Drill Press for Case Trimming

[three50seven]

Like most reloaders, I loathe trimming brass. I currently use the Lee hand trimmer chucked up in a cordless drill to trim brass. The though occured to me to use a small bench top drill press instead. Just curious if anyone else uses a set up similar to this?

I'm envisioning some sort of small clamp to hold the cutter/case length gauge in place.
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[mdi]

Do you want to chuck the shell holder assy. in the drill or the stud/cutter? I don't mind trimming brass and I only trim my rifle cases so I use my hand drill with the shell holder chucked in it and hold the cutter. With a drill press so short/small I think there might be problems; if the cutter is in the drill and you have to have room to slide the case and shell holder over it. If you chuck the shell holder in it it seems it would be a pain inserting the case. You could probably move the table aside and hold the shell holder/case in hand and slide it over the cutter, but that's no better than using a hand drill. I'd need a bit of time studying the press and trimmer to come up with a workable method, but right now I don't see the small press as any improvement over a hand drill....

[three50seven]

I first thought of chucking the shell holder into the drill press and clamping the cutter onto the base. Now I'm thinking it would be easier to do it the opposite way. The issue I'm seeing is that this little press has a 10mm chuck, and the Lee trimmer is a little over 12mm in diameter. Like you said, it may be more cost and trouble than it's worth.

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[richhodg66]

I've done this with those Lee trimmers and a cheap Harbor Freight drill press. I chucked the cutter with the case length gauge part into the drill and didn't even use the lock stud part. I padded some slip joint plers with some old inner tube and held the case with the base flat on the steel deck of the drill press so the length guage would bottom out on that instead of the lock stud like it's supposed to.

I hate trimming brass too, and am gradually getting file type trim dies for as many things as I can, I really find that easier than any other method.

[gnostic]

I think Forster makes a adapter to trim cases on a drill press....

[three50seven]

I've done this with those Lee trimmers and a cheap Harbor Freight drill press. I chucked the cutter with the case length gauge part into the drill and didn't even use the lock stud part. I padded some slip joint plers with some old inner tube and held the case with the base flat on the steel deck of the drill press so the length guage would bottom out on that instead of the lock stud like it's supposed to.

That sounds like a better idea than what I had. I'm thinking you could even buy a small drill press vise and drill holes in the jaws for different size cases.

I have a bench top drill press, but it's in my unheated barn, and my loading bench is in the cozy warm house [emoji17]

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[BigAlofPa.]

I do them with a cordless drill.

[three50seven]

I think Forster makes a adapter to trim cases on a drill press....I just looked it up, and it's definitely an interesting design. My concern is that you rely on the stop on your drill press to control trim length. I wouldn't trust my drill press to stay consistent....lol

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[Binky]

I have the Wilson system. I use it in my drill press along with a small machinist's vice to trim large batches of cases. Wilson makes an adapter for the cutter. I use it by hand for small batches as the set up time makes it counterproductive, for me anyway.

[richhodg66]

I have used those little Lee trimmers with a hand held drill and it's always seemed like an unsafe practice somehow. I have had that lock stud come loose because I didn't tighten it enough while it was in my hands. I'd rather use the drill press.

[three50seven]

I have used those little Lee trimmers with a hand held drill and it's always seemed like an unsafe practice somehow. I have had that lock stud come loose because I didn't tighten it enough while it was in my hands. I'd rather use the drill press.Me too. And when your hands get sweaty it's hard to tighten the case into the holder, plus the brass shavings start sticking to everything.

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[three50seven]

Using a drill press to trim brass I use a tubing flare tool to hold the brass so far 223 308 30 carbine has worked very well under the flare tool is a 2x2 square tubing that must be level the base of the case rests on it . this has worked better then any other trimer I ever bought .Awesome! Now that's a good idea, thank you!

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[country gent]

The drill press does a good job if it has a good depth stop. Most f the cheaper ones may vary bu .010 do to spring in the stop. Not a big deal to fix.

Ideally the cutter is mounted in the spindle so that it dosnt have to be turned on and off to change cases. There are several ways to do this fairly easily and accurately. First the drill press as this is the heart of the set up. A good machine with an adjustable table angle and height. Pulley drive is fine here. preferably all metal depth stop. 1/2" -5/8" chuck. A taller bench to model gives more room to work than the one pictured.

Forester did make a set up for trimming in the drill press it did does very good job but depends on the stop on the drill press. Dont know if they still make it, but there are some ut there.

