why ???

[airone46]

I bought a FREE CHECK III from Charles Darnal, but a lot of gas cheks have a deep engraving on the board, until they get to the gas check.





In addition, aluminum tape (bought by the same seller Charles recommends!) Runs smoothly, and often the two pieces that make up the Free Check III remain clutched and it is very difficult to separate them.
Lubricate the Free Check III with dry silicone spry, and to avoid overlapping the cuts, creating small pieces that might fit inside the Free Check III I applied a template on the 1 tonnium arbor press ram.
What can I do)

PS (Sorry for may bad english language!)

[airone46]

this is a better
photo!

[Beagle333]

Whenever mine starts making those, it is not from the holes overlapping, but results from the strip not being inserted completely against the back of the frame. The missing piece comes from the edge of the strip, where the cutter is not sitting completely on the strip and hangs off the edge for just a small amount, resulting in that "chip" in the gas check. Make sure the strip is perpendicular to the back of the cutter and is inserted completely and flush with the back of the cutter before making the stroke with the press. Try that and see if it might be the problem. Watch as you lower the ram slowly and make certain that the entire circle of the cutting punch rests on the strip with none of it hanging off the back. If I am not being clear, I can draw illustrations later.

[airone46]

Thank you. In fact I thought it was as you say.
For this reason, when I lower the lever, I press the metal strip so that it is firmly against the slot at its back.
To prevent the holes from being very close I also made a template: in this way the holes are distant from each other mm 3.
I also removed the top punch and checked that there were bits of metal, I lubricated with dry spray silicone and put everything back.
I also noticed that the spring is too weak: for this reason the press lever and its ram are squeezed by their weight. For this reason, every time I have to lift the lever manually, to get the aluminum drip strip correctly. This makes everything slower!
I took the Free Check from a reloader: but it has never been used!
In fact mr. Darnal sent out the free check without any insurance, even though this paid the reloader. After about 45 days the reloader asked the Italian Post about the outcome of the shipment, and they replied that most probably after all this time it was definitely lost! The reloader asked mr. Darnall found an agreement, since the blame was his, but he never replied !!!
Then the reloader sold the Lee arbor press and mold that he had bought for that reason. But after a while the Free Check arrived, but now it has nothing left to use it and sold it!
(The poor man has lost a lot of money, though everything was new and never used!)

For me mr. Darnall did very badly: the shipment was at the expense of the buyer and for that reason he could ask him a few bucks.

[Retumbo]

You can tell a lot about your problem by looking at the metal left over. If you have 100% round holes in the strip then there are die issues.

If you holes in the used strip are not 100% complete then it is operator error.

[airone46]

This are aluminium strips and template on my arbor press

[Retumbo]

I would check to see if the slot the strip goes into is deep enough. Those punched holes on the edge don't look right.

[bstone5]

May need to make the slot a little deeper if there is any allowance for making the slot deeper.
There should be a clean full circle cut in the strip of metal check metal strip.

[Retumbo]

Like this...

[airone46]

Indeed!!! That's what I was thinking!
But the test strip that Darnall sends along with the Free Check III has the holes like in the photo I have posted!
I wrote to Darnall and I sent the photo.
It seems to me that the holes are doing so well! But not speaking English I'm not sure I have understood it well!

Also I also thought of making the deeper slit! I'll ask Charles!

[Epd230]

Keep is posted as I am having the same problem with my die from him as well.


