Making shell holder blocks

[Wayne Smith]

Does anyone have a template program for drilling wooden blocks into shell holders? I'm dreaming of something that I input the size of the hole and the number of holes, possibly spacing between holes, and it creates a template that I can print out and paste to a piece of wood. A really sophisticated one would create both a top and bottom template of a large size on one side and a small size on the other.

I know, I can do it freehand with a fence and my drill press, but this gives me a size and look at what I will have ahead of time.

[rtracy2001]

The "array" funtion in most drawing probrams like AutoCad, Pro Engineer etc. should do something like that. those programs can be quite spendy, but they can print 1:1, or scale to shatever you need.

[1hole]

I use a sheet of drafting "grid" paper lightly glued to tight grained wood block - cherry, maple, walnut, poplar, etc. I then center punch where the holes will go and use a flat blade wood bit with a true running center point in a drill press for the holes. That kind of bit IN A DRILL PRESS turing at high speed tends to cut clean holes and leaves smalish center holes in the bottom of the finished block to drain any stray kernels of spilled powder - that's good thing! Brad point bits do well but cost more and won;'t leave a "drain" hole. (Standard twist bits suck for this work.)

Belt sand all six sides, especially the top and bottom to clean the hole edges. Then litterally soak the raw block in oil based paint/varnish/poly for a few minutes to allow the liquid to penatrate. Remove, drain and allow it to try a couple of days before applying a light second and third coat to completely seal the wood before you use it.

Using a 3/8" bit for .223 size heads, 1/2" bit for most common heads, 9/16" for magnums and most rimmed cases.works for me.

[jhrosier]

... those programs can be quite spendy,....

Check out Solid Edge 2D Drafting V20.

It is very good, and FREE.

Jack

[imashooter2]

Another method to getting nice flat bottomed holes, is to drill through the block and then glue a piece of thin plywood to the bottom.

[jcwit]

Weren't "forstner" bits made for this kind of application?

[sgabel1]

I used Photo Shop and set up a graph paper grid added the correct diameter rings for the bullet I needed with a dot in the center for each hole to be drilled, copied it to the grid in a row 5 wide and copied 10 rows to equal 50 rounds. I then printed out the template cut it out, taped it to a 1/2 thick block of polypropylene I had and center punched the dots, used the correct Forstner bit set the depth on the drill press and drilled away. I have a template for both 38,357 & 45 ACP. between the two I am sure they would work well with many other calibers. I could Email JPEG versions if you want them Wayne Smith

[rtracy2001]

Weren't "forstner" bits made for this kind of application?

Yes, they were, but a single good forstner bit will cost you more than an entire set of general purpose bits. Now you can get the Chitatown special bits, but . . .

[Wayne Smith]

I've got the Chinatown special bits from years ago in Forstner - plus brad points in 32nds up to 1/2" so the tools to make the holes I have.

[jcwit]

Yes, they were, but a single good forstner bit will cost you more than an entire set of general purpose bits. Now you can get the Chitatown special bits, but . . .

But what? Run the drill press at a responsible "yes responsible & reasonable" speed and there will be no problem. Have a set I've now used on and off for over 10 years and its drilled 1,000 of holes. Had my own woodworking business till retirement.

BTW Here's an add-on, the 1 inch bit drilled a few thousand holes in Corian cabinet top.

[rtracy2001]

But what? Run the . . .

It is a gamble every time. Sometimes you get lucky and get a great set, and sometimes you get straight up C R A P. Now for the price you may be willing to take the chance, you may not that is up to you. I have taken a chance a few times, got burnt once or twice, got lucky a few times too. Luck of the draw.

[1hole]

I prefer the flat bits to the Forsners, it's MUCH easier to see if the longish point is aligning with the proper location marks.

[jcwit]

I prefer the flat bits to the Forsners, it's MUCH easier to see if the longish point is aligning with the proper location marks.

Use a center punch to pinpoint the location spots. Yes it even works when using wood that is unless one is using crappy soft wood ie; pine.

You will have a much better finished hole with a forstner bit, but then it is your project. And be satisfied with your results.

[c3d4b2]

I saw somewhere where someone used a piece of pegboard for a pattern to drill repeated holes. I have never tried it, so do not know how it would work.

[Kraschenbirn]

Lay out your hole pattern on graph paper, then tape the pattern to the blank blocks and mark the hole centers with a punch. If you're careful and use the blue painter's masking tape, you can use the same pattern over and over.

Bill

[462]

I made a re-usable template of non-corragated fiber board. Too, I prefer the better finished result produced by a Forstner bit.

[Doc Highwall]

When I made some years ago I just used a square with pencil and draw it on the wood block. Then I clamped a piece of wood to the drill press table for each row of holes and drilled away with a light sanding before sealing with a finish.

[Doc Highwall]

Forgot to mention for cartridges like my 45-90 I like wood but for all my modern cartridges I buy the thick poly ones from Sinclair International. These can be washed and are made for different case heads and hold 50 cases.

