ohland
11-22-2012, 01:05 AM
I won an auction for a UPM with Adjustable Mic, and waited for the USPS sled snail team to be mushed down from the great white north. Thanks to its heavy duty construction, the Uniflow looks to be in VG shape. I was concerned upon looking at the box, since the Micrometer thimble was sticking through a hole in the box... Upon opening the box, I found the hopper was perfect, the lid fits snugly, the powder tubes are good...
Notes to ponder if you ever want to ship a UPM with Micrometer Adjustment Screw- I recommend that you unship the mic. Simply use an allen wrench to back out the lock screw that holds the thimble on. Pull the thimble off (now it is only held on with an O ring). This exposes the wrench flats on the micrometer body. Use a wrench to unscrew the mic body. Now the screw can be removed by aligning the drum so the Measuring Screw falls down into the UPM hopper. This way, there is one less protrusion that will ram a hole in the box.
I have to get some more Evapo-Rust from O'Reillys Auto Store to clean up the Measuring Screw, somehow it was all light rust, and this rust caused it to drag while running the screw in and out. The fit of the Measuring Screw to the bore of the drum is very tight, and the slight rust caused some binding during travel through some spots....
Having used Evapo-Rust before on an old Lyman Accu-Line hand press, it will clean up the surface rust, allowing this Measuring Screw to work slick... (Note, Evapo-Rust removes ALL rust, and that includes bluing! The screw is not blued at all, so there's no issue)
Oh, there was one small boo-boo, whoever installed the Micrometer Adjustment Screw somehow managed to put the three compensation washers on in such a way that they were forced up onto the outside of the micrometer housing... No damage to the drum screw threads or the micrometer body threads... My bet is the person who installed the adjustable screw had the washers hanging down on the mic body, instead of centering the washers in the counter-bored recess in the threaded portion of the drum. I have installed another Adjustment screw, right from the box onto a large drum, and if you use common sense, there is no drama involved...
I'll drop a note to RCBS and they will send the three spacers. All these spacers do is properly align the scale on the mic body so it is easier to see.
Now that it is all apart, I've wiped down the precision mic parts and the surface rust is gone (rust must have come off the powder screw). The drum is VG. The main body casting is VG, no rust at all, the green coating appears to have no chips or scratches. Hopper is clear, tight on the main casting. Lid fits snugly. The Measuring Screw needs some TLC, but will be fine. The three spacers will be replaced. All in all, it was worth the money.
:drinks:
Notes to ponder if you ever want to ship a UPM with Micrometer Adjustment Screw- I recommend that you unship the mic. Simply use an allen wrench to back out the lock screw that holds the thimble on. Pull the thimble off (now it is only held on with an O ring). This exposes the wrench flats on the micrometer body. Use a wrench to unscrew the mic body. Now the screw can be removed by aligning the drum so the Measuring Screw falls down into the UPM hopper. This way, there is one less protrusion that will ram a hole in the box.
I have to get some more Evapo-Rust from O'Reillys Auto Store to clean up the Measuring Screw, somehow it was all light rust, and this rust caused it to drag while running the screw in and out. The fit of the Measuring Screw to the bore of the drum is very tight, and the slight rust caused some binding during travel through some spots....
Having used Evapo-Rust before on an old Lyman Accu-Line hand press, it will clean up the surface rust, allowing this Measuring Screw to work slick... (Note, Evapo-Rust removes ALL rust, and that includes bluing! The screw is not blued at all, so there's no issue)
Oh, there was one small boo-boo, whoever installed the Micrometer Adjustment Screw somehow managed to put the three compensation washers on in such a way that they were forced up onto the outside of the micrometer housing... No damage to the drum screw threads or the micrometer body threads... My bet is the person who installed the adjustable screw had the washers hanging down on the mic body, instead of centering the washers in the counter-bored recess in the threaded portion of the drum. I have installed another Adjustment screw, right from the box onto a large drum, and if you use common sense, there is no drama involved...
I'll drop a note to RCBS and they will send the three spacers. All these spacers do is properly align the scale on the mic body so it is easier to see.
Now that it is all apart, I've wiped down the precision mic parts and the surface rust is gone (rust must have come off the powder screw). The drum is VG. The main body casting is VG, no rust at all, the green coating appears to have no chips or scratches. Hopper is clear, tight on the main casting. Lid fits snugly. The Measuring Screw needs some TLC, but will be fine. The three spacers will be replaced. All in all, it was worth the money.
:drinks: