Drill press case trimmer

[crabo]

http://www.forsterproducts.com/Pages/power_trimmers.htm

Anyone ever try this?

[Echo]

I haven't used that trimmer. I have a Lyman, but now I use the Lee system trimmers in my drill press, and am very satisfied...

[crabo]

Lee, could you desribe how you set it up? I am unfamilier with the Lee Trimmer.

Thanks,

[imashooter2]

Check out the Possum Hollow trimmers...

[725]

The lee "zip" trimmer has a couple parts to it. The "zip" part is a stationary spinner thing that uses a shell holder to hold the case to be trimmed. Pull the cord, like starting a lawn mower, and the case being held by the shell holder, spins. The other part of the system is a cutter specific to the cartridage case desired and a handle that switches to whichever cutter you are using. With one hand pull the cord and start the case turning and with the other hand insert the cutter into the case mouth, which by shear genius is the exact correct length of the finished case length and let the spinning case cut itself to the correct length on the cutter. The end of the cuttter fits into the flash hole so the operation is always perfectly aligned. You end up with cases of the same length (as the cutter is a solid piece and no adjustments are possible (ie nothing to slip, be set at the wrong setting, etc.) and the end of the case is perfectlly true to the axis of the case (ie mouth of the case is cut square and true). I have and have used the hand crank Lyman's and others but have found this simple and cheap Lee to be superior in terms of final production and speed. You only need one zip trim station and one cutter handle (I prefer the wooden ball type). You need a shell holder and specific cutter for every different cartridge you trim. I can see how all this could be adapted to a drill press and I'm sure it would work great. The drill press would take the place of the zip trim spinner I guess. Never used it that way. Have to hear from somebody that has.

[IcerUSA]

Here is a case length gage and case holder , http://www.grafs.com/product/190242 .
You also will need one of these , http://www.grafs.com/product/190236 or this , http://www.grafs.com/product/190384 depending on how you want to use the trimmer .
And last I would suggest these for holding the case better , http://www.grafs.com/product/190655 , http://www.grafs.com/product/190656 .
The Lee case length gages are a limiting type as they trim to a set length , usually at the recomrnded .010 shorter than spec . for cal. .
I use mine in a hand drill and trim the case then use a cheap small flat file I ground the end on to make a scraper blade and small radious for the inside of the case for deburring then reverse the drill and use the flat of the file to beburr the outside of the case , don't need alot of pressure on the file to get the job done , works for me .
Another thing is I use the cutter without the ball as if the cases are a tight fit on the gage I can put it in a pair of vise grips to give me a better hold on it to get the gage into the case easier .

Keith

[Nueces]

Crabo, I have one of those drill press trimmers, but have never used it, because I've never had a drill press with a quill stop that could be relied upon to one thousandth without incantations. The regular Forster can trim this closely, so I use it, with a flexible driving shaft and cordless drill/driver. This arrangement power trims as aggressively as you'd want to run the drill press version, and can then be slowed down for final accuracy.

Mark

[monadnock#5]

Nope, I've never used a drill press, or that tool for case trimming. I've used a cheap drill press for back chamfering parts when I worked operating a vertical milling machine. It was pita to set up, the finish was lousy and the depth from part to part required the dexterity of a brain surgeon to stay within the tolerance.

If your looking to alleviate carpal tunnel symptoms and accuracy is secondary, the drill press is good. If ultimate accuracy is what you're after, keep looking.

[TNsailorman]

I have used the Lee, Lyman, RCBS, and forster trimmers, but the best one I have used thus far has been the Wilson trimmer. The mouths are dead square out of the Wilson and the length is repeatable to less than .001. They are just a tad slower to use but the extra time is worth it. You can use an electric drill to run all of the above trimmers to cut down on the fatigue factor. The little lee's do a good job but as stated, they are fixed on one setting and not adjustable. You can run these on battery powered screwdrivers, I do when I use them. I have several but they seldom get used much anymore. They also have a common problem of some other lee equipment and that is the lightweight metal used on some parts that doesn't hold up very well with a lot of usage. Lee makes some very good, reasonably priced equipment, but you have to pick and choose as some of it is better left alone. My experience anyway.

[beagle]

I have one of the Forster rigs for the DP. It does all right but is a real PITA to set up and adjust. Once you get it set, it's fine and you can run a bunch of cases once you get the rythm down of clamping and unclamping cases. I use it for .38 Specials. Not that they all need trimming that much but I do get more consistent crimps when I do./beagle

[NoDakJak]

I cobbled up some brackets so as to stand my Forster trimmer on end for use in the drill press. It did good work but was a real PITA to use. I tried one of the Lyman drill press trimmers but it did not take long to discard this as the brass trimmings kept falling into it and fouling it up. Things really improved when I started using a battery powered drill to run the Forster and got even better when I switched to a small, half inch electric drill to operate it. The fastest and easiest is when I switched to the Wilson trimmer powered by the electric drill. In the last couple years I have converted more than a thousand military 30.06 cases into 7.65 Argentine or 8x57 cases. I can run the shoulders back and then trim the entire neck back in seconds. The Wilson has rerduced my trim time by about 75%. This works for me but not many people perform this type of operation. The standard Forster will do just about everything that you need. Neil

[yondering]

I also use the standard Forster trimmer, with my cordess drill for power. you don't need to buy the power adapter; just unscrew the handle and thread on the right size nut (7/16" I think). I use a socket chucked in my cordless drill to turn the trimmer shaft.