[Zthomps]

Anyone have pictures of what they've made

[sparky45]

I used 5/4" Black Walnut to make mine and I used a template I made out of tempered Masonite. One thing that need your consideration is the spacing. Obviously larger calibers will need different spacing than say .223.

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb351/glynnm1945/WBlock_zps9a3svsri.jpg (http://s1201.photobucket.com/user/glynnm1945/media/WBlock_zps9a3svsri.jpg.html)

[country gent]

Make a simple template from wood metal or plastic, with the hole pattern in it use 1/4" thru holes for this. Now a simple 1/4" transfer punch can be used to mark each hole with the template clamped to the block. Once punched the block can be drilled with a brad point or forester drill bit in one pass, or it can be drilled with a standard drill colse to depth then finished with a flat ground twist drill. I lay out "specials" with a set of hermphadite calipers and a set of dividers. A big plus is a punch point that is close to matching the brad point or fostners bits point.

[Wayne Smith]

Wow, long time ago. I made some, used the router to cut a cove along the bottom sides so I can pick them up, and used 777 and some carpet stay-in-place (same stuff sold to hold work for routing but way cheaper) stuck to the bottom so they don't slide.

[Hdskip]

I pretty fortunate I've got a milling machine. That makes it easy for me. Done several on a cnc mill. that way I can get any size hole i need. I'm going to miss that one when I retire.

[Doc Highwall]

The first loading block I made with two pieces of 3/4" pine that were the same size. I laid out a pattern of 50 holes on one piece and using a drill press and a 1/2" forstner bit I drilled through one piece. Then I glued and finished nailed it to the second piece, and after the glue dried I routed the edge making it look nice.

What this did by using two pieces of wood is it gives a nice flat bottom to the holes with a 3/4" hole depth, and 308 case heads measure .473" and the 1/2" (.500") hole diameter gives a nice clearance.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I used my Mill and an Endmill to cut the holes.

If you don't have a mill then the hot tip is to use a fence to govern the offset in the Y axis then all you have to do is move from point to point in X as you drill the holes.

Drilling all the way thru and then gluing a plate on the bottom is an easy way to get nice flat bottom holes.

I assume you want blocks with 50 holes in them. That is 5 rows of 10 holes. Depending on how long and wide your blocks are you would divide the length by 11 and the width by 6 and that would give you the spacing that divides the block up most evenly. You need to divide by one more than any number of holes in a line,,, so that the first and last holes are off the ends the same amount.

I have made a few Cribbage Boards this way and it always works out great.

If you try to attach a overlay sheet to the top and drill thru it your holes will be all over the place because you will never hit the exact center of any dot. If you set up a fence it makes it much easier as you only have to control one axis. Also if you pilot or spot each hole with a 1/16" drill bit it is much easier to get centered up on your layout marks. Smaller drill is always easier to spot than a larger drill bit.

Good Luck

Randy

[RP]

Check for some peg board holes are spaced out for you maybe every other one for larger cals. And I would go with the drill completely threw and add a backer going with the KIS plan that is Keep It Simple

[Ole Joe Clarke]

If you have, or know someone who does, a CNC mill, you can have holes drilled and ready to load another block of wood in about a minute. :-)

[rda72927]

Here is a picture of one I just finished. I'm in the process of replacing all my old MDF one's with some Africa Mahogany. The mahogany came from a Craigslist listed ammo shipping safe. It was the wood that was lining the inside. The wood is worth more that what I paid for the safe. Also listed is a PDF of the template I use to make them. It says 3/8's, but mark the center of each hole with a awl and drill with whatever size bit you need.

173540173541

[NavyVet1959]

If you are going to be making just a few of them, setting up a paper template and then using a very small nail as a center punch for the grid you you drew on the template works well enough. You could use various PC drawing utilities to make this template. You could even make it with MS-Draw if you were desperate enough.

If you want your template to last longer, use the paper template to make a secondary template in some thicker wood or plastic -- 1/2" thick would probably be sufficient. Mark the holes in the secondary template material and then use a 1/16" drill bit in your drill press to drill all the way through the secondary template material. When you want to create a new loading block, choose the secondary template with the right spacing and use a nail / punch that fits the holes you drilled. The thick material will keep the nail / punch perpendicular to the material and the wood that you will be using on the reloading block. After you mark all of these, use a Forstner bit in your drill press to drill uniform depth holes. It might be difficult to see the centering point of the Forstner bit. What I do is pick up the piece slightly off the bed of the drill press and "feel" for the point with the hole that I placed in the surface of the piece of wood. I've been using the Forstner bits from Harbor Freight and on low speed in my drill press and they seem to work good for this. I've made a few of them out of pieces of 2x6 pine. Works well enough for my needs.


https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/drill-press-loading-blocks-320w.jpg

By my calculations, each of those costs $0.21 if you use new lumber. It took me 16 minutes to make a single reloading block like that using just a paper template that I had previously drawn by hand. The paper centering template will last for a few uses if you're careful.

