app upgrades

[redriverhunter]

I have been thinking about the different ideas that I have came up with for the a Lee APP press what have you all come up with.

1. a 1'' inside dia. plastic hose that slips on the spline drive breech lock bushing. When sizing bullets the slide right on down to the container.

2. a 1/4" 20 coupling nut. the one I found was 7/8 of an inch wish it was longer. This makes the bottom nut much easier to work with automation package

[44magLeo]

One thing I have been thinking about is once you have the height of the block that holds the drop tube for feeding cases/boolits set.
Measure the distance from the top of the upper nut that holds the block on the bolt to the top of the lower nut.
They sell threaded brass tube for making lamps, Cut a piece off the length you measured. I thought of this because it cab be found in most any hardware store. A thick walled tube of any sort will do the same.
Do this for each case/boolit you work with.
Put the bolt up through the press and use one nut to hold it I place. Drop on the precut tube. Set the block on, a washer, then thread a wing nut on the bolt to hold it all together. Should be all set for the case/boolitt it was measured for.
I have some of this tube left over from another project. I'm just not sure where I put it.
This would speed up the install and adjustment of the parts.
On bullet sizing I don't have the new style boolit sizers. When these are installed the sooth top of the die hangs down. This smooth top is not 1 inch in diameter. It's closer to 13/16 inch. I had some 3/4 inch hose off of a jiggle hose that is a snug fit up on the die. I used this to feed boolits into a catch bin.
Leo

[onelight]

That tube idea is good 44magLeo.

[44magLeo]

At first I thought I could use old cases. I have some range brass in 30-06, 308, 30-30 and some pistol stuff. But with cutting to length and drilling holes it seemed easier to get some tubing. The threaded brass I had as left over.
With cases If you didn't cut off much the necks might be to thin and might crumple.
Leo

[Mike Kerr]

Wowser- the Lee App press sure has become popular in a hurry. Nearly every distributor source is now back ordered.

[44magLeo]

Mid South has them in stock as of Friday the 24th. That's when I got their last Email, and it says they are in stock. It don't say how many.
Leo

[GWS]

One thing I have been thinking about is once you have the height of the block that holds the drop tube for feeding cases/boolits set.
Measure the distance from the top of the upper nut that holds the block on the bolt to the top of the lower nut.
They sell threaded brass tube for making lamps, Cut a piece off the length you measured. I thought of this because it cab be found in most any hardware store. A thick walled tube of any sort will do the same.
Do this for each case/boolit you work with.
Put the bolt up through the press and use one nut to hold it I place. Drop on the precut tube. Set the block on, a washer, then thread a wing nut on the bolt to hold it all together. Should be all set for the case/boolitt it was measured for.
Leo

I was thinking that direction too.....but using long coupling nuts, which could be cut off or added to to get a particular length. What I did was use a short bolt to connect the feeder directly to the coupling nut, and then add an all-thread under it to stickout underneath and then add a wing nut under. But I had problems getting wing nuts small enough to work....so I just added another smaller coupling nut underneath.

Because of the length of such a nut underneath, it's easier to get a wrench on it under there without contortions or kneeling under the bench to get to it. A guy with a welder could even tack a rod to the bottom of the lower coupling nut, making a "Tee" you could hand tighten.

Below is a picture of what I did nut-wise....



See you could add another coupling nut under that coupling nut, or even washers above it to get just the right length.....I had a couple of long ones, the second one I just cut to length. Then a third one under the press. The picture doesn't show the second coupling nut or the one underneath, but that one makes it so easy to tighten the feeder under the press.

One more advantage is that it really stabilizes and stiffens the feeder.

[44magLeo]

Your way is ok. The way I'm thinking with tubes cut to length you put the bolt up through from underneath with a nut to hold the bolt. It stays in place. Drop on a tube set the feeder on then snug it together with a wing nut on top.
No threading on/off any of the coupling nuts you use as spacers. things juist drop on and one nut to hold in place.
Leo

[hpdrifter]

I have been thinking about the different ideas that I have came up with for the a Lee APP press what have you all come up with.

1. a 1'' inside dia. plastic hose that slips on the spline drive breech lock bushing. When sizing bullets the slide right on down to the container.

2. a 1/4" 20 coupling nut. the one I found was 7/8 of an inch wish it was longer. This makes the bottom nut much easier to work with automation package

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ng-the-Lee-APP
More ideas floating around here.

[GWS]

I didn't explain well enough....just the minimum unscrewing....

I took it off the mount and made a short video to splain a little better.....what I'm doing is processing rifle and I found that the APP didn't feed rifle well. So I made the little drop tubes then I wanted an easy way to change calibers.

The coupling nut topside makes the whole thing a lot stiffer too....

[onelight]

The video helped me see how it works , nice job

[GWS]

I forgot to splain one detail.....I used a nut under the coupling nut to lock it.....but you can't add a locking nut to the lower nut that rests on top of the press frame....because it interferes with the slide. So I used blue thread locker.......if I had red in the house it would have been the stronger red threadlocker.

