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Better idea... The counter-weighted bar that holds the carriage magnet hinges. It has to, as it's forced down as it nears the bell, releasing it's grip on the cap at the end of the carriage to let the bell magnet take over. Despite my best efforts, the hinge point has more play than I'd like...

Great news! Just when it started getting boring over here another design flaw cropped up. :smh: Everything is roses until a cap is crimped on a bottle and the capper head is on it's way back up. The carriage follows the bell up to provide a new cap, but while doing so the hinged magnet on the...

Wow, well I promise not to disappoint! Status right now is the bell magnet stop rod needs some adjustment. 100% certain I'll get it dialed in. With respect to cap pick-ups, I think I sent about 300 caps down the chute tonight, and after a billion fine adjustments it's perfect. :rock: Rock solid...

When 3 hours turns into 43 days...

Nice work! Judging by your age, ingenuity, and skill level, you may never 'finish' this project. I find there's no end to improvements, new ideas, and additions. Keep building... It's becoming a lost art I fear. Very well done.

I'm not even going to assemble and test. Pretty confident at this point. I'm going to tear everything down, and clean up my re-model boogers as best as I can, clean, final assembly, and video. This may end up being the only 8 cap auto-feeder that will ever exist. I promise to share a video...

Haha, from my perspective it was approaching nightmare status as what seemed like a relatively simple design build was evolving into ''The impossible." But I'd shot my mouth off, so...

Really happy with this result. No more curve balls , please.

I hurriedly bolted the stop to the frame. Anxious to check operation... Lots of critical measurements here. Looks like she's gonna work!

OK... spring is gone. Those two 8-32 screw are just spacers until I get it bolted up. It'll be fine...

I'm staring at it thinking, yea, that spring has to go. I think the sleeve I put in the rod coupling is tight enough to overcome the counterweight, which won't be horrible anyway 'cause my stop is 1/8" from the side of the rod coupling, just what it needs to clear the lip of the bell. And I see...

OK, I'm gaining ground again. To re-cap (Pardon the pun :p), everything was fine until I tried to crimp a crown on the bottle. It seems the magnet I have to use to suck the caps into the bell was so strong it took away the bell's natural ability to center the cap on the bottle. A billion of an...

Just when I thought my problems were over. It appears the bell magnet couples with the rod nut through the stainless shaft, something I'm surprised to see. So not only do I need a down travel limit, but I need a limit to force it back down at the top of travel. It also takes an enormous amount...

If there's still any interest in the working video let me know, and I'll make one after I assemble it. But... cutting through the fog of this auto-cap feeder, the main take-away from my mind numbing 'contributions' to this thread is, a 2" diameter pneumatic cylinder will NOT work to crimp crown...

OK, I'm about done. After I thought about it, the magnetic bell is really something I want irrespective of the mostly useless auto cap feeder. Without the feeder I think I could just switch to a less powerful magnet, but frankly I think I'll get better alignment with this new method. I can...

Well I'm going for it. Halfway done, actually.

Even better, make the magnet rod stainless to give it more mass. The slot in the rod coupling would capture the 3/16 rod to limit it's down travel to the point it just contacts the centered crown. With more mass, gravity would ensure the mag is always in position unless mechanically stopped...

So a 1/2" diameter aluminum rod about 2" long with a 1/4" cylinder magnet pressed in the bottom, could be drilled and tapped horizontally to accept a 12-24 threaded 3/16" stainless rod screwed in through a slot in the rod coupling, which would hit a stop on the capper frame, thereby releasing...

The problem isn't the bell, and it isn't that the magnet won't retract. It's that it's death grip, which is required to suck the crown up off the carriage, is so great that it doesn't allow the crown to self-center on the bottle. So I have 3 options as I see it. 1. Give up. 2. Fab a retractable...

New problem, and it's a big one. To this point all my testing has been done at 20 psi, just to fine tune the bell picking the cap up consistent and square. Last night, after being satisfied I'd accomplished that, I poured the coals to her. Mangled cap, everytime. I thought perhaps my spring...