Homemade case feeder ideas

[unfy]

So...

There's a few videos and some other stuff out there for home made case feeders.  I'd appreciate being able to take manual case feeding out of the reloading process on my progressive press (hornady lnl ap).

I'll be working on this over the winter... although the copper plating project comes first.

Some initial thoughts:

I don't wanna build a bullet feeder.  I like looking inside each case as well at the powder cop die etc.  Bullet feeder *might* come later.

I want it a lot of it built out of plastic, not metal.  The reason for this is noise reduction.  Sure, it probably won't last for a hundred years, but whatever.  Getting things quieter is nice.  Tumbling brass won't be really quiet ... but... perhaps adding a lid to the the collator  / hopper will reduce that noise too.

Will use an electric motor to spin the hopper. (I debated a hand turn or something based on the RAM movement, but whatever... electric is just simpler).

Want to use a physical micro switch for motor turn off rather than a photo optic.  I don't trust optics on a large scale like this, I just don't.  It's an easy enough thing to swap out if ya wanna go optic so whatever .  A physical switch might increase the height of the unit, but I don't think so.

The hopper drum seems like it really does need to be fairly large.  The brass doesn't seem to fit in the holes/nubbies until around half way up the side of the thingie.  5 gallon bucket sized large.  Dunno if I like a 5gal bucket or not since the bottom aint perfectly flat.

Not sure what the angle on the hopper needs to be in order for things to align head down and such.  ***EDIT*** looks like 45 degrees will do just fine.

The feed plate attachment stuff that connects to the RAM plate looks to be most difficult to figure out.  Construction material will also be weird / interesting.  Probably use solid styrene blocks and just drill / cut to desired shape ?

A guide arm thing similar to what's on the primer feed slider will be needed.  That is, the bent guide that causes the primer slider shuttle to pull away and then back towards the ram as it's raised and lowered.  Something similar will need to be built for the case feeder / pusher.  Copper tubing is fairly inexpensive and easy enough to work with... so... maybe.

[NENick]

I'm building my bullet feeder right now. This youtube video is what I'm shooting for. I'm going to cut the bottom out of the 5 gallon bucket and will replace it with MDF board, which will be flat.

[unfy]

Definitely post pics, plans, etc!

Love the uprighter thing (cut out on the side, and the groove in base)... that's awesome.

I might be able to be convinced to go about using an automatic bullet feeder, I dunno.

[NENick]

Tonight, I cut the MDF (wood boards) for the base plate the the motor will be bolted to, the plate with the groove to catch the bullet's nose, and the actual plate to cycle the bullets (9mm). Tomorrow, I'll bolt the bottom plate to the bucked, cut the slots for the bullets, cut the groove in the middle plate, and cut the bucket.

I better take some pictures. This has been really easy so far. The nice thing is that you can make the bullet feeder and the case feeder with the same materials, and almost the same way. The feeding plate will be a bit different. Yay for saving $800, or whatever Hornady demands for the case feeder and bullet feeder.

[unfy]

$600-$800 for both yeah.

And the hopper / collator portion of the two are fairly similar aye.  The re-orientating magic on the bullet feeder would be obviously a little different.

The automatic case feeder is a little more involved given the whole stuff ya gotta build to push cases into the shell plate.

I'll be looking at styrene and MDF for my building materials... probably just depends on which is cheaper.

[NENick]

I bet the Styrene would make a very clean, durable product. It would probably last forever. I didn't go that rout because I've never worked with it before, and wasn't sure where to get it.

I bet the edges on the MDF will wear down eventually. The good news is that you can make a make an unlimited number of plates at almost no cost. The 4'x8' sheets of MDF are around $30. Make a couple for each caliber at once, and then toss them as they wear out.

[unfy]

MDF seems fairly easy to work with, and might be a nice 'first go'.  And I imagine the time to wear down would be decades prolly ?  Might depend on the weather ??

Styrene sheets are pretty easy to get ahold of, and can be formed with a heat gun.  Dunno cost of just blocks you gotta chisel/cut to your own want.  Concerns might be brittleness ?

I'm sure you can prolly varnish MDF or something to make it much more resistant to the elements ?

[bk09]

unfy you are a rambunctious do-it-yourselfer aren't ya? 

[unfy]

unfy you are a rambunctious do-it-yourselfer aren't ya? 

LOL

I do like to fiddle with stuff.  Mostly if it's practical, though.  Sadly, being in apartment without a garage, I have severe limitations on what I can or cannot do .

And actually -- I'm gonna put this entire project on hold.

A) wanna get copper plating done as either complete success or complete failure.

B) gonna get a reprap or similar 3d printer built when funds become available.

I've been eyeballing reprap stuff for about 6 years now ... and it seems they've come a very long way.

Looks like reprap projects have finally gotten a fine granularity to become really useful.  Also, prices for the kits look like they're $600-$800, with it possibly being cheaper from other sources etc.

Build volume seems to be 5x5x5 inches for the huxley, and around 7 inches for some of the others.

3d printer stuff should be handy for building the case slider on the press ram and other things.

Annnnddddd... since I have severe limitations on what I can do being in an apartment, "printing" something I need is much more plausible rather than working with power tools...


I still wanna see pics and updates from NENick concerning his bullet feeder!