Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Copper Plating
unfy:
a while ago i picked up a small vice that ya clamp on to the edge of desks / boards / etc.
fiddling with it, looks like it might make for a decent holder thing to make bullet roughing-up quicker... or at least easier on the fingers.
unfy:
Small AC motor arrived.
Non-linear physics math stuff is down right confusing. Using a couple different approaches, this motor is either going to be just barely strong enough to rotate the basket -- or it's going to need a 32:1 pulley system (ie: it's way too weak).
Got a lamp cord plug wired to it here at work, and tried to see if it'd lift 2lbs of weight all by itself, and it had no problem. I'll have a minimum of a 4:1 (prolly closer to 6:1 or 8:1 or maybe even more!) ratio at home, so I'm not thinking it'll have any problems spinning the basket. Yay! Only the moment of truth will know but still, yay!
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cast a bunch of bullets the other night as well.
i have just about everything to attempt some long plating process stuff (including unattended). i've got a doc's appointment at 7am thursday morning (it's wed night as i write this) -- and i've managed to mess up my days and nights a fair amount lately.... so i dunno if I'm gonna stay up all night plating bullets or if just wait until the weekend.
unfy:
stopped by menards and dug all around and explored a bit... trying to come up with a wheel / pull system thing for the motor etc.
ended up going with an 8-inch duct cap thing for $5, looks something like:
it's light weight, fairly wide bearing surface, and seemed more than strong enough. I'll be using a bicycle inner tube as my belt. don't think i've got rubber cement atm so will just work with staples or something in the mean time. the motor side will have a 1/2 inch pvc plug drilled out and stuck to it.
this will give me about a 16:1 ratio on the motor to basket.... which should alleviate any concerns about motor strength... and with the motor at 6rpm, this means it'll now rotate the basket one revolution every ~2.5 minutes which sounds ideal to me.
also grabbed some 'value lumber' left over plywood and 2x6 to make a quick and dirty frame to hold the motor in place.
also pimped out NFOA to a gentleman who I was conversing with. i really should just head to vista print and have some of their free business cards made with nfoa logo stuff on it. i should prolly dig through the forum to see if Dan or someone has already posted a suggested look / logo / etc.
tonight i look forward to actually constructing all of this and probably also bringin all of the pieces together -- the variable dc power supply, aquarium heater, and basket spinning stuff. assuming it seems to be doing well for an hour or two, i'll probably kick the kitties out of the room and close the door while it plates over night hehehe.
unfy:
skipped belt idea for motor -> big wheel. instead decided to cut up an old bicycle inner tube. wrapped it around duct cap and bolted into place... as well as putting some automotive weather strip adhesive to the loose end to keep it down. drilled and then xacto knifed out a 1/2 inch pvc plug to fit the [) drive shaft of the motor. just epoxy'd inner tube piece to the pvc plug.
cemented some pvc pipe together
cut down a small sheet of 1/4th inch plywood, drilled some holes, and zip tied it to the basket jig frame (the square box construct to hold the basket above / in the solution).
motor has two ear pieces with holes for mounting to a surface. hanging the motor from one of those, while the other side hangs loose. tying weight to the loose end to provide the pressure against the big wheel (motor is mounted near the big wheel edge area).
i didn't want to pvc cement the big wheel to the basket 'drive shaft' ... yet the basket 'drive shaft' was slipping. so instead drilled a hole perpindicular to the length of the pipe. screwed a long bolt through it with a nut so it acts as a T / finger sticking out. then drilled a hole into the big wheel / duct end cap piece and stuck another long bolt through that. the wheel / duct cap bolt is parallel to the drive shaft. it spins around and eventually hits the one sticking out of the pipe (in a perpindicular fashion), spinning the 'drive shaft'.
i'll have to head back to menards tomorrow.
