shop (including the NASA style paint brush) with the exception of the two gears. If you let me know what dimensions you need I’ll help you out.

[ronhonda]

does anyone have a sorter in the NY/NJ/PA area?

[hf219]

does anyone have a sorter in the NY/NJ/PA area?

I think your cousins could find one at a cheap price. Might be a good gift for festivus. If all else fails you could always try day labor workers. Dont they congregate outside of your job. Seems like a pretty good assembly area for that. FUNNY TURNED ON!!!!!!!!!

[slavex]

size of your collator would be helpful and any info on the size of of your motor and gear box for the collator. I've shown this to a couple guys and we are pumped to build something similar. hardest part is going to be the collator. the rollers and gears should be easy, as will the bearings. But the collator is gonna be fun.
we plan on setting it up at our club and using it each night we are there. as well our caretaker is going to be able to use it to sort the brass he gets from the outdoor range.

[shooterbenedetto]

I use my 650 hopper??

[jmorris]

The collator is 2’ in diameter, the “wheel” is made from ½” thick Hyvar, the motors are from the same batch at this project http://thehighroad.o...gma engineering . They are twin motored gear reduced dc motors (4 rpm @12V DC) that are quite strong and I had a box of them (thus the projects). If you want photos of the jig to make the wheel let me know. The collator has to feed all brass (big, tall, short, small) and they don’t have to feed right side up, you just can’t have too much trash in the mix. Again, the rollers must be very precision for this set up to work, if you have the machinery to make the sorter work the collator should be no problem.

Attached Files

•  HPIM0466.JPG   109.36K   550 downloads
•  HPIM0467.JPG   109.9K   594 downloads
•  HPIM0468.JPG   112.18K   605 downloads
•  HPIM0469.JPG   96.18K   605 downloads
•  HPIM0470.JPG   83.8K   565 downloads
•  HPIM0472.JPG   132.69K   490 downloads

[mlmiller1]

jmorris, I sure wish you would sell me one of those with or without the collator. Any chance of that? Thanks, MLM

[shred]

Mod note: deals should take place off-line or in the classifieds if its a personal non-commercial item. Thank you.

[UW Mitch]

For those guys with so much brass that they can't sort it all - I bet you have shooting buddies who need brass. Maybe you could have a brass sorting party where everyone gets a beer and a ziploc bag full of brass at the end!

~Mitch

[Pigdawg]

For those guys with so much brass that they can't sort it all - I bet you have shooting buddies who need brass. Maybe you could have a brass sorting party where everyone gets a beer and a ziploc bag full of brass at the end!

~Mitch

I work part time at an Indoor range....... that would be A LOT of beer.

[slavex]

thanks for details. getting machine time on a lathe is easy, getting it on a mill is a bit harder. my buddies work usually has a couple lathes sitting there doing nothing, but the CNC mills are running pretty much full time. so the collator plate will be difficult due to time mostly. but any info you have on it would be much appreciated.
edited to add, dude I just went to the HighRoad thread. you are a friggin genius, people like RCBS or Dillon should have you on their payroll.

Edited by slavex, 11 November 2007 - 04:16 AM.

[RePete]

thanks for details. getting machine time on a lathe is easy, getting it on a mill is a bit harder. my buddies work usually has a couple lathes sitting there doing nothing, but the CNC mills are running pretty much full time. so the collator plate will be difficult due to time mostly. but any info you have on it would be much appreciated.
edited to add, dude I just went to the HighRoad thread. you are a friggin genius, people like RCBS or Dillon should have you on their payroll.

Could you post a link please?

[slavex]

look up a couple posts Pete, it's in JMorris's post.

[RePete]

Thanks - Brain Fart!

[jmorris]

Thanks for the complement slavex, but all it takes is the equipment and too much time on your hands. I looked for the fixture I used for the collator wheel, but it has been turned into something else. I do have a few pics of similar fixtures I built for making the feed wheels for my bullet feeders, that are the same just smaller. On the brass sorter collator I rough cut the circle drilled the 1” center hole placed it on the fixture and rotated it by hand making small cuts with an end mill until it was perfectly round, I don’t have a lathe that will swing 2’. I would bet you could get away with using a wood router with a similar fixture (see photo of hole cutter for concept). Once you have a disk you need to determine the spacing for the slots drill through the disk two holes “X” apart then install a stud (I used a cut off bolt) to index all the way around. If you have a mill you can mill the slot in the same step, if you don’t, but have a lot of time, you could saw and sand.

Attached Files

•  DSC01472.JPG   59.93K   368 downloads
•  DSC01474.JPG   58.71K   353 downloads
•  DSC01475.JPG   57.23K   276 downloads

[slavex]

again thanks! I see you've built your own bullet feeders, cool. on the collator rings, why do you have those allen head bolts in the three spots you do? I know KISS does this as well. but can't for the life of me figure out what they do.

[Heavy Metal Only]

And the hijacking of the thread begins... <sigh>.

Eric, Dogmadog, John, thanks for all the tips. I plan on looking into all of them, especailly the "grill" idea. I also contacted Scharch Manufacturing.

Anyone else have info? Want as many options as possible.

TIA.

You guys are giving me ideas about building a sorting machine. thanks I will let you know how it works out. It sounds like a relitive easy project much like a change sorting machine.

[RePete]

again thanks! I see you've built your own bullet feeders, cool. on the collator rings, why do you have those allen head bolts in the three spots you do? I know KISS does this as well. but can't for the life of me figure out what they do.

I think they are there to upset the pile of bullets so that they tumble while the plate is turning.

[Flexmoney]

Note: I had to remove some posts that were advertising a product for sale (which is against the forum rules), and I removed the posts that were in response to it.

- Admin.

[shellsorter]

Note: I had to remove some posts that were advertising a product for sale (which is against the forum rules), and I removed the posts that were in response to it.

- Admin.

Sorry about that, I will contact Brian soon.

[jmorris]

Repete’s correct they are to agitate the pile, there are two “bars” in the hopper for the brass sorter to keep them tumbling. In a Dillon case feeder they mold in six ribs for the same purpose. I have a case feeder I built for a 650 that doesn’t have anything to agitate, and though it is makes far less noise that the Dillon it’s slower to feed when few bras remain.

[jmorris]

For information purposes the sorter that was deleted as an advertisement uses the concept in the photo below. If you go to the link there is a video showing how the home made setup works.


http://forums.1911fo...ht=brass sorter

Attached Files

•  40_sorter.jpg   31.71K   213 downloads

[Hoofy]

Wouldn't that make it easier.