[jameslovesjammie]

I was going to drop some major coin on the Redding trimmer. Then I saw the elcheapo Lee trimmer and thought I'd give them a try. Let's just say that at this point in time I have no intention of purchasing any different type of trimmer.

The standard holder will chuck into a electric drill. You then insert the case specific holder. Insert the length pin into the cutter, and turn the drill on. In seconds you have a perfectly square, perfectly trimmed case. I then pull the cutter out, and then lightly chamfer and debur while still chucked in the drill. Much better on the hand than cranking the handle on a bench mounted trimmer.

A small drill press would make this setup a dream. The only problem with the Lee cutter is that it will wear out quicker than the other designs. This is the only trade off to using the Lee system. However, if you do several different diameters, it shouldn't be a problem. I wore out a cutter turning .38 special brass into short colt brass, but the cutter is still sharp enough in the right places to do .270 WSM and .223.

[scb]

I had one and wasn't too impressed with it. It's hard to be certain the case is seated all the down in the collet (to get consistent lengths) or that it's centered under the spindle without turning the drill press off and on for each case. I think Lyman did/does make one thats a little better. It's the item in the pic above the black trimmer.

[crabo]

Thanks for all the info. I think for revolver and pistol brass, I will do the Lee rig and set it up in my drill press or cordless drill.

Icer, thanks for taking the time to look up all the parts.

[Junior1942]

Chuck the Lee cutter in your drill press, not the case holder. It's by far the fastest and easiest way to trim cases.

[Echo]

+1 with the Coonie...

[crabo]

How do you hold the case holder with the cutter in the drill press? I've never seen these parts outside of the pictures on a website.

[jameslovesjammie]

How do you hold the case holder?

I chuck mine into my 18 volt Craftsman and hold the cutter in my other hand.

[kodiak1]

crabo have one but bought a Fosters crank style it is better than the drill press one for accuracy. If you had a top notch drill press with a good sand accurate stop system it would probably be very good. When I was using it it was fast and you had to watch close or you would have cases to short.

Ken.

[Lumpie]

I often make 257 Roberts brass, out of 30-06, and 222 Remington from 223 brass. The forester works good to get the cases down to within .005. Then I use my wilson to finish them. I do this on a Bridgeport milling machine. Also works good to trim 45 basic brass down to 45 2.6 Lumpie

[Marine Sgt 2111]

I put a dial indicator on the ram of the drill press quill and maintain +/- .001 using the trimmer and at the same time use the neck turning device to do that also. You just have to make sure brass shavings don't gather up in the space between the face of the trimming cutter v.s. the end face of the neck turning tool.

The last time I used this setup I was forming .17 Remington fireball cases from .222 remington cases. There was a lot of excess neck to trim away but each case was done in about 10 seconds.

[Bad Water Bill]

Still using my Forster (1968) So far this year we converted 223 cases into 1K of 221 Fireball and 1K of 222 Rem. The reason I do not use a Lee is that I have found the burr produced when the flash hole is punched is never the same. Add to this the fact that there will be a variation in the head thickness and I thought the most accurate way was to use the Forster and get the O A L from the true base of the case and not from the inside where there could be some variation from case to case.
Just my .02

[waydownsouth]

I have seen a case trimmer rigged up with old sewing machine motor and foot pedal, leaves the hands free to change cases ect and the speed can be controlled

saw one such set up with a keyless drill chuck and the lee system

[dabsond]

Try a rechargeable screwdriver for holding the lee cutter. I picked one up for about $15. Lower RPM means you don't have to worry about your wrist getting yanked.

[Junior1942]

How do you hold the case holder with the cutter in the drill press? I've never seen these parts outside of the pictures on a website.Chuck the cutter & case length guage in the drill press. Turn on the drill press. Lock a case in the holder. Hold the holder tightly between your fingers. Slip the case/holder up the spinning case length guage. Push it gently up against the cutter. Pull down and off. Chamfer. You're through. It takes less time to trim a case than to read the above instructions.

That method is at least 5x faster than with a high-dollar lathe-type trimmer. And 2x as good, and 10x cheaper.

[crabo]

Thanks, I bought all the stuff for the Lee trimmer.

[DLCTEX]

Bad Water Bill; The Lee case length guage does not space on the inside of the case. It goes through the flash hole and spaces on the lock stud. It is important to resize before trimming as the length guage fits inside the resized neck. If the neck is not sized first there is room for wobble, causing out of square necks. If used properly the Lee tool will do excellent work at a price the competition can't touch. If the cutter dulls, it can be replaced very economically. Mine has done thousands and is still cutting. I accidently got a 223 case in my 222's and trimmed it to 222 length before I could stop the drill. DALE

[Russel Nash]

imashooter on page 1 wrote:


Check out the Possum Hollow trimmers...

+1

[smilie=w:

[Bad Water Bill]

Thanks for the info Dale.
BWB