Unusual Case Forming & Trimming situation

[popper]

I did the dremel thing, HF works much better.

[country gent]

On the mini chop saws a simple fixture from a block of wood and destaco clamp you can make a very quick accurate case holder fixture. The big thing is to desighn it so once clamped in the saws vise it can be opened, closed and cases changed.

Heres what Im thinking right now. A 1 1/2" square block of hardwood scrap long enough for the case.
drill a thru hole slightly bigger than the case case dia +.100
center a release agent coated case in this hole front and back. You will want enough extra in the back for a nut to be glued in. This matches the case taper in the fixture the nut and screw lock nut a fine adjustment.
When cured cut in half on center line use a doubled hacksaw blade and lightly clean up cut. on top half relieve both sides .060-.080 so it is free moving in the vise when base is clamped. A small destaco clamp on the base provides clamping attach top half of bloc to arm and the clamp will raise lower and clamp.

In use set up in vise close to size the screw nut can be used to fine adjust the cut. The epoxy formed holder should make very square cuts so only a few thousandths need to be left for final trim

[country gent]

An even better cut jig would be a modified case trimmer. mounted on a board and the hinge arm motor and blade from a mini saw mounted cases could be turned during the cut making a squarer cleaner cut the arm would need to be mounted on a slide to adjust.

When cutting with the mini saws a damp rag hung behind the blade catches a lot of the grit and will help contain the neck / shoulders. but you need to give it a spray of water every so often. A wire stand in a c about 2-3" tall and a wash cloth or rag draped over it wetted every so often

[Omega]

It's tough to beat the HF saw for ease, price and compactness.

This is a bit more expensive, but it has all the stations I needed to chamfer/debur the case mouth, decrimp, and uniform the primer pocket. And with an adapter, I trim to length as well with a Lee hand trimmer after forming the cases.

And when finished, everything fits in the container for storage.

[Mr_Sheesh]

The shoe box is a good idea for containing the metal bits!

[EDG]

Many of these problems can never be satisfied because of too many constraints.
1.The poster has little room
2. The poster wants to limit the outlay of cash.
3. The poster wants a clean, neat , quiet and fast process that is safe.

The answer is there is no process that meets all the requirements without compromise.

All the really cheap processes generate noise chips and make you sweat.
The easy quiet processes require either a mill with a slitting blade or a lathe with a parting tool.

A shop with a Hardinge lathe with a 5C collet closer could part those cases of about 6 a minute. Literally millions of parts are cut off in automatic equipment using the same process every hour of every day.

A lathe is by a million miles the best solution.
But you either buy a lathe and get someone to spend a few hours helping you set this operation up or you just pay a savvy reloader who own a lathe a little cash to mow off about 3 years worth of brass.

Consult with grumpa here at cast bullets. He knows exactly how to do the work you need.

[mold maker]

Unless funds are limitless, a mini tubing cutter will allow you to trim almost to length without a mess. I have done lots while in my recliner watching TV or youtube. The only space needed would be to contain the brass before and after cutting and the scraps.
Regardless of which method. you are going to need a final precise trim by file or trim cutter. A trimmer mounted in a square cake pan will contain the brass scraps and trimmings while working on your lap or table. Trimmers can be drill powered or hand cranked.
If you contract out all the work involved in this hobby, you might as well shoot factory.
Throwing money at a task is like hiring a chauffeur to drive you across the street to church while maintaining a car and drivers license.

[David2011]

It's tough to beat the HF saw for ease, price and compactness.

This is a bit more expensive, but it has all the stations I needed to chamfer/debur the case mouth, decrimp, and uniform the primer pocket. And with an adapter, I trim to length as well with a Lee hand trimmer after forming the cases.

And when finished, everything fits in the container for storage.

While I don't mess with 300BO I have read of many people successfully using the HF mini chop saw to trim the brass. There are lots of references on the 'net.

