Hornady Pro-Jector Subplate?

[BBKChicago]

Gentlemen,

I'm a new user here and this is my first post - I'm hoping someone can help me with a question I am wrestling with.

I currently own a Hornady Pro-Jector progressive press. Now before anyone says "go buy a new press", that's not something I can afford and I happen to like this press.

The problem I'm having is that I ordered a Hornady case feeder, but it will only work with LNL or the Pro-7 presses. The reason for this is that the little extended piece of metal on the sub plate is missing that the slider runs on. Pro 7 presses and LNL presses have this little metal piece extending from the sub plate, however the Pro-jector does NOT have it.

I was wondering if it's possible to buy a sub plate that has this extension piece on it (like from a Pro 7) and replace the sub plate on my Pro-Jector. I see the sub plate for sale under the LNL retrofit kits like this: https://reloadingunlimited.com/product/hornady-lock-n-load-ap-progressive-press-ez-ject-upgrade-kit-for-presses-with-serial-1-to-6999/

Could I buy a kit like that and would it fit my ProJector? Would I have to sacrifice primer installation, or could that be upgraded to the new LNL style, also?

Hoping someone has some experience with this...

Thanks!

[Winger Ed.]

I'd call Hornady.
If the nice lady that answers can't answer your question, she'll pass you back to one of the guys in the shop.
They know everything about everything.

[farmbif]

"go buy a new press"
not a chance I'm very much attached to mine anyways i've called and emailed Hornady directly over the years and they have always come though for me on whatever it was I was after for the press.
I think at some point they offered a conversion kit to upgrade the projector press, Im not sure what was included.

[Moleman-]

I asked hornady this question 20 years ago and was told that it wouldn't fit or be made to work........HOWEVER, if you do a good google search you'll find a couple people have upgraded the projector to the LNL sub plate. From what they said the LNL uses screws to attach the plate where the projectors is held on with roll pins, so the ram itself needs the roll pin holes chamfered for the beveled headed machine screws that retain the LNL plate. The drive rod also needed modified, but I can't remember what that entails but it didn't seem hard. That upgrade kit alone would eliminate the main issues I've ever had with my projector (poor case ejector and picky primer system). I kept the projector press when I got the LNL-AP. Comparing the two the main thing I noticed is the Projector is designed to be tight to work correctly, and the LNL is designed to work even when sloppy loose. I imagine at some point I'll get that kit linked above and upgrade my projector. That kit comes with the new primer system minus the primer slides, spring and rod assembly.

Oh, your shell plates will need modified for the new style ejector or replaced with the LNL style. Basically a slot needs cut in the underside of the plate with either a lathe or milling machine and divinding head/rotary table. I used a lathe on mine. Hornady will also modify the shell plates for IIRC $10 each. Top left factory LNL plate, top right projector plate, bottom is projector plate modified to LNL style.

[BBKChicago]

That's extremely helpful. Thanks, gents!

I'll let you know what happens.

[kywoodwrkr]

Gentlemen,

I'm a new user here and this is my first post -

Thanks!

Welcome aboard.
From Chicago?
I started life in Kankakee.
Thanks

[Moleman-]

I've been looking at the diagrams of the LNL and Pro-Jector and pure speculation on my part at this point but it looks like along with that kit you'll also need the drive hub*, primer slides and spring, primer breakaway cam wire assembly (or make your own). Very tempted to have the Fat Man bring me the kit for Xmas for my projector.

*The drive rod will either need shortened to make room for the drive hub or the subplate will need a bushing for the smaller drive rod to stick through. Looks easier to just shorten the drive rod and re-drill the index pin.

[blikseme300]

Gentlemen,

I'm a new user here and this is my first post - I'm hoping someone can help me with a question I am wrestling with.

I currently own a Hornady Pro-Jector progressive press. Now before anyone says "go buy a new press", that's not something I can afford and I happen to like this press.

The problem I'm having is that I ordered a Hornady case feeder, but it will only work with LNL or the Pro-7 presses. The reason for this is that the little extended piece of metal on the sub plate is missing that the slider runs on. Pro 7 presses and LNL presses have this little metal piece extending from the sub plate, however the Pro-jector does NOT have it.

I was wondering if it's possible to buy a sub plate that has this extension piece on it (like from a Pro 7) and replace the sub plate on my Pro-Jector. I see the sub plate for sale under the LNL retrofit kits like this: https://reloadingunlimited.com/product/hornady-lock-n-load-ap-progressive-press-ez-ject-upgrade-kit-for-presses-with-serial-1-to-6999/

Could I buy a kit like that and would it fit my ProJector? Would I have to sacrifice primer installation, or could that be upgraded to the new LNL style, also?

Hoping someone has some experience with this...

Thanks!

As Moleman pointed out you would need to purchase a number of additional pieces as well as be able to modify parts of the press. I have thought of what you want to do in the past but chose to keep and use the press as it is. BTW if you want to purchase the conversion kit it is available for just less than $30 at Midsouth shooters supply. The Projector and Pro7 presses are quite capable presses and I still use both types.

[blikseme300]

I asked hornady this question 20 years ago and was told that it wouldn't fit or be made to work........HOWEVER, if you do a good google search you'll find a couple people have upgraded the projector to the LNL sub plate. From what they said the LNL uses screws to attach the plate where the projectors is held on with roll pins, so the ram itself needs the roll pin holes chamfered for the beveled headed machine screws that retain the LNL plate. The drive rod also needed modified, but I can't remember what that entails but it didn't seem hard. That upgrade kit alone would eliminate the main issues I've ever had with my projector (poor case ejector and picky primer system). I kept the projector press when I got the LNL-AP. Comparing the two the main thing I noticed is the Projector is designed to be tight to work correctly, and the LNL is designed to work even when sloppy loose. I imagine at some point I'll get that kit linked above and upgrade my projector. That kit comes with the new primer system minus the primer slides, spring and rod assembly.

Oh, your shell plates will need modified for the new style ejector or replaced with the LNL style. Basically a slot needs cut in the underside of the plate with either a lathe or milling machine and divinding head/rotary table. I used a lathe on mine. Hornady will also modify the shell plates for IIRC $10 each. Top left factory LNL plate, top right projector plate, bottom is projector plate modified to LNL style.

I have modified a fair number of the plates to add the groove required for the EZ-ject sub plate as found in the later AP presses. Tough metal and I found that using a 1/4” carbide endmill in the Haas cnc mill worked best. Trivia, there are at least 3 variants of the LnL AP press sub plates, so I upgraded 4 of my AP’s with the kits bought from Midsouth as the ejection system using the wire makes it difficult to use the Lee collet crimp die in station 5.

[Moleman-]

blikseme300, I like my pro-jector as well. Was starting to have timing issues with it mostly effecting the priming station. The "L" shaped pawl that advances the shellplate to the priming station has reached the end of it's adjustment range so the press needs attention. Pawls look ok, not chipped or anything and the cam on the bottom of the drive rod that they mesh with looks a little worn but otherwise ok. Might just need taken apart and cleaned. If not, I'm sure new pawls and/or cam will fix the issue. Wife noticed me grumpily working on the pro-jector and said to just order a new one since I'd had it before we got married :) That's how the LNL-AP came to be on my bench. I ordered the kit and drive hub and will post some pics of when the press gets upgraded.

Used a small 9x20 import lathe to modify the shellplate in the pic along with a couple others using carbide tcmt 21:51 insert. The plates are tough, so to do the rest I was going to either set up a mill or use either my 12" or 13" lathe.

[BBKChicago]

I just got off the line with Dustin w/ Hornady tech support. He said all I need is the ez-ject subplate conversion kit and nothing else. I asked about converting primers from the swinging arm to the slider and he insisted that "all those parts come with that kit" and he also said swapping subplates is quick and easy.

I'll admit, I'm skeptical - but I couldn't exactly say "hey I don't think you know what you're talking about, can I speak with someone else?"

Maybe I'll get lucky and this is all that's required, but I'm betting that's not the case...

[Blindshooter]

I just got off the line with Dustin w/ Hornady tech support. He said all I need is the ez-ject subplate conversion kit and nothing else. I asked about converting primers from the swinging arm to the slider and he insisted that "all those parts come with that kit" and he also said swapping subplates is quick and easy.

I'll admit, I'm skeptical - but I couldn't exactly say "hey I don't think you know what you're talking about, can I speak with someone else?"

Maybe I'll get lucky and this is all that's required, but I'm betting that's not the case...

I'll bet you're right......

[Moleman-]

I just got off the line with Dustin w/ Hornady tech support. He said all I need is the ez-ject subplate conversion kit and nothing else. I asked about converting primers from the swinging arm to the slider and he insisted that "all those parts come with that kit" and he also said swapping subplates is quick and easy.

I'll admit, I'm skeptical - but I couldn't exactly say "hey I don't think you know what you're talking about, can I speak with someone else?"

Maybe I'll get lucky and this is all that's required, but I'm betting that's not the case...

Did you get a different kit than the standard ez-ject cconversion kit? Looking at the pics of what's included I don't see the L/S primer slides or the spring that hooks to it. No break away cam wire or the top or bottom mount. I do see a couple bevel headed screws to mount the plate and the L/S primer punches, primer base/shroud/tubes. Measuring the center hole in my Pro-Jector press the hole is 1/2"ish. The center hole on my LNL-AP is about 1"ish. I'd bet you could put a stepped bushing on the Projector drive rod if you didn't want to mod the rod to the LNL style.

UPS is showing my kit to show up on tuesday, so we'll see.

[skeettx]

Watching as i have 3 Pro-jectors

[Rockzilla]

Following this. Have a few here and there, complete. Don't really need anymore
"presses at this time" "except" maybe another Star.
Was thinking about modding the Projector got some of the old Pro 7's boxed up also.

