Nail Plates For Wool Picker (Box Picker)

These are models of the complex nail plates required to make a box picker, this allows you to make print the most difficult part and you only have to make the wood box.  These allow for the nails to be very precisely positioned in rows, together they hold a total of 318 nails.  Each plate has spots for #8 counter sink screws to mount in the box and to the carriage.  Each nail hole has  counter sink to allow the nails to below the surface and position all the nails tips at the same height.

I made one over a year ago and it has been working well for Sheep and Alpaca Wool.

Instructions:

The wood box should be just over 6" wide and 4.5" high on the inside and about 36" long.  If you make it taller you can adjust the height with shims, but this height has worked well for Sheep and Alpaca Wool.  I used ¾ plywood, with some hard wood strips on top for a more durable sliding surface, but that's not required.  The nailing jig is key, I made one out of wood, but modeled this one based on that design.  In order get the maximum the number of nails in these, there a few row that go straight through and need bent over, the included tool gets them to the exact right angle.

This is designed specifically for Maze high strength 8d 2.5" (HT250) finish nails.  These are high carbon, higher strength nails than typical finish nails so they are much less likely to bend during use.  They are also much straighter out of the box.  You will need 2 lbs, available from hardware stores / Amazon.  You will need a countersink to drive the nails flush.

Also includes an STL for a handle, the handle requires a 1/4 -20 nut to be placed in the print halfway through, just add a color change at the top of the hex in your slicer.

You do not need to print the plates solid, just use at least 4 perimeters and add extra top/bottom layers. The one I made from PLA is holding up well.  I would do set your slicer to make outer perimeters first for best accuracy on the holes.  I did no post-processing when I printed these.

I would start with a small sub-section to check the fit with a couple nails. I can provide a tweaked hole diameter version if needed based on your printer results if it is too tight/loose.  The nails should be tight but only need a few hits to seat.  Similar to driving into a pine board.  It should be very noticeable when the nail is fully seated in the hole.