If you have a lyman rcbs redding trimmer even wilsons work with this. Pic up some 1" X 4" hard maple wood. Indicate the drill presses table to square. Make a angle plate 4" X 4" base and upright to match the trimmer. fit together and glue dowel and screw joint add a brace again glue dowel and screw. when cured use a table saw and just dust the short base to clean up with long side tight to cross cut guide set at 90* then cut long side with the fresh cut side tight to the guide. This makes a truly square angle plate. mount cutter shaft and trimmer in press chuck and spot hole thru trimmer to angle plate. Base can be clamped or bolted to table. This makes a very accurate set up and the trimmers stop saves relying on the drill presses stop.

The lees set up works good lacks actual easy length adjustment mount the case holder in a block of wood or metal glue in or set screw. mount cutter in the spindle and go.

The redding set up will also wirk with neck turning.

My set up used a rcbs trimmers collet and block set into a base. and lee cutter and pilots. I made it so a screw sets against the stop plate with a steel plate clamped around spindle. dead stop and repeats to .001. I use it more for neck turning than trimming but it is fast and sure to use.

[bimus]

side way picture

[tunnug]

I was at a gun show recently and found a multi size brass holder made by Lyman that someone mounted on a small piece of wood, I chuck it in a vice to hold my 300BLK conversion brass while I cut it to size with "the world's finest trimmer" , really saves my fingers, the holder was originally sold to mount on a drill press.

[ReloaderFred]

Lyman used to make a collet type shell holder, trimmer head and base just for trimming brass on a drill press. I've used it for many, many years, and finally wore out the jaws on the collet, but was able to buy a new set of jaws. It works well for large batches of brass, with the exception of when you have to trim quite a bit off the case mouth. What happens is a burr, similar to a flange, occurs and binds the pilot from withdrawing from the case mouth. Sometimes it gets so bad it will pull the pilot out of the trimmer head. If just trimming a small amount, then this isn't a problem.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Baltimoreed]

I have cut down 45-70 to 45-60 with the lee case trimmers and an old drill press a bunch. The shell holder went in the chuck and the pilot and cutter were in a press vise clamped to the table. Of course everything is trued up. Just a matter of putting the brass in the holder [use pliers to get it tight] and lowering it onto the cutter until the guide bottomed out. As the .45-60 is such a big case you get some junk that doesn’t cut off the case just hangs there. I would use a fine file to take that corner off and then lightly hit it with a chamfer tool inside and out. Done.

[Half Dog]

I’ve used a Dillon trimmer and it was great but a little on the noisy side. It fits the RCBS Rockchucker and cycles about as fast as you can load another piece of brass onto the shell holder.

[Wayne Smith]

Lee makes a three jaw chuck for their zip trim that fits in my cordless drill motor. I use this and the lee system to cut 9x19 to 9x18, use it to trim 30-06 to close to 57mm to make 9.3x57. It needs oil once in a while but works well.

[Conditor22]

I built a wood frame to line up my drill with the RCBS trimmer (this holds the drill in place so all I have to do is pull the trigger and slide it), screwed a bolt with a couple of extra nuts into the handle end of the trimmer, bought a fuel line to make the coupling from the drill to the trimmer (I was using a socket but the rubber fuel line worked much smoother). with a carbide cutter, it zips through brass like butter

https://i.imgur.com/KA2oFDu.jpg

[shortlegs]

I put my "Worlds Finest Trimmer" in my little Harboefreight drill press and shove to cases in by hand. This trimmer trims them as fast as I can stick them in. Trimming cases is no longer dreaded chore.

[wbbh]

This is my .223/5.56 trimming/chamfering/deburring setup. It's a Forrester Power trimmer with their three way cutter. One caution, make sure the drill press you use has a good depth stop feature that is stable, it's critical to a get a constant OAL.
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There is one negative, once set up you will not want to use your drill press for making holes.

[owejia]

I use my Bridgeport mill to trim brass. Took the chuck off of a Layman trimmer and mounted it on a base that I clamp to the mill table and center up under the spindle and adjust table to get close and get fine adjustment with the quill stop. Just did 100 pcs 9.3 x 74R fireformed for 3" 410 brass shells can keep .001 to .002 thousands tolerance. The fireformed brass came out uneven across the end some as much as .015 thousands or more and plan on a small roll crimp to hold overshot wad in so the ends needed to be square and the brass the same length.. The lyman chuck locks the brass in place with pressure on a steel ball and the chuck jaws. Using a 2 flute end mill can cut as fast as can pull handle and remove and replace brass in the lyman chuck. Works well for making .380 and 9mm shotshells from.223 rem brass and 45acp shotshells from 308 win brass.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Been there and done this and I also have a Machine shop with mills and lathes. Used a collet closer on the mill with a Lee cutter with only a short pilot, that worked OK for .308's. That evolved to setting up a turret lathe to trim 9MM to 9x18 which sucked.