-Rock

[Moleman-]

USPS must want me to do this project as they dropped off my Ez-Ject conversion kit #398309 from Midway on a Sunday! Took some effort to get the primer drop tube out. It's best to remove the bottom toggle linkage as it's easier to remove the drive rod from the Pro-Jector, plus you'll want to remove the ram anyway to bevel the roll pin holes for the screws that will replace them. The LNL subplate has the same stub diameter (1.625") and depth (5/8") so it will fit in a Pro-Jector ram. The drive rod hole on the projector subplate is 1/2" and the drive hub hole in the LNL subplate is 1" as mentioned in an earlier post. I see no reason why you couldn't add a bushing and a cross pin on the Pro-Jector drive shaft to bring it up to 1" dia or redrill the Pro-Jector index pin hole lower and cut the shaft off short enough to use the LNL drive hub. The LNL drive hub would require a drive shaft retainer of some sort to keep the shaft from falling down. I'm leaning towards cutting the shaft shorter to use the LNL drive hub. For a drive shaft retainer I was thinking of putting a cross pin and collar slightly above the bottom yoke through hole and putting a spring in between to just push the drive shaft up against the thrust washer on the bottom side of the yoke. That worn thrust washer I believe is part of the cause of my projector going out of time. The thrust washer was worn and thinner which allowed the index wheel to be pulled further away from the feed pawls by the shellplate retainer nut which retarded the shellplate advance. The surfaces on the index wheel and pawls looked fine once 30 years of dirt and dried grease were cleaned off of them. The rollpin that locks the index wheel to the drive shaft was also slightly crushed on both ends and was allowing the index wheel to rotate slightly on the driveshaft. I'm confident that replacing the rollpin with a solid pin and replacing the thrust washer with a new thicker thrust washer will restore the timing of the press. Might be a few days before any more progress, but will post more pics when progress is made.

[Skyhawk23]

Following, very interested to your progress even if my old Project AP is working fine for now

[blikseme300]

USPS must want me to do this project as they dropped off my Ez-Ject conversion kit #398309 from Midway on a Sunday! Took some effort to get the primer drop tube out. It's best to remove the bottom toggle linkage as it's easier to remove the drive rod from the Pro-Jector, plus you'll want to remove the ram anyway to bevel the roll pin holes for the screws that will replace them. The LNL subplate has the same stub diameter (1.625") and depth (5/8") so it will fit in a Pro-Jector ram. The drive rod hole on the projector subplate is 1/2" and the drive hub hole in the LNL subplate is 1" as mentioned in an earlier post. I see no reason why you couldn't add a bushing and a cross pin on the Pro-Jector drive shaft to bring it up to 1" dia or redrill the Pro-Jector index pin hole lower and cut the shaft off short enough to use the LNL drive hub. The LNL drive hub would require a drive shaft retainer of some sort to keep the shaft from falling down. I'm leaning towards cutting the shaft shorter to use the LNL drive hub. For a drive shaft retainer I was thinking of putting a cross pin and collar slightly above the bottom yoke through hole and putting a spring in between to just push the drive shaft up against the thrust washer on the bottom side of the yoke. That worn thrust washer I believe is part of the cause of my projector going out of time. The thrust washer was worn and thinner which allowed the index wheel to be pulled further away from the feed pawls by the shellplate retainer nut which retarded the shellplate advance. The surfaces on the index wheel and pawls looked fine once 30 years of dirt and dried grease were cleaned off of them. The rollpin that locks the index wheel to the drive shaft was also slightly crushed on both ends and was allowing the index wheel to rotate slightly on the driveshaft. I'm confident that replacing the rollpin with a solid pin and replacing the thrust washer with a new thicker thrust washer will restore the timing of the press. Might be a few days before any more progress, but will post more pics when progress is made.

I'm watching with interest. Just went and counted presses, 4 ProJector and 2 Pro7 presses in the herd. They don't "need" to be updated but who knows. Some of my presses on the storage mounts:

273292

[Moleman-]

Made a simple iron bushing shaped basically like the LNL drive hub only a light press fit to the subplate and with a 1/2" though hole. I'm still leaning towards the LNL drive hub, but figured it couldn't hurt to try the bushing route also. If going with the bushing a little red loctite or a snap ring and groove would keep it from ever slipping down inside of the ram.

[Blindshooter]

Made a simple iron bushing shaped basically like the LNL drive hub only a light press fit to the subplate and with a 1/2" though hole. I'm still leaning towards the LNL drive hub, but figured it couldn't hurt to try the bushing route also. If going with the bushing a little red loctite or a snap ring and groove would keep it from ever slipping down inside of the ram.

Thanks for the pics, this is interesting. I still have one Projector that works great right now but if I managed to bugger up the primer system this may be an option.
I like the Projector, it seem to be better fit than the lnl I have.

[Moleman-]

It seems to be working with the original drive rod. It cycled through several hundred cycles just fine. Chamfered the subplate roll pin holes in the ram with a 1/2" dia 100 degree chamfer bit with a 1/4" pilot which fit snug in the hole. Went just deep enough that the edges of the screws on the sides were below the surface. If you wanted to, you could redrill the pin holes for a slightly larger coiled pin or just redrill the 1/4" pins at 90 degrees to the old ones. I've got a 1/2" rod marked off to make a shorter LNL type drive rod so I can use the drive hub. The press will also need the spring that goes around the primer tube and the holes drilled for the primer break away arm.