Making that Bullet Collator

[rogerandre]

Well I am the one that forgot where I saw the “hanger” – actually think it was on Youtube.

How do you extend the springs so they get so beautifully even ?

[GWS]

I did what TylerR told me....Anchor one end to a vice and stretch just past where it won't spring clear back. Trial and error.....but you better have a good anchor or it'll come loose and hurt you.

What I did is I found a bolt that would just screw inside the spring tube then clamped them both in the bench champ...bolt head beyond. can't stretch the end in the vice so well, but I didn't need all of it....the just cut what I wanted with a dremel.

Again Trial and error, but be careful. And easy does it.....no bull in a china closet stuff.

[TylerR]

I did what TylerR told me....Anchor one end to a vice and stretch just past where it won't spring clear back. Trial and error.....but you better have a good anchor or it'll come loose and hurt you.

What I did is I found a bolt that would just screw inside the spring tube then clamped them both in the bench champ...bolt head beyond. can't stretch the end in the vice so well, but I didn't need all of it....the just cut what I wanted with a dremel.

Again Trial and error, but be careful. And easy does it.....no bull in a china closet stuff.

It's a bit of an art form honestly. Just go slow and don't over stretch. I haven't had one come loose and thwap me yet.

[rogerandre]

It's a bit of an art form honestly. Just go slow and don't over stretch. I haven't had one come loose and thwap me yet.

Noted gentlemen !
Do you recall how long you approximately pulled out a 1 meter spring (finished length) ?

[GWS]

Noted gentlemen !
Do you recall how long you approximately pulled out a 1 meter spring (finished length) ?

There's lots of spring diameters, wire diameters......what you ask is a moving target. But I got out two springs I use, one for 9mm and the other with .45acp and tested them to see what they measure both coil tight and stretched with spaces just a tad more than wire diameter in between. Starting with both stretched about the same (a tiny bit more than wire gauge spaces between), I marked with a red marker a single coil 2" apart, then compressed them tight and both Surprisingly measure pretty darn close to an inch.

So that's double the length after the stretch.....maybe that's a good starter idea.....so maybe you stretch 1/2 the length of the length you need? I never stretched a whole meter at a time! So no experience with that. Too unwieldy and scary for me. Guess I'd be afraid of ruining the whole thing.......but you realize theat you will have to stretch it longer than 2x to get it to stay at 2x. Trial and careful.