38stupid Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Does anyone have an easy way of separating 9mm brass from 40sw brass? I have a BUNCH of mixed brass to go thru. Thanks, Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentlemanJim Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Mixed brass is a major pain in the #$% If you just tumble it, all the 40 brass will have a 9mm firmly stuck inside! I personaly, put it all in the tumbler and watch it for a while pulling the 40 out as it shows up. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38stupid Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 I have about 30,000 pcs to sort thru. It is all mixed and you are correct, the 9mms stick inside the 40 cases. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin J Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Sounds like a market niche needs to be filled. Any engineers with some free time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreblePlink Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Uh, well, that would seem to be me. I recently aquired about 800 lbs of mixed range brass and needed some labor saving devices, so I posted here, but nobody had good suggestions. Having a real need, and doing some research into sorting machines which use holes or screening to separate, I measured the range of diameters of all the spent various caliber brass, and using my mill, made slotted plates in three sizes. These were sized with slot widths in the center of the "diameter gaps" I had charted. I fashioned wooden frames fastened to the slot plates to be used gold prospector style - a poor man's vibratory separator. The first pass (from memory) passed everything but 44 and larger. The next passed all but .40 / 38 / 357 (40 is then easy to sort from the rimmed) , and the last passed all the .22 & .25, keeping the 9, 380, & 32, which had to be hand sorted. Using the slot plate sorting frames, I could do the sorts in roughly 20% of the time it previously took. If you omitted the 9, 380, & 32 manual sorting, its fast. It's not perfect, but it helps a lot. If there is any interest in this I might be able to post pictures & detail. Sounds like a market niche needs to be filled. Any engineers with some free time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkS_A18138 Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 pics please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traxman Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 If there is any interest in this I might be able to post pictures & detail. +2 on pics. I have LOTS of mixed brass to sort, and my two hands are the best tools I've found so far. If you do a search, we've discussed a couple of times here. There are commercial brass sorting machines made, but they cost in the thousands! Would love to see what you've rigged up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 I know a few guys who invest in those things call kids. Apparantly you can pay them to sort out the brass for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreblePlink Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Okay, evidence of first use here. At the risk of losing my first million, in the spirit of forum sharing ... Here are the ranges of max sizes of the measured brass, and the slot dimensions for separation. Making these things was time consuming on my manual mill. I'm building a cnc which could make them a lot easier to make. Caliber - Brass – range of rim size .25 - .295 - .300 Sieve slot = .325 .32 - .350 – 357 .380 - .375-.382 9mm - .385-.392 Sieve slot = .407 .40 - .423 - .432 .38 / .357 - .429-.439 Sieve slot = .455 .45 / .45 gl - .471-.479 .44 sp / mag .504 - .512 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 I'll take two each of all caliber sorters. Please PM the payment info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreblePlink Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Hmm... I thought about making just the slot plates for sale, but I'm just not sure if folks would be willing to pay anything for them - enough to make it worthwhile... I'll take two each of all caliber sorters. Please PM the payment info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 I thought about making just the slot plates for sale, but I'm just not sure if folks would be willing to pay anything for them - enough to make it worthwhile... One way to find out.... ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Hello: Could you use screen material. It comes in different hole sizes. I use this to protect racecar oil coolers. I also know we had screens that we bought to sort out the media and parts when they were removed from the tumbler at my dads shop. They were round wooden frames with metal screens attached to the frame. Hope this helps. Thanks Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Just draw them up in Autocad and have them knocked out on a laser. Done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Gaines Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 here is my brass sorter it sorts calibers .40 and up. the first time I used it I seperated a 5 gallon bucket in 15 min, could be alot faster now. I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreblePlink Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 For efficiency, the sizes must be pretty close. There are "mesh" manufacturers that supply to the vibratory separation industry just about any size openings, but as is typical for this kind of industrial stuff, to be economical, they want you to initially purchase significant quantity. Slots or rectangles are generally best for sorting cylinders. Eric's idea of cnc laser cutting is probably the best approach for the relatively specialized nature and required pricepoint of this product. Of course, I don't happen to have one handy. (Now I know how he cuts those grips!) Hello: Could you use screen material. It comes in different hole sizes. I use this to protect racecar oil coolers. I also know we had screens that we bought to sort out the media and parts when they were removed from the tumbler at my dads shop. They were round wooden frames with metal screens attached to the frame. Hope this helps. Thanks Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Bell Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Mixed brass is a major pain in the #$% If you just tumble it, all the 40 brass will have a 9mm firmly stuck inside! I personaly, put it all in the tumbler and watch it for a while pulling the 40 out as it shows up. Jim Thanks for the laugh. You hit this one right on the nose. I try not to let my 9mm brass accompany my .40 brass as far as teh vibrator since they don't get clean while inside another case. Personally, it's pretty easy for me to see which brass is .40 and which is 9mm. I sit down in front of the TV with everything in a tray and separate the brass into boxes. I usually have more .40 than 9mm, so I keep at least one .40 case in my hand as I separate things. If I get momentarily confused, I check one case against the other. The one that goes outside the other, is the .40. What I really, really hate, is getting someone's .380 brass mixed in with my 9mms. Now that is hard to separate. Lee I have about 30,000 pcs to sort thru. It is all mixed and you are correct,the 9mms stick inside the 40 cases. Bob One thing is for sure. If you make any mistakes, you'll find them when you go to reload. Somewhere around here, I have a picture of what you get when you resize a .40 with a 9mm die, or perhaps it was what you get when you resize a .45 with a .40 die. Whichever, it was an interesting bottle neck pistol round. just for grins, I seated a bullet in the case I pretty much destroyed. I try not to let things get to the 30,000 case stage before I separate the brass. I tend to separate and clean brass soon after returning from the range. I've had to separate close to 1,000 cases at a time, but not often. In your case, I'd probably sit down and separate brass until I had enough of whatever I wanted to reload next, and let he rest wait until I was ready to reload more. That's probably not an option if you're selling brass, but in that case, the inconvenience is part of what you're getting paid for. Lee Having a real need, and doing some research into sorting machines which use holes or screening to separate, I measured the range of diameters of all the spent various caliber brass, and using my mill, made slotted plates in three sizes. These were sized with slot widths in the center of the "diameter gaps" I had charted. I fashioned wooden frames fastened to the slot plates to be used gold prospector style - a poor man's vibratory separator. Now that's a great idea. I agree with those that suggest offering them for sale. If you do, consider finding someone to mold them from plastic and to taper the sides so that multiple calibers can be stacked in a small er space. By the way, poor men don't have milling machines. I'm going to give some thought to doing the same thing with tubular bars, mounted in holes drilled in wooden sides of the box. If it works, I'll be the one with the poor man's vibratory separator. Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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