RCBS Trim Mate dissassembly and lube

[SARuger]

My very old Trim Mate case prep center has gotten very noisy. It works fine. I just think its time for some new lube.

Has anyone taken theirs apart? I you-tubed it but nothing came up. It says its not serviceable in the owners manual but I'm a mechanic, I doubt that will stop me. But my concerns are, what kind of can of worms am I opening up.

[mdhillbilly1]

My very old Trim Mate case prep center has gotten very noisy. It works fine. I just think its time for some new lube.

Has anyone taken theirs apart? I you-tubed it but nothing came up. It says its not serviceable in the owners manual but I'm a mechanic, I doubt that will stop me. But my concerns are, what kind of can of worms am I opening up.
How about contacting RCBS first to see what they tell you if they would service it.

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

[fred2892]

It is possible because I have read a thread on someone doing it who also had a noisy trim mate. Problem is I can't remember where I saw it. Was either here on castboolits or on one of the gun boards forums. Sorry I can't be more specific. Fix iirc was a clean and re-grease.

Sent from my Galaxy Tab 2 using Tapatalk

[daboone]

I've had mine for 8 years. Awhile back mine got noisy too. Wiping the rotating parts with a qtips and isopropyl followed by a few drops of oil brought it back to original level. No disassembly required.

[SARuger]

I've had mine for 8 years. Awhile back mine got noisy too. Wiping the rotating parts with a qtips and isopropyl followed by a few drops of oil brought it back to original level. No disassembly required.

This one is gear noise. Its got at least 100,000 miles on it now, time for maintenance before it dies

[Sur-shot]

Mine started making noise, took it all apart back to the motor, it was full of brass refuse and burnt powder residue. So I cleaned it up and gave it a couple shots of gun oil and some LSA, ran it a bit without brass and it was good to go. That cutter head seems to carry a bunch of debris back and forward along the rod that travels to the motor. They sent me a new rubber hose connector on a phone call, before the cleaning, and I just took it apart then also. Keep in mind that it comes with and without a motor, so taking it apart for a good cleaning should be expected. Now the motor might present another problem if its little bearings get fouled.
Ed

[SARuger]

Mine started making noise, took it all apart back to the motor, it was full of brass refuse and burnt powder residue. So I cleaned it up and gave it a couple shots of gun oil and some LSA, ran it a bit without brass and it was good to go. That cutter head seems to carry a bunch of debris back and forward along the rod that travels to the motor. They sent me a new rubber hose connector on a phone call, before the cleaning, and I just took it apart then also. Keep in mind that it comes with and without a motor, so taking it apart for a good cleaning should be expected. Now the motor might present another problem if its little bearings get fouled.
Ed

Mine is the 5 station trim mate. You must have the powered trim pro

[mac60]

My very old Trim Mate case prep center has gotten very noisy. It works fine. I just think its time for some new lube.

Has anyone taken theirs apart? I you-tubed it but nothing came up. It says its not serviceable in the owners manual but I'm a mechanic, I doubt that will stop me. But my concerns are, what kind of can of worms am I opening up.

I've had mine in pieces - several times. I replaced the switch, then the cord. I also had the issue with the thing making noise. There's really not much to them. The last time I had it apart I did the cleaning and re-lube. At any rate I've had the machine since they first came out and it's still working, so I guess I'm ahead of the game.

[SARuger]

I've had mine in pieces - several times. I replaced the switch, then the cord. I also had the issue with the thing making noise. There's really not much to them. The last time I had it apart I did the cleaning and re-lube. At any rate I've had the machine since they first came out and it's still working, so I guess I'm ahead of the game.

Awesome! Thats what I was looking for. Just didn't want to get it apart and not be able to get it back together because of a special tool or part of some sort.

I will post pics and a write up when I get to it this weekend

[gary0529]

Have dis-assembled and re-assembled mine on a couple of occasions - had RCBS send (at no charge) a broken gear that I somehow was able to ham hand and shear- very simple machine. Easy peasy to fix.
Sound like a good cleaning and re-lube will put you back in business- mine is YEARS old and used much and still works just fine.

Gary

[SARuger]

I finally got around to working on it yesterday. Super simple!

I took pics, vids etc. A write up is on its way

[SARuger]

This thing is old, and now very noisy! It was time to do some preventive maintenance

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp266/xjtrailrider/trim%20mate/20170526_080156.jpg

First, unplug it!

Flip it over and remove the two T20 screws in the deep pockets on each side of the base

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp266/xjtrailrider/trim%20mate/20170526_080316.jpg

The motor will come out with the base plate.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp266/xjtrailrider/trim%20mate/20170526_083257.jpg

Mark the wires with a sharpie and remove them, there is a black(hot), white(common) and green(ground)

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp266/xjtrailrider/trim%20mate/20170526_082743.jpg
http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp266/xjtrailrider/trim%20mate/20170526_082739.jpg

The motor can now be removed from the base plate by removing the three Philips head screws

There are 6 plastic(nylon) gears that form a planetary gear set, each gear can be pulled out separately and cleaned/lubed. Everything I read said to use white lithium grease on plastic gears. I had some in my tool box but any auto parts store will have it. I lubed the gears teeth and bushings both on the housing and on the base plate.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp266/xjtrailrider/trim%20mate/20170526_081516.jpg

The motor also has a gear box. Remove the four screws holding the cover on the gear box and carefully remove the cover, there are shims in there, don't loose them and make a mental note where they go!

I lubed the gear box, which has metal gears, with some PENN fishing reel lube.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp266/xjtrailrider/trim%20mate/20170526_082959.jpg

Reinstall the cover, and install the motor/gear box, back to the base plate with the three screws removed earlier.

Install the wires to the marked locations and install the base plate to the cover making sure the motor gear meshes with the planetary gears and all of the shafts line up with the bushings.

Install the two T20 screws finger tight.

Your Trim Mate is ready to go!

I have three to speed up all of case prep and trimming duties. I like using the LEE trimmers with the Lyman EZ Trim shell holder tool.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp266/xjtrailrider/trim%20mate/20170526_140907.jpg

[daboone]

Nice photo tutorial, thank you for sharing.

[mac60]

That's an excellent write up. Good photography and clear instructions. Very well done!

[flyer1]

Thanks much. I have an early one thats making noise. I now have a project.

[desiko]

Hey SARuger this looks like a great post, need to do this too but I can't see the pics.
Tried the photobucket fix but didn't work. Any chance you could re-up the pics?

Thanks,

desiko

[Dancing Bear]

That's an excellent write up. Good photography and clear instructions. Very well done!

Go to your extensions tab and look up photobucket hot links and enable it. This will show the pictures again. You could also search for instructions on how to get around the blacked out pictures on any forum.

[beechbum444]

A primer pocket reamer broke on mine and instead of selling the part to me they requested that I send it to them to be fixed . After a few weeks I called just to see what the progress was on it. They apologized and said that they decided to rebuild all the gears beacause I had an older moldel with gears in it that could go bad. They rebuilt it and shipped it back to me feee of charge. This is why I continue to buy rcbs products

[daboone]

RCBS has completely redesigned this and now calls it the BRASS BOSS.

https://www.ammoland.com/2018/01/rcbs-announces-new-reloading-product-2018-shot-show/#axzz55h4bTMa5

[desiko]

Go to your extensions tab and look up photobucket hot links and enable it. This will show the pictures again. You could also search for instructions on how to get around the blacked out pictures on any forum.

Thank you Dancing Bear, working now