Pellet sorting software

[vinenator]

hi,

in another area i had commented about how i would go about sorting/checking pellets for size/out of round using an optical scanner. The basic idea is to place a bunch of pellets on the surface of a scanner skirt side down (i will investigate the use of a plastic grid to act as an alignment tool) and the software would take a image of the bottom of the pellets. The software would then look for the location of each pellet and determine the size in both axis. this can produce the size of each pellet and note which are out of round (X and Y dimensions aren't the same).

I've been playing with some software ideas and I think it is worth taking to the next step.

what i would like to have is a sample of pellets of each size (.177, .20, .22, .25) to use as test bunnies.

i don't even have my rifle yet so i don't yet have a cache of pellets.

i would appreciate it if anybody would like to contribute some test bunnies. 10 or so of each should be enough to get started. since there are differences in the  skirting of each model, i'll eventually need to try various pellet brands and models.

my other option is to get some of the sampler packs.

anybody else interested in this project?

[daemon2525]

Are you a software programmer? I think that is very possible to do with the
right skills.

[vinenator]

Yes, Yes I am.

[Kevin1966]

I have a few different types of pellets I could offer up mainly in .22 and .25 but a few in .177 and one make  in .20 let me know what you are looking for.

[daemon2525]

Have you considered using something like CCD/CMOS that a digital camera uses?

And sure I have a few different types of pellets.

[vinenator]

cams don't have the resolution and you have to figure out the distance, etc.

a scanner can be calibrated so you know what the resolution is on both axis.

in a perfect world, the software could also indentify the size. like .551 .552, etc. in case you really want to sort.

   we'll see

[reeko]

sounds very interesting.

how is that project coming along?

[UCChris]

Sounds very interesting!

I could probably donated a couple .22 and .177

[vinenator]

I tried to scan a some pellets, but the issue became trying to isolate the outer edge of the skirt. the depth of field of the scanner picks up the head of the pellet (3D shadowing effect) so it makes the pellets appear wider than they really are.

i'll keep at it and try to use other settings to see if i can get a good image.

the other issue is true resolution. most scanners don't have a high enough native resolution to help this problem. "interpolated" 9600dpi is worthless.

[reeko]

I see!

Please keep us posted, would be great if you'd find a way to make it work! 

[Airgun.Sniper]

  This is a great idea....i could see it working.  Im a programmer at my job but it didnt work when created my sorter. So i juat created the tool rather than software. Got a very sensivtive sensor/accurate sensor to measurre the head of each pellet...Your thing sounds like it could get a bunch of pellets done faster instead of one by one

 Cheers and let us know how it goes

 Jay White