Here's another thread on the reloading block topic...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?376-Reloading-Blocks

[Walter Laich]

had great luck with forstner bits. use them for cowboy loading blocks as well as a shotgun loading block. Takes a bit of time but they're basically free using scrap wood

I have gone to the plastic ones for pistol and rifle as I can spray case lube on them and after a number of time wash them in dishwasher when they get a heavy coating of the lube on them...wooden ones not so much luck in the washer :razz:

[Doc Highwall]

NavyVet1959, I like that you used 2X lumber to make your shell holders, as it gives enough depth to hold the cases so they don't wobble when you move the tray. This is much better then just using one piece of 1X to make the trays.

[NavyVet1959]

NavyVet1959, I like that you used 2X lumber to make your shell holders, as it gives enough depth to hold the cases so they don't wobble when you move the tray. This is much better then just using one piece of 1X to make the trays.

I just used a single size Forstner bit and depth setting for all the ones that I created since I was making them for 10mm at the time. I then tried fitting other calibers in them. With 9x19, the depth that I used is slightly too much (as you can see in the block on the bottom left in the photo that I posted), but it seems to work well for both 10mm and .45ACP. If I was wanting to make some for 9x19, I would probably make the holes slightly shallower.

Nothing fancy, but I think it beats the look of a cardboard box. :)

[Doc Highwall]

The shallowest holes I ever made for a loading block was drilling all the way through a 3/4" piece of wood, and nailing/gluing a piece on the bottom.

[afish4570]

I used 5/4" Black Walnut to make mine and I used a template I made out of tempered Masonite. One thing that need your consideration is the spacing. Obviously larger calibers will need different spacing than say .223.

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb351/glynnm1945/WBlock_zps9a3svsri.jpg (http://s1201.photobucket.com/user/glynnm1945/media/WBlock_zps9a3svsri.jpg.html)

This way using a crappy drill doesn't matter how the bottom looks. Try a scrap piece first. This way the bottom will be neater and easy to clean.afish4570

[Doc Highwall]

The spacing is not only determined by cartridge size like 223 vs 308, but by the size of your fingers.
Too little space between cartridges make it easier to knock a case next to the one that you want to grab.

[sparky45]

Right again Doc!

[Czech_too]

I've made some in the past, cartridge specific i.e. Hornet, .223, out of scrap 1x6's.
By using this - http://www.incompetech.com/graphpaper/
I was able to size to fit both the # of holes but also the distance between. It might be something worth playing with.

Brian

[NavyVet1959]

The spacing is not only determined by cartridge size like 223 vs 308, but by the size of your fingers.
Too little space between cartridges make it easier to knock a case next to the one that you want to grab.

Yep, it's a function of the diameter of the cartridge, the diameter of the drill bit you are using, the size of your fingers, and even how deep you drill the hole for each cartridge. That's the good thing about using a computer generated template that can be rescaled and scrap pieces of 2x lumber -- it's easy to rescale and cheap to try different combinations to see what works for *you*.

When you are using 2x6 pieces and drill all the way where there is only 1/4" of wood left between the bottom of the hole and the bottom of the board, you're probably around 1.5" deep and unless the hole is quite a bit larger than the cartridge, it's going to be difficult to knock it over.

Now, having said that, I do have a 30mm cartridge that might need a bit deeper of a reloading block if I was to actually be reloading it. :)

[beezapilot]

C.A.D.??? Templates??? Graph paper??? This is drilling holes in wood, right.

You take a piece of scrap lumber, and a ruler....

Lay the ruler diagonally on the scrap lumber (for this example use 1 inch increments) you want the perimeter holes a bit closer to the edge (for this example we'll put them at 1/2 the distance of the rest of the hole spacing). So then we put a tick mark on each inch, this gives us equally spaced marks all the way across the board and with the 1/2 inch start and stop, the holes will be evenly spaced but the perimeter holes closer to the edges.
173608

Then take your square and draw a line through each of the tick marks. More holes, steeper angle or fractional spacing. Or you can use the centerline of a piece of wood as the reference and angle the ruler until you get the number / spacing that you want. Or, have a fixed starting point and a "flying end", get your spacing and trim to length.

173609

Turn the block 90 degrees, repeat and you have a drilling grid without much hard thinkin', math, computer involvement.... easily repeatable and will work on large and small scale projects.

I did these a few years ago, made them sized so that two would fit in a SFRB, sold quite a few and cleaned out the shop scrap bins. Using the "ruler trick" note how they are spaced closer on one axis than the other.
173610

Before I upgraded to Dillon, used to load 9mm a hundred at a time- the bases fit very snugly in the holes, never lost one to tippage. This is a piece of Baltic birch from when I was building kayaks. All holes drilled with Forsner bits... and a note on Forsner bits, I've used some pretty expensive bits from Switzerland and some pretty cheap bits made of Chineesium Alloy, aside from how long the bits would last /stay sharp, the holes looked exactly the same.
173611