edsmith FCIII adaptor base review

[JKH]

Hey Guys, I ADDED ONE OF ED'S PIC'S IN A RESPONSE AFTER THIS

I want to tell you about a handy little item I aquired from edsmith to use with my FCIII.

Perusing the boards I came across Ed's post with drawings for a Freechex III type tool along with and adaptor base for use in a loading press. I promptly fired off a PM to Ed to see if he would make and adptor for my tool

Ed & I made an arrangement which was very reasonable (I will not say what the deal was so as not to have him inundated with requests, I'll leave it to him to let the board know if he WANTS to make these to market), Ed asked for the OD of my tool base and I received the adaptor/base very shortly after.

What Ed made me was a beautiful unit that slips perfectly into the ram of my loading press just like a stadard shell holder, it is approximately 1 1/4" tall and made from stock that is approximately 3/4" in diameter, the material is aluminum but I do not know what grade.
Ed drilled through the center to just a bit above the flange for the shell holder slot (I have to look coser but he may have bored it somehwhat for final ID), he then used some form of cutter (fly cutter?) to open up one side which opened the bottom of the bore hole and created a small "ramp" that allows the finished checks to drop free and slide out (I need to rig a simple chute to divert the checks to a contaner, or may find a way to adapt a large diameter clear vinyl tube to a container instead).
The base of my check maker slipped in with a few thousandths clearance so that it is easy to install/remove but is firmly heald with no side play, just right!

I found that this setup worked best in my antique CH "C" frame press from the 50's, it sets back at a bit of an angle and makes it a little easier to feed aluminum stock through the tool. I placed the adaptor base in the ram, then to hold the tool in place I installed my LEE .30 cal boolit sizer die in the press, then screwed it down till it started loading the tool, and the cutting edge was right at the bottom edge of the slot in the body where you feed the material through. NOTE* if you buy or build an FCIII tool I highly recomend you get the shank (part of the forming mandrel) that extends out of the tool body to allow it to be chucked in a drill press, it works fantastically well in a drill press and in this case it slipped nicely into the sizing die, and holds it so there is no chance of movement or slipping, and if for some reason down the road you find it is a hinderance you can always cut it off.

I really like using my FCIII on my drill press and can lazily crank out at least 1,000 checks an hour that way, but it requires me to be in my dank basement/garage and to stand to work, now with this excellant adaptor from Ed I can sit comfortably in my loading den where I most like to be anyway

So, kuddos to Ed! He helped to make what was already an awesome tool even better with a simple but elegant little chunk of aluminum, thanks Ed!

Jeff (JKH)

[JKH]

I pirated a link to a pic from Ed's thread showing his version of FCIII, the bases (2 are shown) are in the upper right of the picture.

[JeffinNZ]

It's a beautiful thing. Charlie will approve I am confident.

[maddog2020]

its great, he made one for me and it will punch out .011 to .014 and they great

[JKH]

maddog,

back when I was 18 in 1980, my friends & I used to go to the liquor store and buy MD2020 (Maddog 2020), the last time we did I ended up drinking 2 1/2 quarts myself! NOT a smart thing to do ;^) Haven't touched a drop since! Is that where you're name is derived from?

Otherwise; Ed is a talented man & very nice! I am grateful for good people like him :^ )

Jeff (JKH)

[maddog2020]

SEMPER FI

We stole the eagle from the Air Force
The anchor from the Navy
The rope from the Army
And on the seventh day when God was resting
We overran his perimeter and stole the globe
And we have been guarding it ever since!

devil dogs of the 3rd Marine Division.
MOS 0317 - - Scout Sniper

[JKH]

very good indeed! Glad there is a much better story behind the name ;^ ) although, back when I was in Army boot I sure could have use a few quarts of MD2020!

Jeff (JKH)

[Hammer]

I was a two striper at Keesler AFB in 1972 living in the baracks when my roommate (an early computer geek) went on his first drinking binge on MD2020. The last time I saw him before I went to bed he was running down the hallway stark naked with a motorcycle helmet on his head imitating an airplane and not another stitch of clothing anywhere to be seen..... Never had the urge to to try the stuff after that....

[PatMarlin]

Lordy that MAD Dog was devil juice. We would drink that on the transit bus on the way to Cal Expo state fair, then sneek in through the back.

That stuff brings back a serious 70's flash back ...

[JKH]

this is good, not only are we able to connect via our communal love of casting boolits, but we can all relate to the foolishness of youth, of course I still am a fool but at least it is not induced by alcohol or illicit drugs now! :^)