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[Smoke4320]

If the Shipment was addressed correctly it was not the shippers fault but the multiple post offices and/or customs offices that the package would have went thru
once a package leaves the US our postal service washes their hands of any issue. Every time I ship an overseas package we hope it goes smoothly but have ZERO control over it

[codarnall]

If the Shipment was addressed correctly...... Every time I ship an overseas package we hope it goes smoothly but have ZERO control over it

Smoke you are so correct, packages are left in TRANSIT many times forever. Especially Italy. Now, alerted to this post by one of my many customers, airone46 was not the original buyer. The buyer was extremely inpatient and had the monies refunded by PayPal. A lot of money, more that 30$ in USPS postage. Now if someone would like to contribute to making custom flat coil springs I could have designed the tool for a complete punch through. But metal is elastic and grips the plunger tightly. The FreeChex IV uses such a spring...spring constant 350# per inch. More than $25 each in quantity. I will not go into the physics of having a 10 microgram imperfection is nada compared to trapped inclusions in the casting. ED230 I use my name for everything, I doubt if the trouble you're having is really... not. My two cents.----Charlie

[dragon813gt]

None of mine punch a complete circle w/ metal remaining on the edge of the strip. It's really an operator thing. It's very easy to not have the strip seated completely at the back and have checks come out like the OP's. When seated all the way back it produces perfect checks.

You can see how it punches them out as well as misformed checks in this pic. This was a 22cal check maker which is why I was able to punch them out on both sides.

[Dragonheart]

It' not the tool it's the operator! If it were the tool then every check would have the scallop. The problem is the strip is not held tightly in place when the ram is engaged, it is as simple as that. Having three tools (2-III's and 1-IV) I have made thousands of checks.

I purchase a great deal of items from overseas and have sent a number of items overseas. As Smoke has commented, in the USA postings can be tracked, but after that who knows? Most of the time items arrive, but sometimes not; Sometimes it's late, sometimes it is never seen again. It is not the shipper's fault when this happens, it is the system.

Additionally, in my dealings with Mr. Darnall I have found him to be a most honest and trusting individual. In fact it would appear that Mr. Darnall has even attempted to provide you with warranty service for a tool that you did not purchase from him. Apparently, from Mr. Darnall's post he was never paid for the tool, since the original purchaser was credited back for a tool that was reported lost in the mail, but actually received and then resold to you.

[airone46]

I know! Mr Darnall is a very kind and honest person!

I do not know how the facts have been done in this sale, so I can not say anything!

I often buy in the US, but other retailers ship with very qualified couriers, who ship shipments from the US to the buyer's home delivery, and the cost is not much cheaper than the US and Italian postal service.
You just have to be careful about how the goods are packaged!
What does not work is not the US Postal Service, but the Italian Postal Service! In addition to very long times, they often lose or steal the goods! In fact they know that they can not be fired! Also, tracking says almost nothing!

But with private companies this does not happen! Sometimes I get the goods before the given date, and the tracking is very detailed!

Returning to the discussion, I know very well that if the strip is not tight, the gas check is defective: although I am very careful, and I'm sure I have positioned the strip well, g. comes as shown in the picture! This is what you do not understand!
I'll do something that keeps the strip well, so it's impossible to position a defect, and let's see what's happening!

PS In Italy the warranty is on the item sold, and not on the person you buy !!!! Mr. Darnall has just told me some things about the operation, also because the instructions are not so clear, not even for American friends who have not been able to understand and translate all the instructions!
Mr. Darnall never offered to replace the piece! The real guarantee lies in this!
Google Traduttore per le aziende:Translator ToolkitTraduttore di siti web

[airone46]

I did 85 g.c. with the utmost care to adhere well the strip to the back of F.C.III
They all looked good, but then looking more carefully I saw that ALL had the same defect: a tiny engraving on the edge!
I took the measurements with a digital caliber: the g. is 0.092 high, and the measure where there is the incision 0.080 / 0.082 !!!
But I do not think it's a big defect!

[eagle27]

If the strip is hard back in the slot and you don't get cut outs as Retumbo shows then it is a faulty die, pure and simple no other explanation required, send the die back to have the slot correctly cut. Would you accept gas checks produced by Hornady or Lyman with scallops in the side walls like that, I very much think not.

[Retumbo]

But OP is not the original owner. Probably cheaper to find a local machinist to deepen the cut a few thou.

[jdfoxinc]

The original Free Chex left this scallop to make it easier for the ram to withdraw from the hole in the strip.