I needed a project

[itchyTF]

I realize there are all kinds of auto tricklers out there but too expensive since I’m frugal. I’m 77 and need to keep my noodle active so I thought I’d attempt to make my own. Already have a Dandy and FX120i so I got an Arduino Mega 2560 and a touchscreen. With a fair amount of software help from a friend I think I’m just about done.
The first screen is where you set the target weight and the second screen is for settings. I decided to allow for 4 powder types - ball, flake, short stick and long stick. Don’t know if I’ll need all this but thought I’d allow for it.
I’m running the Dandy with Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) so on the settings screen you can enter a frequency for each powder type (2-20Hz), duty cycle and delta from target weight. The duty cycle changes when it reaches the corresponding delta. Probably more variables than I need. Now I have to design a box to put it in.

 

[Dimner]

I like it! Please keep us posted.

I made a powder dispenser for my lyman 10-10 with a motor with a gearbox and a 3d printed hopper and control box. Arduino nano for the board. It worked pretty well. I have just recently bought the components to setup something similar for the Creedmoor electronic scale. So I'm excited to hear your progress.

 

[itchyTF]

I needed to make a board for the RS-232 chip plus a 5v and 3v regulator, transistors and connectors. I’m considering doing a “formal” board so I can mount a DB-9 connector to it.

 

[Dimner]

I'm no where near as good at figuring out circuitry from scratch to create a board based on a single IC. So I bought one of these



Since i really dont know what im doing, i use what i call the baby steps method for these type of projects. Start with a small portion of the functionality needed, get it working, and then move on to another portion of the system.

Next week's project: get the arduino to simply digest and display the output of the Creedmoor scale. After that, the next project will be to display a color coded status light (red, yellow, green) light and a beep when I hit an user input charge weight via manual powder dispensing. I'll use a multi colored led.

This 2nd part is useful to me because often I'll be charging 50 or 75 loads of let's say 51.50gr and there might be a time I space out and fill a case to 50.50 or something. I think it's only happened once and I caught it, but a visual or auditory cue that I achieved the desired weight gives me confidence.

These are the types of projects that happen when the 10 degree real winter begins

 

[Webster]

I realize there are all kinds of auto tricklers out there but too expensive since I’m frugal. I’m 77 and need to keep my noodle active so I thought I’d attempt to make my own. Already have a Dandy and FX120i so I got an Arduino Mega 2560 and a touchscreen. With a fair amount of software help from a friend I think I’m just about done.
The first screen is where you set the target weight and the second screen is for settings. I decided to allow for 4 powder types - ball, flake, short stick and long stick. Don’t know if I’ll need all this but thought I’d allow for it.
I’m running the Dandy with Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) so on the settings screen you can enter a frequency for each powder type (2-20Hz), duty cycle and delta from target weight. The duty cycle changes when it reaches the corresponding delta. Probably more variables than I need. Now I have to design a box to put it in.

Love the techy stuff.

 

[old_heli_logger]

I'm doing my best to forget my last job...I got sick of it. I was a hardware design engineer for 21 years in Hillsboro, Oregon. I worked on design teams for motherboards, game stations, laptops, ultrabooks and phones