Ended up with a Little Lee Chuck in the cordless drill with the cutter and ball setup. It is by far the fastest and easiest way to do this.
I now have a small box of Lee Trim Tools and that's all I use now.

Randy.

[Tatume]

I first thought of chucking the shell holder into the drill press and clamping the cutter onto the base. Now I'm thinking it would be easier to do it the opposite way.

I've been doing it this way for years. Chuck the cutter, turn on the drill, and leave it running. Then clamp cases in the case holder and run them onto the cutter by hand. It's very quick and easy. Of course, I have a 1/2 inch chuck.

You could ask someone with a lathe to turn down your cutter so it will fit your chuck.

[trails4u]

I solved my bottleneck trimming/prep anger issues here:

https://www.frankfordarsenal.com/case-preparation/case-trimming/platinum-series-case-trim-and-prep-center/903156.html?msclkid=e2d506629ef51efd7fda598cf6a95d 30&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=AOB-JB-FA_Shopping_All_Products_v2&utm_term=4581458803661942&utm_content=Ad%20group%20%231

shop around....there are deals to be had. It's not cheap, but honestly, some of the best money I've ever spent on my bench.

[RedlegEd]

Hi all,
I recently bought some surplus .30-06 brass from Jeff at GI Brass and after fully processing it (except for trimming,) I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to use either my Lee or Lyman trimmers on this pile (about 1000 cases.) So, I bought a Giraud Tri-Way trimmer (https://www.giraudtool.com/giraud-tri-way-trimmer.html). It's more expensive ($114 shipped) than many of the solutions mentioned here, but cheaper than the FA Platinum Series. The best part is it's a "once and done" operation. It trims and chamfers the inside and outside of the neck (mouth) simultaneously. I can use it with my cheap table top HF Drill Press, and can rip through the brass pretty quickly. The catch is the brass has to be full length sized properly for this to work since it indexes on the shoulder of the case. The other down side is the trimmer is case family specific, which means the trimmer for the .30-06 family will only work on cases that use that cartridge as a parent (e.g. .25-06, .270, .280, etc.) Black Widow makes the Trim-It II (https://www.blackwidowshooters.com/product-page/trim-it-ii)that is a similar design, and is configurable to additional dies, but it's also about $60.00 more. So if you are doing a lot of volume of one or two types of brass, this might be a good option. Here's also a video of a gentleman using it.

Ed

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F71YjU9Pf6o

[la5676]

I'd love to have a Giraud, but at my stage in life, and all the time I have retired, I sit in my manchair with tubs of brass and trim while watching movies. Use a cordless drill, with case chucked in the drill, but I go ahead and use my little RCBS inner and outer chamfer tool to finish the job so I don't have to chuck them back again and do this later. If you are trimming with the LEE system, you ain't getting by without this step.

[Nanook]

I have one of Giraud's Triway for .308, which I use in a small drill press.

For my benchrest rifles I use the World's Finest Trimmer 2, which has removable 'chamber's. I put it into a cordless drill, and away we go. I have a chamber for 30BR, 6BR, and 6PPC which need trimming often.

I've had an RCBS Trim Pro for years, but it kills my arthritic hands to use it too much. The WFT2 replaced it for my BR rifles.

[Three44s]

I was at a gun show recently and found a multi size brass holder made by Lyman that someone mounted on a small piece of wood, I chuck it in a vice to hold my 300BLK conversion brass while I cut it to size with "the world's finest trimmer" , really saves my fingers, the holder was originally sold to mount on a drill press.

I have this Lyman unit and it is the same case holding fixture as used in the Universal but my little HF drill press was not consistent as to depth (varied case length too much). So for a major trim like converting 30-30 Win to .30 Herret or .357 Herret it works fine.

When I get to normal trimming I rely on the LE Wilson. Nothing eclipses it in mouth squareness and trim to length consistency.

Three44s

[MrWolf]

Thought I was odd man out using the Wilson. I have it mounted on a board so can watch TV, etc while doing my mindless work.

[Three44s]

Thought I was odd man out using the Wilson. I have it mounted on a board so can watch TV, etc while doing my mindless work.

I have three or four of them. All mounted on former plastic food cutting boards with DIY risers and DIY clamps to hold the collets.

I set up one to trim 5.56, one for primer pocket crimp removal (actually bevel the swaging done by a RCBS Swager II) and a third if I get the LE Wilson inside mouth bevel cutter.

I can c-clamp those cutting board set ups to a work bench or table, or just hold it on my lap if I chose.

