My home built power case trimmer

[55fairlane]

So I decided that I wanted a power case trimmer, after seeing how most where more spendy then I was, I took a good hard at these power trimmers and decided I could build one......ok now where to start.....well a look around my machine shop,&nbsp; I saw the Bridgeport,&nbsp; and my counter bore set, and I got it....<br>
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Step one, place a .040 thick cardboard shim between the jaws on an old vise, grab a .375 end mill (cause that is rim size on a .223 Remington)&nbsp; center up between the jaws, and mill down .060, leaving a coounter bore to set and hold the sell in<br>
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Ok, now grab a counter bore, install a .210 dia. pilot, and turn the machine on....<br>
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Worked very well, and after just a few mins of work , I did a lots of shells.....and holds my over all leanth to plus or minus .001....success!<br>
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What do you all think?

[maxreloader]

Pretty slick!

[lightman]

Yeah, pretty slick! I would love to have a mill.

[Pressman]

A mill or a good drill press can be very useful for certain reloading tasks.
In this instance, Lyman, Forster and GT Smiley made devices to clamp a cartridge for drill press trimming.
None of these sold well.

[jmorris]

I think we have too much time on our hands...

[Grmps]

A mill or a good drill press can be very useful for certain reloading tasks.
In this instance, Lyman, Forster and GT Smiley made devices to clamp a cartridge for drill press trimming.
None of these sold well.

I would have to assume it was because the average drill press depth stops aren't accurate enough or to hard to set up to .001

[country gent]

The drill press stops can be hard to set and on a lot there is spring that makes it hard to maintain .002 oal. I made a base for use trimming and neck turning in the drill press and modified the stop. Its a split clamp that goes around the spindle ( lost 1/2" travel to it) and a threaded pin that seats on the base for the case behind the case. This is much more solid and Can be adjusted with feeler gages . Dust the case mouth off, measure case. adjust stop up and lower spindle to touch case mouth. if .10 is needed a .010 feeler and adjust stop down to just touch. On the newer drill presses the stop parts are plastic of light metal and a lot of give to them.
Another reason these weren't big sellers is they were almost as expensive as the "lathe type" trimmers for the kit and you still needed to have the drill press to use it. Upping the cost of the set up.
A simple way to drill press trim is to make a angle plate and mount the trimmer on it. then mount in drill press. This gives you the lathe type trimmer and its better stop. A quicker set up time, and allows the drill press to be used for a lot of things.

[Gee_Wizz01]

I have a NIB power trimmer I would be willing to trade for the Bridgeport. The power trimmer takes up less space and much less power.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

[55fairlane]

Oh wow, I like his air cylinder case clamp.....

A cheap drill press has a lot of "spring" in it, but some of the old walker turner and delta machines where and are rock solid.......yes turning a case lathe "up right" mounted to an angle plate was a thought, but as a machinist I was bound to find a cheap way to do it....

Trade me a power case trimmer for the mill......hhhhhmmmmmm shipping would kill the trade.....machine weighs about 1000 pounds.....but nice try....lol.......

Sent the counter bore out to be resharpened, so my cost is up to $5 in my trimmer..... I have 500 cases ready, we will see how well this works.....

Aaron