Automated Pellet Sorter

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John,

I get it, no worries, its something to consider, I appreciate it. I think if your sorting pellets by those two factors you will end up with a large amount of a given size. Prior to shooting for money, I'd take 10 from each head size and shot them that day to make sure they were spot on and have a few extra to spot during the day to compensate for temperature changes. I think regardless of the measurement, all of them done at that time will have the same relative measurement so a sample should be good.

I'd rather make a bunch at an affordable price so more people could do their own. That way I don't have to deal with getting into equipment variations, calibrations, shipping, warranties ;)

I'll know more next week when the parts get here and can assemble it and test it out.

Smitty 
 
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So I have the weighing of pellets pretty sorted, more to come next week.

I've turned my attention to the head and skirt diameter issue and I have a solution.

I'll be ordering some parts tomorrow to test out my thoughts, if it works as I hope, head sorting will be automated as well. I think I have a pretty cleaver method.

Wish I knew python programming, UGH

Smitty
 
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But I want one too and I don't even compete. Sounds like a pretty intricate machine you are creating.
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Biohazardman,

I'm not smart enough to make something complicated ;) I did make a pretty cool test fixture at work that cycled a Flush Mounted Aircraft handle 120,000 times at Ambinet, -45º and +45ºC. That only took, one torque cell, one load cell, three linear actuator, one linear rail, 5 stepper motors, 3 25-1 gear reduction units, one week to design two of them and one to assemble, tune the travel, and start testing. The clever part was the handle had to be loaded with 140 pounds and the torque measured to rotate it 35º down, remove 100 pounds to allow it to rotate back to level. Uncoupling the two weights was the cleaver part.

Whatever I come up with will be better than the few times I've spend sorting, that hours I can't get back.

Smitty
 
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Looking forward to seeing this project completed

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Meeting up with the Electrical Engineer tomorrow to get some parts put together for testing. Looking forward to see how close we are, standard 80/20 rule applies.

On the plus side, I've discussed this with someone well respected and we won't be measuring the Head vs Skirt diameters. But I think I can sort the skirts if they have damage done to them.

Smitty
 
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All,

So I had a meeting with my Mechanical Engineer and Electrical Engineer/Software guys. Here is what we are working on.

1. Some type of loading mechanism that will allow one pellet to be sorted at a time.
2. The Skirt will be visually inspected to make sure it is not dented, the acceptance criteria will be user defined as a percentage from round.
a. If it meets the skirt roundness check it will move to head measurement, if not moved to a scrap/plink bin.
3. The head will be measured visually and, if it meets the user defined setting, will go on to be weighed. If not, it will go in a separate bin, for sorting to that diameter.
4. The pellet will than be weighed and sorted (0.177 0.02 grains, .20, 22, and .25 by 0.05 grains) into nominal, plus/minus 0.1 grains, with an separate over and under bins.

This will allow only the correct head sized to be weight sorted. You'll be able to change the nominal head size and weights to further sort the remaining pellets.

I have the load cell and software as well as the 3D printed parts, I'll be putting them together and doing some testing to check the accuracy of the scale. Should be pretty cool if it all works as plan. But if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

Smitty
 
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