Lets make a Swage press

[ANeat]

Aneat
Excellent work,
I´m very impressed.
I´ve been thinking of building a press.
Is possible see a the new drawing wiht the dimensions in system metric?.
Thanks.

Kryon I cannot, I did not do the plans. You might PM Matt, he may be able to do something but you may end up with a bit of a mess

Most of the dimensions could easily be rounded up/down to suit your material supplies and needs

Instead of 1" material you may find 25mm

Instead of 4" use 100mm

etc, etc

[mactool]

I have it almost modelled it up, and can make drawings in metric. Please give me some time

[taminsong]

Aneat,

I just came from a machine shop and I showed to them the plans of the press that I downloaded here. They cannot guarantee a perfect finish like the one in the pics you post.

They said that for making the holes, they used drill bits and the hole wouldn't be smooth. I don't know why, but I think for guys like me who knows nothing about machining, this project would be very hard to accomplish.

[ANeat]

Aneat,

They said that for making the holes, they used drill bits and the hole wouldn't be smooth. I don't know why, but I think for guys like me who knows nothing about machining, this project would be very hard to accomplish.

No its not an easy project at all, even for someone with the right tools its still a lot of labor.

I have everything I need to make them and I would hate to have to do it and try to make a profit building them.

Getting any kind of quality finish would involve using a reamer or boring bar. Although there are only a couple spots where that is required.

[DDriller]

If you use this press for reloading does the ram go all the way to the top plate like a reloading press, or do the guide rods need to be shortened for that?

[LatheRunner]

ANeat, You are right it does take awhile to make one. I built this one before the plans were drawn up. I just used what you posted when you built yours. Some of the material I used was salvaged from scrap at work. I used 1" DIA. stainless rod for the guide rods. Works real good. I also bolted the toggle blocks on instead of welding them on. That also added more time. Thanks for posting this thread. LatheRunner

[mattm]

If you use this press for reloading does the ram go all the way to the top plate like a reloading press, or do the guide rods need to be shortened for that?

I changed the model to use the reloading setting and grabbed a pic of it. I think with the adapter for the shell holder in the ram the ram should be able to touch the bottom of the sizing die like you want. The model shows the top of the ram about 3.5 inches from the bottom of the top plate. Of course I haven't actually built one of these (except virtually) so take that for what it is worth

[ANeat]

If you use this press for reloading does the ram go all the way to the top plate like a reloading press, or do the guide rods need to be shortened for that?

Yes like Matt said, an adapter would be needed to mount a shell holder, plus with the adjustment of the die, then you have a reloading press.

The adapter that is sold for the walnut hill press would work.

[ANeat]

Latherunner; just wanted to say thanks for posting the pics. That looks great, really great.

So did you do your own dies as well or are you using walnut hill dies?

[LatheRunner]

ANeat, Yes I made my own dies. I used A2 tool steel. Heat treat at work. I like A2 it doesn't change much in heat treat. I honed the core die and the core seat die after heat treat. When I made the point forming die I did not have a reamer so I tried to bore it out. Did not work too well. So I tried something new . I made two bushings out of A2 . I was able to bore them out because they were shorter. pressed them in and heat treated. First time trying to do that with bushings. It worked. Polished to .400. makes good bullets from 9mm cases. LatheRunner

[KTN]

Started building my second swaging press, with some of my own ideas......



Kaj

[ANeat]

Wow Kaj, that is awesome

[MaxJon]

Started building my second swaging press, with some of my own ideas......



Kaj

Were you reading my mind? Damn it! You beat me to it! Thats how i will be building my 1st one.
Nice work, double the volume!
BB03

[LatheRunner]

KTN,

Nice job.

[KTN]

Were you reading my mind? Damn it! You beat me to it! Thats how i will be building my 1st one.
Nice work, double the volume!
BB03

Bullbarrel033,

You know what they say about great minds .....or was it twisted.

It usually takes four steps to swage .224" bullet from RF case. With this I can derim case and swage core with one pull of handle and seat core and point form with second . Lazines improves creativety.


Kaj

[hardcase54]

Not laziness, just "smarts". Looking good KTN

[MaxJon]

Bullbarrel033,

You know what they say about great minds .....or was it twisted.

It usually takes four steps to swage .224" bullet from RF case. With this I can derim case and swage core with one pull of handle and seat core and point form with second . Lazines improves creativety.


Kaj

Once again, well done KTN! Keep us posted on the double banger!
BB03

[BT Sniper]

WOW good looking work guys. Impressive thread this is becoming.

So out of curiosity just how many total presses have been built so far?

Swage ON!

BT

[singleshot]

Can a Forester Co-Ax press work for a swaging press?

[BwBrown]

After more than 40 years reloading, I just purchased a used Forster Co-ax press. I have very little experience with it yet, so far I am pretty impressed and happy with it. But my first impression is that as nice as it is, I would not risk swaging with it.

The mechanical advantage is a bit better than a simple lever press, but less than a compound (i.e, Rock-Chucker) setup.

I suspect that it would be lacking some in the rigidity, strength, might bend or break fairly easily. Te weak spots. looking at it would be the linkage pins and holes - I suspect the pins would break out of the casting.

You could try it, but just a little extra pressure, and you just may rue the day.

I know that finances are always part of the equation, but I would counsel you to watch ebay or local ads for a used compound linkage "O" type press. You might even fall into the real deal swaging unit.

Good luck,
Bob