Homemade?

[Twmaster]

And being cheap is the mother of invention. I needed a shallow tray to hold bullets on my Dillon BL550. I was not about to pay Dillon $48 just for their purdy blue tray.

I saw this porrager bowl in the thrift store for $1.50. Drill a hole, make a 2" stand-off and a longer bolt for the rear mounting bolt on the press.



Easy to reach into, rotates on the bolt for perfect placement. And cheap!

[footpetaljones]

Great, I knew there were people here that would recognize the picture. I really couldn't pay someone to build this. Do you know of any other pictures or ways that I can get a better idea of the individual parts. I know the basic function of it but would have reverse engineer or re-develop the whole thing in order to make one. Are there any of these things around yet? I would not think they still use them in manufacturing... but maybe. Think it would be worth starting a new thread for this?

Look up videos of the Case Pro 100 on youtube. The crimper functions exactly the same, except the case pro has a motor attached by a linkage rather than a handle.

I believe that the folks who make the Case Pro will also make custom dies.

[Johnny_V]

And being cheap is the mother of invention. I needed a shallow tray to hold bullets on my Dillon BL550. I was not about to pay Dillon $48 just for their purdy blue tray.

I saw this porrager bowl in the thrift store for $1.50. Drill a hole, make a 2" stand-off and a longer bolt for the rear mounting bolt on the press.



Easy to reach into, rotates on the bolt for perfect placement. And cheap!

I find your "cheapness" to be more like "creativity". I had an old friend that called it "repurposing". He was a cabinet maker that designed and built my first loading bench from "repurposed" pallets and solid wood doors. I remember the bench costing me less than $25.00 (just for the 1/4" Masonite and some miscellaneous). The bench was built some 45 years ago and I'm still using parts of it today. Very creative on your "cheap" idea...

[jmorris]

So this is what I am looking to build for making my own match grade reloads.

Be sure to post photos, I would start an entire new thread and don't forget the process you make bullets, prime the cases and load data.

[Twmaster]

And I've been at it again. This time I made a light for my Dillon BL550. This like others slips into the center hole in the toolhead.

I made a bushing out of some delrin rod, turned it to fit the hole in the toolhead, then drilled/bored it out so the LED fit snugly inside and could not fall out the bottom.

Figured out what value resistors I needed and got busy. The cord is from a broken USB mouse. USB provides 5VDC. More than enough to drive that super bright LED.

Once assembled I pushed the LED into the bushing and back-filled with RTV silicone.

The parts:



Assembled:



Drop it into the toolhead



Let there be light!



Sorry for the cruddy photo. My camera acts stupid without the flash. With the flash you cannot see how bright this is.

[daboone]

And being cheap is the mother of invention. I needed a shallow tray to hold bullets on my Dillon BL550. I was not about to pay Dillon $48 just for their purdy blue tray.

I use a Lee bin and bracket mount for holding bullets on one side. On the other I screwed a metal bar extension to the Dillon Ejected Cartridge Chute Bracket to fit another bin to hold cases.


I didn't want to pay for the bin barrier I've seen on line. Aluminium beer bottles (not the cans) are a much heavier gauge that beer/soda cans and are easily cut with scissors and didn't leave sharp edges. FYI I don't drink beer anymore but my son does.

[62chevy]

I use a Lee bin and bracket mount for holding bullets on one side. On the other I screwed a metal bar extension to the Dillon Ejected Cartridge Chute Bracket to fit another bin to hold cases.


I didn't want to pay for the bin barrier I've seen on line. Aluminium beer bottles (not the cans) are a much heavier gauge that beer/soda cans and are easily cut with scissors and didn't leave sharp edges. FYI I don't drink beer anymore but my son does.

Looking good !!! I take it this is your new setup down in Texas?

[daboone]

Nope, I have kept my place in Phoenix for reloading and the income it provides as it is a duplex with a tenant. However I spend as much time in Sugarland and my family home Kona as well as visiting the other kids and grandkids in SF and LA. Retirement and a flight attendant daughter has its upside.

[62chevy]

Nope, I have kept my place in Phoenix for reloading and the income it provides as it is a duplex with a tenant. However I spend as much time in Sugarland and my family home Kona as well as visiting the other kids and grandkids in SF and LA. Retirement and a flight attendant daughter has its upside.

Lucky you I have a daughter that is a beautician and getting her to cut my hair is like pulling teeth. It's funny how she can make as much in one day as I did all week.

[Twmaster]

I use a Lee bin and bracket mount for holding bullets on one side. On the other I screwed a metal bar extension to the Dillon Ejected Cartridge Chute Bracket to fit another bin to hold cases.


I didn't want to pay for the bin barrier I've seen on line. Aluminium beer bottles (not the cans) are a much heavier gauge that beer/soda cans and are easily cut with scissors and didn't leave sharp edges. FYI I don't drink beer anymore but my son does.

Nice setup. I used the plastic bins for the bullet tray for a while, but I have gigantic hands so reaching in near the bottom for little 55 grain pills was annoying. Hence my "bowl" setup. I also like your bin barrier idea. Somewhere in the past I got a handful of aluminum sheets about the size of an index card all painted a different color (paint samples maybe?) and I trim those with a set of shears for bin barriers.

[Twmaster]

And I have been at it again. This time I came up with a gadget to count the number of rounds I've made on my Dillon. This uses an Arduino for the brains, an LCD readout for the info and a simple switch mounted to the press to keep count.



Once powered-on the readout says: "pull the handle to start" Once started the screen changes and prints what you see in the photo.

I'm waiting on a small enclosure to arrive and I'll clean-up the wiring and consolidate the parts into the enclosure.

I am considering using a little bigger LCD to put more info on the screen.

[jmorris]

A $5 pedometer and a switch will get you a round counter pretty easy.



http://forums.brianenos.com/index.ph...comment-981889

you can also get any number of mechanical counters as well.



That said you might be able to set that one up the way I did my PLC controlled 1050 And have a total count and a count down from 100 too.

That said you might be able to set that one up the way I did my PLC controlled 1050 and have a total could and another that counts down from 100.

[Four Fingers of Death]

That computer controlled press is amazing, but wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy beyond my limited talents and disobedient hands, but I can do that mirror! Great idea.

[RP]

That stuff is super nice and the kool factor is way up but if you put them back in the box you got 50 rounds just saying lol. I do like the mirror to check the powder that kind of important.

[CraigOK]

Seeing all these cool things makes me want to find some place that has courses on large and mill work. Very impressive what yall have made.

[Traffer]

I have had the opportunity in the past to work with geniuses. I wish I had the honor to work with many of the folks here on castboolits. Some of the things folks do here are marvels.

[mold maker]

That's a GREAT idea. Not sure why the tumbler manufacturers don't offer this as an option. I've left mine running overnight more than once b/c I don't have one of these!

Mine is in the basement under another part of the house. Last week I forgot it, and it ran 4 hr a day all week.
Pretty brass, though.

[fred2892]

Mine is in the basement under another part of the house. Last week I forgot it, and it ran 4 hr a day all week.
Pretty brass, though.

There are 600+ posts in this thread, which one are you referring to?

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[NavyVet1959]

There are 600+ posts in this thread, which one are you referring to?

If you follow the links, it goes back to post #33.

[fred2892]

If you follow the links, it goes back to post #33.

Thanks for that. I no longer have a computer and view castboolits and other forums on a tablet using the tapatalk app. What I quoted is all I can see. No links show up for me.

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