I truly want to thank all of the gentlemen here for all the posts and help they have provided. This project would have been much more difficult with out their help. My background is 25 years of control systems from simple to offshore platforms. I was raise recycling things, straightening nails for my granddad when I was 10. The goal was to try and keep the automation under $500. What you will see is under $400 so $600 for the MC, under $1000 and making bullets at about 24 a minute. I have bought 11 sets of molds at an average price of around $55 each. I have 3 PID controllers (black box) that I use on Lee pots or when making ingots from wheel weights.
The two displays on the cabinet are programable timing relays. The left display allows adjusting pour time by 0.01 of a second. Went from the 0.37 seconds to 0.40 sec just before the pics as the pot was going down and needed a little more sprue. The right display is the knocker function. It toggles between the extend air solenoid and the retract solenoid for 0.17 sec. Just enough for the mold arm to retract a bit and then be slammed against the extend stop. Time and number of pulses to reverse are programable within the display. Two internal timing relays inside the cabinet, one controls the extend and retract solenoids. The other is a pour delay, Limit Switch 1 (ramped ring on the shaft) must be closed for 1/2 sec b4 the pour starts. LS2 is for extend, when the contact closes, it latches a relay powered by the extend circuit, and triggers the knock timer for switching between ext and ret. One separate air solenoid on the ext and one on the ret function of the main cylinder. The black cylinder on the top of the pour cylinder is a built in solenoid valve. Two air regulators, pour set at 60 psi and ext/ret set at 30-40 psi. The red switch on the cabinet turns off/on the knock function. Also have had the mold arm stick in the pour retracted position and it keeps pouring lead. Probably add a latching relay on the LS2 closing to confirm extended. Alarm and stop if extend is not reached.
Half way thru, I decided to switch to a PLC. The programming software for the PLC that Hatch uses is only available in Windows and I am using a Mac so went back to the relays. So many more options with a PLC. Working on making the schematics readable, BoM and will post. The caster will be moving between my garage and a friends shop. I installed a 12 pin connector in the umbilical so the caster and cabinet could be separated during transportation.
I ordered a 12VDC solenoid to run off an additional timing display for the pour of a Lee 4-20 pot. It didn’t have the force I thought it needed to actuate the pour so sent it back and working on getting another one. I have over 20 molds that will not run on the MC. An accurate timing of the pours is really nice. Have set the pour timer from 0.32 up to 0.75 seconds to get the sprue just full on different bullet weights.
Converted 100 pounds of lead into mini ingots weight between 95 and 300 grains, running about 9 hours. Making bullets for 5 or so shooters. Working on an automated sizer with a bullet collator. There is a design out on the internet that uses a camera to read the head stamp of brass cases and then sorts based on the letters. Thinking that the software might be adapted to access a load cell input and automatically sort bullets based on weight. That’s a ways down the road.
Been fun getting to this point. Future holds using a motor/gear box instead of the air cylinder for ext/ret. A lot of slamming going on. Using the motor to move to the extend and using an air cylinder to tap on the mold is probably better long term. Also have thoughts on how to get more productivity out the MC.
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Originally Posted by dverna