I plan to do something similar to all the single tube loaders too for pistol applications.

I'm not a welder....have to beg a nephew to do that....but my next detail is to get him to tack weld an oversized wing nut to the bottom of the lower coupling nut.

[LittleLebowski]

That tube idea is good 44magLeo.

Concur.

[44magLeo]

I spent some time experimenting with the spacers.
With the bolt up through from the bottom the nut gets in the way a bit, I turned the nut so a flat side was toward the slide and it clears the case/bullet inserter.
I found if you cut the spacers about .17 to .18 inch longer than what you want to run through the feeder gives you about 1/8 inch clearance under the bottom of the tube support. You could cut the spacers shorter to get less clearance. The 1/8 seems to work fine for what I have ran through the APP so far.
I cut a spacer for the Lee 185 gr cast for the 7.62x54R, the NOE 265 gr for the 44 and the cases for the 223.
I plan on cutting spacers for the other cartridges I load for.
Once I got the 223 spacer cut to length I dropped it on the bolt. set the tube support on, a washer so the top nut won't go into the nut shaped recess in the tube support. Spun a nut down on snug enough to hold.
Put the inserter on the track and it wouldn't go past the spacer. I looked at what was hitting. I saw I needed to remove some of the spacer About 1/2 inch up from the bottom and back so the hole in the center shows a bit. Enough so the inserter and risers clear the spacer. I did the same with the other spacers.
With the bolt up through you have the nut on top, easier to see what you are doing. More room to work. I don't have a wing nut so I can't be sure it will get in the way.
Leo

[RedlegEd]

Hi Leo,
How about some pictures for those of us with limited imaginations?
Ed

[44magLeo]

I plan on posting some when I get one of my cameras working.
leo

[44magLeo]

Ok, time for pics.
I'm cutting a spacer for the 6.5 Creedmoor. The case is 1.920 long + the .18 that is what I found works is 2.1 for the spacer. Once cut I square up the both ends with the 6.5 gauge and cutter I got from Lee with the spacer in my cordless drill. Once cleaned up and trimmed to length I use my deburring tool to clean up the sharp edges.
To cut the clearance notch I measure up from one end about 1/4 inch. Another mark a bit longer than 1/2 inch. The 1/4 inch isn't to critical, the 1/2 inch is minimum to clear the inserter. A bit more won't hurt.
I put the spacer in a vice with the marks up and use a flat file with teeth on the edge to cut the notch.
More to come.
Leo

[44magLeo]

I cut the notch deep enough to just see when I get almost to the hole in the center of the spacer. I'm not sure how well you can see it in the pic but you will as you cut the notch. I then use a small screwdriver to clear this thin layer out of the notch.
Now over to the press. You can see how I put the bolt up through with a nut.
Drop the spacer on the bolt. Make sure the notch is facing toward the front.
Drop on the tube support and a washer. Spin on the coupler. I find this coupler easier to use than a regular nut. I got some wing nuts and they work if when tight the wings point forward and back. Side to side the linkage hits them.
Now you can see how much space I have between the case and support. About 1/8 inch.
You can cut the spacer to give you the clearance you want. I found the 1/8 inch to work well. If to close a long case will bind. A short case is no problem.
If the case or bullet you want to run needs a spacer less than 1/2 inch long it may be a problem. I don't have any thing like that so I can't say for sure.
With this set up I just drop on the spacer, support, washer and coupler. If your spacer is short and leaves a lot of bolt sticking up you can cut spacers to go between the washer and coupler if you want.
As I was cutting these spacers I found the threaded tubing is not brass. It appears to be a mild steel with brass plating. When you buy this tube next to it on the rack is a package of short pieces. two 2 inches, two 1.5 inches, two 1 inch and two 1.2 inch. You may want to but these too. Some of these may be the length you can use.
There is also some couplers that fit these parts. I found it handy to use one. When trimming a short spacer, it may not be ,long enough to work in the drill. Put a piece a few inches long I the drill, the coupler then the piece you are working on. Gives you more room to work.
The tube is 30 inches long and cost $6.99, the pack of short pieces was $2.99. The couplers about the same.
I browsed online for brass tubing to use for this. I found a 1 ft. piece of 1/4 inch tubing for $2.58, the S&H was $13.98. The stuff you get local is much cheaper.
Hope this stimulates your creativity enough to try it.
Leo

[GWS]

I especially like the ability of your method to tighten it up at the top rather than under the press. When using the 4-way with tubes loaded, a little harder, but still way better than stock. I had in my mind that you were using the outside threads of the lamp all thread tubing.....now I see....you could use any tube of the right size with no threads on it...whatever you find near the same diameter.....just not plastic tube....that would be too flexible.

Cutting the notch is a great idea! Never thought of that! ....I could do that to really long couplers too. These Covid-induced mods are fun.....I think we have too much time on our hands....

[onelight]

I was thinking copper tubing for spacers but have not tried it yet.