Changing a standard trap to throw midi clays

[BRNDL]

Hello,

 

I have 6 traps that all throw standard clays. Is their an easy way of converting the carousel tubes to take midi clays? I have contacted Bowman and they say I need midi carousel at £120 + VAT and different knife separators.

 

I am thinking a plastic tube inside the standard clay carousel to hold the midi and pay for the different knife.

 

Has anyone done anything similar?

 

Thanks

[johnphilip]

I would have thought trying to stack the clays would be a pain getting them to sit right in the tube .my pal has a promatic and has two metal cages one for standard and one for middies .he just swaps them over. No other mod .see if you can see anything on promatic site to give you some ideas .good luck.

[Danger-Mouse]

I've seen a trap that had metal inserts that you just slid in and screwed into place.

[Westley]

Unless it is done correctly, it will cost you a fortune in broken clays. If you do go ahead with trying to make your own adaptor, make sure that you are standing well away from the trap when testing it. I know of 3 people who carry the scars from messing with clay traps. That is why Pro-matic run, operators courses.

[grrclark]

You could fabricate something for yourself to fit inside your standard carousel and fit alternate knife blades, however is it worth the hassle when the manufacturer parts are as little as £150ish? I know that £150 is a chunky number, but for reliability and everything else it is maybe worth it.

 

Traps are simple things really, but it doesn't take much for them to go wrong and start breaking clays, especially when it comes to knife adjustments. Having a closed in tube for the clays in the carousel would be a nightmare as well. What happens if you want to empty the trap of clays, how would you easily get them out? Likewise how would you insert the clays without letting them clatter all the way to the bottom?

[figgy]

Try something on one stack and see how it goes. Even a few strips of wood taped inside the frame to space the midis would be simple to try and easy to adjust.

 

Iirc the reducers keep the clays to the outsides of the columns this then drops it so the outer edge of the clay sits the same on the throwing arm. Think it's bowman where you can load a trap with reducers of all three sizes to give a variation. Great on flushes.

 

 

Here's a link to the bowman showing the inserts for midi and mini clays along with standards, should be easy enough to fabricate something to the job. http://www.bowmantraps.co.uk/our-products/automatic-traps/supermatch-multi-clay-trap

 

Or would the bowman inserts fit as clays are standard sizes just the height might need setting

Edited September 21, 2017 by figgy

[grrclark]

The problem is the knife seperators. As the carousel turns there are two knife blades that run between the two bottom clays in the stack, they allow the bottom clay to drop onto the throwing plate underneath the knives, and then support the rest of the stack as they turn above it, with just a few mm of support on each blade for the clays above.

 

The depth of the outer ring of the clay determines the height of the blade and mini, midi and standard are broadly similar, but obviously if the knives are spaced to suit the diameter of a mini or midi they are not going to work for a standard.

 

I have not used a Bowman with the multiple inserts so not sure how Andrew came up with a solution for that.

 

I suspect the back knife is fixed and the front one floating or something like that.

 

If Andrew has suggested to the OP that he needs a new carousel then his trap wont support the inserts and that will be due to the knives.

[BRNDL]

You could fabricate something for yourself to fit inside your standard carousel and fit alternate knife blades, however is it worth the hassle when the manufacturer parts are as little as £150ish? I know that £150 is a chunky number, but for reliability and everything else it is maybe worth it.

 

Traps are simple things really, but it doesn't take much for them to go wrong and start breaking clays, especially when it comes to knife adjustments. Having a closed in tube for the clays in the carousel would be a nightmare as well. What happens if you want to empty the trap of clays, how would you easily get them out? Likewise how would you insert the clays without letting them clatter all the way to the bottom?

 

Thanks for the info. Its a 6 trap game trailer so would be £150 each trap. Possibly only adapting 2 or 3.

[grrclark]

 

Thanks for the info. Its a 6 trap game trailer so would be £150 each trap. Possibly only adapting 2 or 3.

 

In which case I would definitely opt for new carousels and blade set for the traps that you want to run different clays through. I would be worried that a modification would cause more hassle that it was worth given the duty cycle of a game trailer in a flush.

[100milesaway]

I must be one of the few people on here that mourn the passing of manual traps, oh what fun we had slotting minis/midis inside standard clays and wacking them off the arm together also putting the clays on the arm upside down which gave an early edition of a looper....Not possible today would gets hands and faces slapped by the safety police... from Auntie.

[goo1]

I must be one of the few people on here that mourn the passing of manual traps, oh what fun we had slotting minis/midis inside standard clays and wacking them off the arm together also putting the clays on the arm upside down which gave an early edition of a looper....Not possible today would gets hands and faces slapped by the safety police... from Auntie.

hand traps are still used at trimdon Hardwick hall club on a Sunday morning Gordon Edited October 17, 2017 by goo1

[Salopian]

John Bidwell supplies wire inserts to go inside the carousel columns of his Autosporters , I believe that is all you do to convert his traps to shoot midi's and mini's .

I don't know how successful it is ?