Primer catcher mod for Lee turret press

[dikman]

I put this here because it's to do with a press, even though it's a bit of a how-to (not sure where else to put it).
My new Lee turret press (basic model, not the Classic) is designed to catch spent primers by the simple expedient of dropping them from the side of the ram and through a hole into the hollow base of the press. Not really a problem normally, as the base will hold an awful lot of primers before it has to be unbolted to empty them out. As my press will be removed from the bench after a reloading session, I figured this would result in spent primers rattling around in the base (my press stays permanently bolted to a heavy steel plate, approx. 7" square). So, after staring at the bottom of it for quite a while, I came up with the following. I used an old brass padlock (!) that I'd ripped the innards out of, mainly because it had a 1/2" hole down the middle where the tumbler fitted. I trimmed it to fit into the gap underneath the bottom of the hole where the primers drop through, and then cut it diagonally so that I ended up with a half-width hole on one end, so that it matched the half-width hole in the base casting. I then silver soldered a short piece of brass tube to the other end of the brass block so that I could fit a piece of plastic tube to lead out from underneath the base. As there won't be any strain on it, I used a hot-melt gun to hold it in place. Hopefully the piccies might make it a bit clearer.

My steel base plate happened to have several mounting holes already in it, and one of them almost lined up with the hose, so a bit of filing to enlarge it soon fixed that. I'll probably just attach a small plastic bag to the hose to catch the primers when I'm de-capping.

I also made a shorter handle for it. The press comes with the "new" angled handle that has the rotating rubber handgrip. It works well, but I found it a bit long and I just know I'm going to catch something on it!! So a piece of 1/2" steel rod, 9" long, threaded at one end, a nice round plastic door knob I happened to have tapped to match the thread and bingo! Almost instant handle. A bit of buffing on a wheel to make it shine, for the finishing touch. It feels much nicer.

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[troyboy]

Great idea. What are you going to attach to catch the spent caps

[jmort]

Nice modification. I had the same press and it served me well.

[dikman]

Yes, I'm rather impressed with it, it's a nice piece of engineering, particularly for the price.
Troyboy, still thinking about that. I could slip a small plastic bag over the end and use a magnet to hold it to the bottom of the plate, or make a longer tube that just slips over the end. I'll have to see what bits of tube I have lying around that will fit. It doesn't need to be elaborate, simple is good (bit like me :)).

[zuke]

I drilled a hole 90 deg from the existing hole and rotated the ram counter clockwise so it eject's to the side now. A businedd card held there with magnet's make's sure all primer's go down.

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/DSCF1750.jpg

[tomme boy]

Look in the thread "homemade" that is stickied in this forum above. There is a really neat way to do this with a piece of cut up plastic to make a drop tube.

[44Vaquero]

119077119078Here lets just make this easy:

[zuke]

119077119078Here lets just make this easy:

I like it!
But mine was spitting the spent primer's out the front onto the floor. Now that I catch 99.9 %,I'm a happy camper!

[rondog]

I had one of those once, but it was so long ago I can't recall what I did about primers. I can't even remember where I had the press set up! My brother still has it. I have the Classic now, a much, much better design all around! But I certainly respect making homebuilt improvements to what ya have! I do stuff like that a lot, there's always room for improvement.....

[dikman]

It's rare that I get something and don't look at ways to modify/improve it (can't help myself). With the exception of their molds, Lee stuff appears to lend itself to modding.

I slid a short length of plastic pipe, with an end cap, over the "drop" tube and knocked out my first few primers yesterday. It worked well (I rather liked watching those little fellas pop out and go sailing down the hole. Guess I'm easily pleased?).