AutoTrickler V4

[morpheus]

Thanks for the tip, Jim. Mine is due in January.

Jeff

Cool. I updated my post with the final result.

 

[INTJ]

Ok, so looking again to ask if in a 6 br, is the range of 34.50 to 34.52 an acceptable powder variation that will not show up on a target at 600 to 1000 yds.

My thought is at 600 it may be acceptable but at 1000, it maybe too much. If 1K shooters are weighing primers to reduce variations, that powder spread may be too much.

That said I do have a V4 on order . Just curious what to expect.

I am fussy with my 1K BR loads, and I make sure they are within a kernel because I can. I don't expect that it will make a difference on paper (1 kernel vs 2) in a 6 BRA, because I better be tuned better than that. Usually I find a tune that shoots the same over at least .2 grains, which is about 10 kernels of Varget.

A scale more precise than the A&D FX-120i doesn't make any difference in BR at 1000 yds. I switched from a Sartorius Entris that measures to .001 grains. That is 20 times better resolution than the A&D. I am shooting smaller now with the A&D because I am better at tuning a load. I am not the only 1000 yd BR shooter who ditched a more precise and much more expensive scale for the A&D for powder measuring. I use the Sartorius for other things.

 

[BartsBullets]

I noticed in all of the demo's that the overall accuracy of the unit is +/- .02 grains. Overall that is a .04 grain variation. If you are shooting 1000yds , it that an acceptable window of powder weight accuracy? Yes, that variation is going to affect a 308 different than a 6 BR. Guess my question is: Can you see .04 grain variation on the 600 to 1000yd target in a 6mm BR?

The speed of which it operates, the ease of changing powders, the noise level are all minor issues as far as I am concerned.

You can weight to the kernel with it.

Bart

 

[Nvclay]

Made a cover for the output cavity

 

[Hari]

Made a remote control (rotary dial and display):

 

[KenOath]

Made a remote control (rotary dial and display):

Cool …I think.. Why would you need a remote control?

 

[KenOath]

Made a cover for the output cavityView attachment 1295214

And so the mods begin…

 

[Hari]

Cool …I think.. Why would you need a remote control?

e.g. when you don't want your mobile in the reloading room Also I do prefer manual knobs/dials over touch screens.

 

[madmixerman]

Anybody making dust covers for sale for the V4/fx120i setup?

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

e.g. when you don't want your mobile in the reloading room Also I do prefer manual knobs/dials over touch screens.

Why don't you want your mobile in the loading room?

 

[Jdne5b]

Why don't you want your mobile in the loading room?

Decepticons

 

[jthor]

Offering some feedback and first thoughts:

Threw some batches of 10 cases at a time of H4198 - shooting for 34.52 grains. Intent was to gauge speed vs. accuracy with the overall goal - less overall time. (i.e. if an overcharge and dump back in the hopper is faster than waiting for a perfect throw). For clarity sake I was accepting 34.50 and 34.52 as a "green light" throw but tossing 34.54 back catch and release.

Speed 5: 1 overthrow (34.60), 5 min 11 sec.
Speed 7: 1 overthrow (34.54), 4 min 3 sec.
Speed 10: 5 overthrow in a row off the bat - stopped as this was obviously going to keep happening.

Went back to Speed 8: 5 overthrow (34.54, 34.60, 34.54, 34.54, 34.56) 6 min. Coarse tube speed seemed right, small tube was too aggressive.

This isn't a fault of the machine, it's pretty clear in the manual that 5 is a default starting point. I just wanted to push it and see how fast we can get to loading 50 rounds. 7 was most def. the best with this powder for me. I think it could handle 7 with a more aggressive small tube speed ramp.

@adamjmac Is this based off of an index or done in a cubical parabola type shape?
I'm thinking of something like below that there could be a dev mode where you fine tune. You could save powder profiles for various types of powder, even allow them to be shareable.

View attachment 1293302

Another suggestion would be to make the slider drag slightly larger. A bit difficult to grab accurately.

As others have noted, reduced sound and ease of cleanout are two very nice features.

As far as a dev mode goes, there was something very similar to what you’re asking for during beta testing, but you couldn’t save profiles. You had a lot more options of settings you could change.

Give Adam time and I’m sure at some point he will get to maybe implementing it. Though I’d recommend emailing him as well to make sure he actually sees you, because I did recommend what your saying during beta testing, but he wanted in the end to keep it simple to keep customer service questions to a minimum if that makes sense. An easy and advanced mode would really be the ticket here. Easy mode for people who don’t want to fiddle with the settings and advanced mode for folks who do. The more folks that ask for it, the better it looks for it becoming a reality.

The benefit of the AutoTrickler using smart devices is you can really exploit that with tons of features inside the app that benefit the reloading process and load development. I’m certain that will be necessary in the future to compete with competition coming up like the SuperTrickler; if not,bits really a missed opportunity.

 

[Chasin Beaver]

Are most people grounding the scale with a wire? It doesn’t mention doing so in the Autotrickler manual, I am wondering if necessary if I am not seeing drift. Would normally do stuff like this, but not an easy job where scale is located.

 

[PracticalTactical]

Why don't you want your mobile in the loading room?

Cordless phones and cell phones can negatively affect the accuracy of the scale. Test it for yourself...I did. That's one of the reasons I switched to a Vibra balance. It's not affected by radio signals, voltage variations, does not need to warm up and it has internal calibration.

 

[jthor]

Are most people grounding the scale with a wire? It doesn’t mention doing so in the Autotrickler manual, I am wondering if necessary if I am not seeing drift. Would normally do stuff like this, but not an easy job where scale is located.

I have been for a while, but I’m in Colorado and get a lot of static.

 

[Ccrider]

Cordless phones and cell phones can negatively affect the accuracy of the scale. Test it for yourself...I did. That's one of the reasons I switched to a Vibra balance. It's not affected by radio signals, voltage variations, does not need to warm up and it has internal calibration.

The V4 is set up to run off of a cell phone app. I was one of the beta testers. I have had zero problems running it off of my iPhone.

 

[PracticalTactical]

I cannot argue specifically on the FX120 at this time since the scale I used for my testing was a Sartorious, which I understand to use the same magnetic force restoration load sensing technology. It is possible that the load sensing system is inside a Faraday cage of some type, but I find that to be unlikely at that price point.

A friend has an FX120 and next time I'm there I will test it for myself and let you guys know what I find.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Cordless phones and cell phones can negatively affect the accuracy of the scale. Test it for yourself...I did. That's one of the reasons I switched to a Vibra balance. It's not affected by radio signals, voltage variations, does not need to warm up and it has internal calibration.

Right. Sure. And of course, the Autotrickler is controlled via Bluetooth using a Smartphone. The V3 has the Bluetooth radio INSIDE the balance. The V4 has the Bluetooth radio in the housing of the unit.

I have been using my Smartphone around my FX-120 for a few years. I used to believe like you did when I first got it. I used to have a big ash fluorescent light on the same circuit I used with the FX-120. About 2 years ago I removed that fluorescent unit and replaced it with a nice LED unit; all problems eliminated except for air currents. I put up a big poster tri-fold around the unit and that took care of that.

I have never detected anything on the balance when I use my smartphone. I also have a Bluetooth watch and sometimes even listen to podcasts on Bluetooth earbuds when loading.

If you believe it makes a difference, by all means continue doing that. How far away do you put your smartphone and cordless phones, or do you use a Faraday cage?

Oh, and I do not let the balance warm up or leave it plugged in all the time. I take it out of the closet, set it up on the table and plug it into a surge protector of good quality. I level it, turn it on, set my load and go.

I especially like the feature where you can increment/decrement to load using your Smartphone. I have been doing ladder tests recently and this is a really nice feature.

 

[MikeMcCasland]

lol, I have my FX120i in a room with 3 PCs, 5 monitors, wireless AP, 3-4 other bluetooth devices , a rackmount server w/KVM, a bunch of LED lights etc. I do use a power conditioner, and those little wraparound things on the power cord. Let me assure you, it's pretty resilient as it pertains to interference from other electronics.

I did have issues with fluro lights a long time ago, and air currents are always a challenge.

 

[INTJ]

I cannot argue specifically on the FX120 at this time since the scale I used for my testing was a Sartorious, which I understand to use the same magnetic force restoration load sensing technology. It is possible that the load sensing system is inside a Faraday cage of some type, but I find that to be unlikely at that price point.

A friend has an FX120 and next time I'm there I will test it for myself and let you guys know what I find.

I used V3 with a Sartorius Entris for a couple years with an iPhone. The issue with the Sartorius is it's too precise. It measures to .001 grains. Because of that, temperature changes will make it drift. I basically ignore the third digit when I used mine and that helped. I would retare when it drifted more than .010 grains.

The A&D FX-120i is a better solution for measuring powder. It is 20 times less sensitive yet will still measure to the kernel.