Built a manually operated case flipper.

D

Doc Hoy

New member
I said it before and I'll say it again.

I am a tightwad. I'll go through a lot of effort to save a coupla bucks.

That has happened again.

Five or six weeks ago, I put together a bullet flipper and feeder. I yacked about it on the forum here and it is working pretty good. Bullet always comes down in the right orientation. It is not motorized, it is operated by a knob on the bottom which gets turned until the bullet chute is full.

Well if I can turn a knob to put bullets in the chute I can turn a knob to put cases in the chute.

So I worked out the details on a case flipper.

Design is borrowed from the bullet flipper. Four inch PVC pipe and ABS sheet plastic. Like most of the case flippers out there, it rests on the fact that the bottom of the case is heavier than the top. Case falls bottom first into the holes in the turning disc.



The disc has six holes and probably could be improved with more. You can see that all of the cases are neck up.

It is mounted to the same shaft as the bullet flipper. Lots of adjustability.



Here is the bottom. This photo does not show the knob. I put that on later.



I have run about five hundred rounds through it without a mistake.

The aluminum fitting that the case drops into needs a little yutzing. The case sometimes hangs up half way into the fitting.
 
Wished I was mechanically inclined. Worked in electronics most of my career. I commend you on producing your gadget that's functional & cheap to build with the parts utilized. Well Done
 
Thanks Martys

I did a career in the Navy as an electronic technician but I found that most of the problems we encountered were not electronic they were mechanical.
 
Same here Doc.....i put 22 years Navy as well and retired as RMCS (old "B" school and few Crypto schools as well in Vallejo, CA. Use to be active in amateur radio as "N6AO" but not any longer. Smooth sailing to you. :)
 
Did you go to "A" school

in Bainbridge, MD?

As the EMO, the ETs were always complaining to me how those "Darned RMs broke my trainsmitter again."

I told the ETs, it is the RM's transmitter. It only belongs to the ETs when it is broke.
 
For cases, thin your plate and/or change the angle, will solve your problems and will be automatic (no human input).
 
Doc Hoy,

Someone once said, there are no stupid questions. Considering that, here's my stupid question. Obviously, I'm missing something. What is the purpose of the case flipper? When do you use it? At which stage of the reloading process do you use it? What about a little more information on how it works etc.

I disagree with your use of the word, tightwad. There are a number of other, "kinder, gentler and more sophisticated" words or phrases I use to describe myself such as, frugal, miserly, parsimonious, thrifty and prudent. I stay away from cheapskate, money grubber, stingy, tightwad and penny pincher.



"Everyone has a right to be stupid. Politicians abuse the privilege."
 
Hey Doc .... Nope San Diego and you're probably talking about URC-32's or WRT's which I have repaired many not to mention R-390's, RBA's & RBC's but those last two might be before your time haha. Only one around for the KW-7's/37's. Old friend of mine (since passed away) LTCR Permian was EMO for a while on the Midway but my time was Oriskany CVA-34.
 
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Coupla responses....

Brotherbadger --- Tnx.

Pogybait - "At which stage of the reloading process do you use it?"

I am using it to fill the case chute that came with the press. As the cycle of making the rounds continues and the case chute gets empty, I will stop for a bit and manually fill the chute with brass from the flipper. Takes about twenty seconds to fill the case chute. So the operation that it replaces is the filling of the case chute by hand. For a person with good hands it doesn't really add that much value. But I have a minor nerve impingement in my neck that makes the feeling in my fingers a little dull. The effect is that I drop things. When I manipulate cases or bullets with my fingertips I drop about every third or fourth one. Maddening!

The bullet flipper which was the first of my "Rube Goldberg" inventions works the same way. About fifteen seconds to fill the bullet chute. SO I will probly fill the bullet chute at the same time I fill the case chute.

"What about a little more information on how it works etc."

I stole this design from flippers that are the first stage of the other commercially available case feeder. The cases drop into the holes at the low end of the hopper and are carried to the high end where the fall out the hole, through the bottom plate. They always drop in with the neck up.

"I disagree with your use of the word, tightwad. There are a number of other, "kinder, gentler and more sophisticated" words or phrases I use to describe myself such as, frugal, miserly, parsimonious, thrifty and prudent. I stay away from cheapskate, money grubber, stingy, tightwad and penny pincher."

Thanks PB. I try to use harsher words to describe myself than I use to describe others. Comes from the bible. Mind you, I am a devoted sinner. I stay away from church as much as possible. The last time I was in a church, it was struck by lightening and I just figured the lord was trying to square me away on the nature of our relationship. Haven't been back since. But that doesn't mean I ignore the stuff that comes out of the bible.

J Morris,

I am pretty much stuck with the thickness of the plates. But the angle is adjustable. That'll be what I mess with to smooth up the operation.
 
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