The cutting board material gives me a hard to miss area to tap cases in and out of the case holding collets as well.

I can run the tools with their respective hand cranks or spin them a hand drill because I used a “high” nut with 7/16” x 20 TPI (NF) and a stub of a bolt with its head cut off of the same fine thread. The case length cutter shaft on a Wilson trimmer is 7/16” NF. So the high nut is threaded onto the cutter shaft with enough internal thread left for the bolt stub to thread into the opposite end. Then the exposed bolt stub was turned down so a standard 3/8” chucked hand drill can run it.

The Wilson primer crimp reamer tools use 3/8” x 24 TPI (NF) so I built a second one but with 3/8” hardware.

Three44s

[JimKirk]

I Chuck the cutter and pilot in my drill press and use the drill table as the stop ....I hold the case with rubberized glove ....quick and easy ...

Then I Chuck the RCBS chamfer tool (3/4" chuck) .... Chamfer all my brass...

Then I Chuck the same RCBS tool with the deburr end down .... deburr all my brass .....

Quick and easy...

[Rockzilla]

Could go a B16 Drill chuck in a non-powder spindle, a 12v-24v DC motor, some gears a belt
can swap out for other things... use a couple setups.
you can locate things cheaper.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/No-Power-Spindle-Assembly-Small-Lathe-Accessories-Trimming-Belt-Drill-Chuck-Set/383752186900

-Rock

[Guardian]

I used a Forster power trimmer base and a WFT in the chuck on a benchtop drill press for a while. Two issues I ran into were:

1-inconsistent trim lengths due to the expander ball in the sizing die pulling the shoulder longer when the case was extracted

I fixed that by removing the expander from the sizing die and using a Lyman M die during loading

2-instead of chips, the pressure on the drill press handle produced long, curling cuttings that bound up inside the WFT housing.

It was a relatively quick setup for trimming, but then using the RCBS trim mate to do the inside and outside deburring was a pain. I ended up buying a Giroud trimmer that was self contained and ran with that.

[onelight]

RedlegEd that case trimmer is fast and easy , thanks for showing it.

[GBertolet]

I have the Forster case trimmer, and I purchased the power trimmer kit for it, some time ago. You use all the same pilots and collets, as the manual one does. I mounted the power trimmer base to a piece of plywood, and C clamp it to the drill press table. Line it up with the drill chuck, and use the quill stop to regulate depth of trimming. I run the drill press on one of the lower speeds.

For small batches of cases, I just use the manual trimmer, as it saves the setup time of the drill press. But for larger quanities, the drill press saves time, and eliminates sore fingers. I can even fit my deburring tool in the drill chuck, which saves the fingers even more.

FYI--Forster will sharpen cutters for their trimmers for $10, and this includes return shipping. Turn around time is fast also.

[RedlegEd]

RedlegEd that case trimmer is fast and easy , thanks for showing it.

Hi onelight.
You're most welcome. I did that big pile of brass the other day and averaged one every three seconds or so (about 20/minute.) Overall, including a break or two, it took me a little over an hour to do all of it (1000+ pcs.) I only had two rejects. One had a big nick in the mouth, and the other had a bulge in the shoulder and wouldn't fit into the tool. I also got hung up on a few pieces where the mouth had a burr and I had to deburr before it would fit into the tool, but for the most part, it went quickly and easily. The trim length was very consistent, so I'm really happy with the tool.
Ed

[onelight]

Hi onelight.
You're most welcome. I did that big pile of brass the other day and averaged one every three seconds or so (about 20/minute.) Overall, including a break or two, it took me a little over an hour to do all of it (1000+ pcs.) I only had two rejects. One had a big nick in the mouth, and the other had a bulge in the shoulder and wouldn't fit into the tool. I also got hung up on a few pieces where the mouth had a burr and I had to deburr before it would fit into the tool, but for the most part, it went quickly and easily. The trim length was very consistent, so I'm really happy with the tool.
Ed

I have both the Lyman and a Forester , they are both much slower .
Thanks again.

[doulos]

Here ya go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MRm-SCZvts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ7P3MabWlE

I just saw these the other day 2 different guys using a drill press to trim

[Kenstone]

NO
But I use my drill press for de-priming
Faster than on a loading press, no shell holder slot to find, and no primer smooge on my loading press.
274889
274892
I have a locating top plate/block for 9mm, 45ACP, 38sp
274891
and a bottom block to catch the primers
274890
[smilie=s:

[Baltimoreed]

Looks like that would work but there’s a depriming rod in the sizing die and your brass has to be resized so why the extra step? Size and deprime in one pull.

[anothernewb]

use a drill press with the Giraud. works slick.