the motor is hanging with the 'ear pieces' being 2 inches from the plywood. and... well.. the setup in general really likes to cause the motor to cant. i can permanently attach the motor so it doesn't budge, but since the pvc goes through the basket... i have to be able to easily rip apart everything to put bullets in the basket or get them out. being able to easily take the tension off of the big wheel / duct cap makes this much easier
a better basket would be cool heh.
the big wheel is also not perfectly attached to the drive shaft because pvc theaded connections only twist to about 1/2 way up the threads. i'm using some cut up inner tube to act as washers in this situation, but it's far from ideal / sturdy.
if i could get some really big washers to go around the pvc threads... it'd really help a lot... but... i don't have anything with a 5/8" or 3/4" hole right now. if i can get the wheel / duct cap to mount better to 'drive shaft', it'll help reduce canting as well (since the wheel / cap cants a bit as well right now).
with 100 bullets in the basket, and holding the motor flat so it doesn't cant, it can spin the basket just fine with no assistance from me :).
i'll get pictures tomorrow (sunday).
i really have to get the motor mounted properly, and preferably also find better washers (or similar) for the duct cap / big wheel mount.
unfy:
Lotsa pics.
Above is an overview of the whole setup. The wood ($2) is zip tied to the frame. And some mess in my living room where i was building / testing the setup.
For the basket - I cemented the { } shaped things, but left the pvc fittings in between uncemented. With this basket setup, I need to be able to disassemble the basket.
Lastly, the pvc shaft between the }--- and the motor was cemented into place to keep it from slipping.
Above is looking at the motor / wheel stuff.
The duct / stove cap is 8 inches ($5-$6), wrapped in a tire inner tube (free or cheap). The center was drilled out to accommodate the pvc 'drive shaft' (3/4 inch hole). Some 3/4 inch washers (10 for $1.20) were used to help keep the cap from canting.
I drilled two holes in the side of the duct cap to give a perm anchor for the inner tube. Bolted tube in place and moderately stretched it around the circumference. Then took out one bolt, affixed inner tube end piece by reattaching it, then did the second bolt. For the left over flap, the 3m automotive black weather stripping adhesive was used ($6). it's possible the weather stripping alone would have worked, stuff is cool.. but... i like the positive attachment the bolts provide.
In the pic, covered up by the pvc threaded end piece, is the key / catch bolt to provide a solid driving force to the drive shaft (in case the pvc slips).
The motor is hanging on the left from one of it's ears holes. At he bottom of it is some failed plating bullets to provide the pressure against the big wheel. Motor has a 1/2 inch end plug covered in inner tube providing a friction gear with the big wheel.
Above is a close up of the motor mounting stuff. Quite sloppy, I know.
the far bolt acts as the swivel point for the motor. the nuts keep that side from canting away from the plywood. i can't fit a nut between the motor and bolt, so i can't secure it a specific place along the shaft, sadly :(
the near bolt has a few washers at a specificl place along the bolt. the washers act as a restraining plate to keep the motor from canting too much. not perfect but it seems to work well.
In the background, you can see the bolt sticking out of the drive shaft for positive torque transfer if the wheel slips on the pvc.
Above is the bolts holding the rubber to the duct cap / wheel.
In the background you can see the bolt coming out of the drive shaft again. Perpindicular to it, coming out of the flat part of the duct cap you can also see the torque transfer bolt mentioned earlier. if the pvc coupling slips between the duct cap and the drive shaft, those two bolts will catch each other.
Another look at the small ac motor. Drilled out the 1/2 inch pvc plug to attach to and give a bearing surface for the motor. The inner tube fit nicely on it, but was slipping, so I epoxied it to the pvc.
You can also see the twist tie holding the pressure-providing weight :).
there are washers on both sides of the duct cap ... and 2 along the visible side you see here. i couldn't thread them on any further, and it seems to be quite snug as is. if i need to, i can add more washers down the line.
it's currently spinning bullets dry (just to see how it cooperates for longer durations). gonna work on getting aquarium heater into the solution and stuff right now to get it warmed up, and and and....!!! :D
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