I do have one of the Lyman prep stations in the second picture and I love it. If the pocket reamers are replaced with Hornady version it makes it a much better tool.

The plastic box is an awesome idea!

[Mr_Sheesh]

I have an RCBS case prep center, need to make space somewhere to set it up. One step at a time. I agree that it's a tough situation, just need to figure it all out.

[rockshooter]

For 300 BO, I use the HF 2" chop saw, then to final trim with the little crow worlds fastest trimmer- works great
Loren

[nicholst55]

An even better cut jig would be a modified case trimmer. mounted on a board and the hinge arm motor and blade from a mini saw mounted cases could be turned during the cut making a squarer cleaner cut the arm would need to be mounted on a slide to adjust.

I saw one of these done with a Lyman Universal Trimmer. The chuck was removed and reinstalled facing the opposite direction, on the outside of the trimmer. I don't know how well it worked in practice, but it's about the best use I can envision for that particular piece of equipment.

[Hossfly]

Like the harbor freight chop saw, I installed 7\16 deep socket 1\4’ drive in saw clamp and adj. for length. Works well, chopped about 50 or so then put in hand cranked trimmer for final work. Loud, yes, brass partials all over, yes. In the end very good and close cutting, very fast. Little to trim. This was making 300BO from .223 cases with split necks.

[Blanket]

with the restrictions you place on doing so you might want to just consider buying from someone that is set up to make the brass you want

[JimB..]

I have built a little slide that runs against the fence on my drill press, in that slide is a hole sized for the brass I want to trim. In the chuck is a mandrel with a 4” cutoff blade which I run at max speed. Table is set so that once trimmed the brass falls into a box. Need to work on managing the chips and scrap.

Thinking about redesigning it so the feed is a circle instead of a slide, then I can have a small motor turn it and just drop brass into the holes.

Building this to make jackets to swage .38/.357 from 223, but suppose it’d work for other sizes with minor adjustment.

Now this obviously won’t work for Mr S, but it could probably be rigged up with a stand and a battery operated drill so you could run it anywhere. Of course that little HF cutoff saw could probably be run from an inverter in the car and it’d be a lot less trouble to setup in the far corner of a big box store parking lot.

[Mr_Sheesh]

I don't think there IS anyone set up to make these. Easy solution'd be to just go nuts, but there're bad consequences to that. I'll try the HF chop saw, can't be any worse. (Then go nuts and froth at the mouth if that fails :P)

[Grmps]

You could use this concept https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlAFF79us8U&t=52s

with a temporary spacer between the drill and the tubing cutter to get proper depth -- no brass chips/mess, then form and trim to length

[StratsMan]

Some good ideas in that video... True DIY thinking...

[BD]

I use my regular twelve inch Dewalt mitre saw. I just drill the appropriate size hole through a block of wood, trim to .1 longer than I need, clamp it to the fence and use a shell holder on the case head to register the case against the wood block. Using a triple chip non ferrous blade like I use for aluminum trim I get a pretty smooth cut. I can set up and cut down about two hundred an hour. You still have to trim them in the trimmer, (I use and RCBS with a battery drill on the handle end), but it only takes a second if they are close to length. The first time I did this I made about 400 .450 Bushmaster cases this way in around 2 1/2 hours including the time spent figuring it out and drilling the block. I think having the case in a close fitting hole right to the cut line really helps in getting a clean cut without any deformation and not much burr.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Unsure what size pilots I have for the RCBS trimmer, the older Forster I will have to find (Chaos is a good word for this place, sadly.) Guess I'll look at the RCBS trimmer and see. It'd sure be faster than a file! I need to adapt it for a drill yet, too.

[Mr_Sheesh]

This video looks like an even easier way maybe and would use that HF Chop Saw, that's SPEEDY and if you put an adjustment device in the wood block used for spacing you could fine adjust it.

Now if I can figure out where some of the finished rounds went I can ship them out, sigh. Getting things done but slowly - At least it's cooling off here now.