Alan in Vermont
11-28-2017, 05:36 PM
With aging and some injuries thrown in it has been getting painful for me to trim cases. I have both Forster & RCBS trimmers and both have the threaded spindle that you turn to tighten the collets. The constant twisting combined with muscle & nerve damage in my left shoulder/arm was making me dread trimming. Not too bad on short runs but I also do an initial trim on all my straight walled handgun cases. When my collection bucket gets full I size/trim/wash & tumble the lot, around 500 pcs of 38 Sp.
To get around having to twist the spindle I came up with an extension handle that works on both trimmers. A short length of 3/8"(OD) automotive tubing, a 3/8" shaft collar a short piece of a fairly stiff foam that was left over from use to permit me to grip eating utensils when I was recovering from nerve damage that had left my left hand temporarily paralyzed.
208632
I put a bit of a bend in the tubing which allows it to be turned to the best angle to get the needed travel. By putting it on either end of the crossbar I can get it to tighten down on any case I have to work with.
The tube is a drive fit inside the shaft collar. I drove it far enough that the tube is flush with the collar.
208633
Using a drill bit that just fit through the hole for the setscrew I drilled the tube, then ran the appropriate tap through the collar and tube. That way the threads in the collar go all the way through the tube. Using a longer setscrew allows tightening the handle down on the smaller crossbar for the Forster trimmer as well as the RCBS.
208634
The parts should be easy enough to come up with, the tube & collar at a hardware store, the foam sleeve may take a little finagling. It is available on Amazon but only in sets of three different sizes. A little browsing in the hardware store might come up with something that would work or a short piece of broomhandle could be drilled to fit. I had to glue the foam on as it was a loose fit on the tube. I smeared a little silicone sealant on the tube and slid the foam on then let it sit overnight.
Now what was a twisting of the wrist is done with light pressure of the fingers or an out-and-back move of the forearm. Far less irritating and tiring this way.
RCBS has a cutterhead that trim & deburrs inside and out in one operation but has only a limited selection of the pilot/inside deburring cutter. They don't offer one in 35 rifle/38 handgun size. But it is possible to use a snug fitting standard 35 pilot along with the outside chamfering cutter to get trimmed cases with no, or insignificant, inside burr. I can't get decent pics of how I made it happen but it was just a little trial & error along with being smarter than the tool to make it work.
Somebody makes an adapter that screws into the end of the trimmer shaft to convert it to a 1/4" hex which makes it dead easy to drive the trimmer with a cordless drill.
No more small twisting motions with fingers or wrists now so case trimming, while still tedious is no longer painful.
I'm sick of typing at the moment but I will see if I can find the source for the foam padding and that power adapter and post them later.
To get around having to twist the spindle I came up with an extension handle that works on both trimmers. A short length of 3/8"(OD) automotive tubing, a 3/8" shaft collar a short piece of a fairly stiff foam that was left over from use to permit me to grip eating utensils when I was recovering from nerve damage that had left my left hand temporarily paralyzed.
208632
I put a bit of a bend in the tubing which allows it to be turned to the best angle to get the needed travel. By putting it on either end of the crossbar I can get it to tighten down on any case I have to work with.
The tube is a drive fit inside the shaft collar. I drove it far enough that the tube is flush with the collar.
208633
Using a drill bit that just fit through the hole for the setscrew I drilled the tube, then ran the appropriate tap through the collar and tube. That way the threads in the collar go all the way through the tube. Using a longer setscrew allows tightening the handle down on the smaller crossbar for the Forster trimmer as well as the RCBS.
208634
The parts should be easy enough to come up with, the tube & collar at a hardware store, the foam sleeve may take a little finagling. It is available on Amazon but only in sets of three different sizes. A little browsing in the hardware store might come up with something that would work or a short piece of broomhandle could be drilled to fit. I had to glue the foam on as it was a loose fit on the tube. I smeared a little silicone sealant on the tube and slid the foam on then let it sit overnight.
Now what was a twisting of the wrist is done with light pressure of the fingers or an out-and-back move of the forearm. Far less irritating and tiring this way.
RCBS has a cutterhead that trim & deburrs inside and out in one operation but has only a limited selection of the pilot/inside deburring cutter. They don't offer one in 35 rifle/38 handgun size. But it is possible to use a snug fitting standard 35 pilot along with the outside chamfering cutter to get trimmed cases with no, or insignificant, inside burr. I can't get decent pics of how I made it happen but it was just a little trial & error along with being smarter than the tool to make it work.
Somebody makes an adapter that screws into the end of the trimmer shaft to convert it to a 1/4" hex which makes it dead easy to drive the trimmer with a cordless drill.
No more small twisting motions with fingers or wrists now so case trimming, while still tedious is no longer painful.
I'm sick of typing at the moment but I will see if I can find the source for the foam padding and that power adapter and post them later.