Camdex machines?

[rondog]

I was wondering if anyone has used or even seen any Camdex machines in operation? Or any experience with them? There's some cool videos of them on YouTube.

Kinda interested in their brass processing machines so I called -

$27,500 for pistol brass machine...
$32,000 for rifle brass machine....
And each one only comes setup for one caliber.

Gulp - reckon I'm not getting one.....

[dverna]

Used one of their .38 Spl loading machines about 45 years ago. It was a true "ammo factory". Even went to their shop for the tryout. My mentor was buying one and he wanted to see it in action. Seemed like a good company back then and he had no regrets.

[rondog]

Didn't know they'd been around that long! They look awesome in the videos, but the price.....

[243winxb]

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?291921-Camdex-2300

Mechanically inclined is a must.
A club member had a Camdex in the late 70s. He gave us free 38 spec ammo to try. To many duds. We would not shoot his ammo any more.

The primer tube/feed KABOOMed in his basement. That was the end of his new reloading business.

[Green Frog]

As the price and complexity would suggest, this is not a machine for the amateur home reloader. It is a professional, commercial machine. I stand in awe watching them run but have no inclination to have one of my own. YMMV.

Froggie

[SOFMatchstaff]

They are indeed awesome machines, I still have some shuttle bar/shell holders some where that I regularly had to weld and machine back to spec. They will make lotsa bad ammo faster than you can shut them off, had to be watched closely. 100 bad rounds in a 100K order was a very expensive situation. I know.... When tuned to the running specs they worked great, but it took time on a caliber change. I dont miss them, I'll stick to my Dillons

[David2011]

Someone that I used to shoot with had a Camdex. He had two sons shooting USPSA/IPSC as well as himself. He and the older son were ranked in the top ten in their class worldwide. Their practice ammunition was loaded on the Camdex but match ammo was loaded on a Dillon.

[15meter]

Knew a guy who had multiple machines running in his basement. He was running a business supplying local police departments with practice ammo. He hired local college kids to babysit the machines most of the time.

One day he was running them by himself and cutting corners on keeping the machines fed, loading primers while it was running. Not a good plan.

When he came to, he was laying flat on back in almost total darkness. Mass detonation of a large amount of primers blew out every light but one at the far end of the basement.

I've lost track of him over the years, curious if he still does it.

Weirdest question he was ever asked was by a government official wanting to know how many primers he had on hand during Gulf War 1.

Guess they thought they were running a little low and thought they might borrow a few.

[shell70634]

I had one. Came across it cheap. It was fun getting it up and running. They are great but need regular maintenance. I never ran mine faster than 1200-1400 rounds and hour, less than half speed. Got rid of it about 15 years ago. Wish I hadn't. Still shooting 38 special I loaded on it. At the time caliber change to 9mm was over $2000. The company gave me great support even knowing I was just a hobbyist.

[rondog]

Thanks all, very interesting.....

[jmorris]

I have made repairs to some. I have a friend that had a full time job keeping a few rooms full of them making ammunition. He sent me the work he couldn’t or didn’t want to do. Lots of stuff going on and once you have it right, you don’t want to mess with it.

We were talking about the $8000+ price to convert one to another caliber, he told me unless you were going to discontinue that caliber as an offering, no one would buy one anyway. As only an idiot would convert one back and forth.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I saw some weaknesses in the machines when I first saw them at SHOT about 15 years ago. Spoke to them about "Monitoring" every single function of the operation, as whatever you don't monitor is what screws you.

I learned this building Automated machines for Gaiser Tool Company. You have to make sure every single function was monitored on both ends of it's stroke or it would invariably cause the malfunction that shut you down. If you just figured it had to happen it would show you that It didn't think so !!!.

The Camdex machines I saw in 2007 had way too many open functions and as a result I didn't consider them reliable at all and I told them so. Apparently they did listen because the ones I saw in later years did have all the functions monitored.

Just for you's that didn't completely grasp what I said above here's the overall concept.

Let say you have a Slide that does something. It moves in, and then it moves back out. To monitor it you must have some type of feedback going to the computer telling it that the slide did in fact go in.( Micro Switches or Opto Isolators etc.) Then the same must occur when it goes back out. Then the computer can tell the next function to start. If the feedback doesn't complete the machine stops right there thus preventing damage from Crashes.

If you have seen the new Coke Machines everybody is going to, you'll notice that you place the cup under the spout and then stick your finger between two ears that stick out above it. Your finger breaks the "Light Beam" (Opto Isolator) and tells the machine to start pumping liquid. When you remove your finger the Opto Isolator "remakes" its "ON" circuit which tells the machine to stop.

Hope this helps with some understanding. Morris already knows all this!

Randy

[KAYDADOG]

I'm on the same page with W.R. BUCHANAN. Any well made automated machine will have feedback for every position. If the program is well written the next step will not continue unless all moving components are in the right position. I also did programming for machine automation for twenty years and still use Allen Bradley PLC's in my projects. Currently have a fully automated hydraulic press and induction Annealer. My programs are written in steps which look at the feedback from all moving parts. The next step will not start unless all conditions are met. If there is a problem then a fault is triggered and the process is stopped.

Regarding the Camdex machines for the price they were asking you should have had a fully automated machine with 100% feedback. Most individuals not familiar with automation wouldn't know what there getting. Camdex probably relied mostly on mechanical adjustments which would never remain the same at how many cycles the machines ran at. Sooner or later something is going to loosen up and could damage the machine.

Just some additional information on automating equipment.

[jmorris]

Unless something happened to the recently, they are still making the loaders and just a few years ago came out with a new trimmer.

The reloading process is mechanical, can’t get past that and things do wear. A .223 size die might only be good for 120,000 cases and need to be replaced. That’s why we have QC, to make sure everything is in tolerance.

This is what is monitored on the 2100 series.

Monitoring Features
CASE LEVEL - Low case level in feed tube automatically shuts off machine.
CASE PROBE - Checks for case feeding, foreign particles and live rounds.
PRIMER POCKET PROBE - Mechanically checks the primer pocket for ringers.
PRIMER SLIDE - Shuts off the machine should a primer jam occur due to dirt or high anvils.
PRIMER FEED - Shuts off machine should it run out of primers.
PRIMER LEVEL – Fiber Optics automatically maintain approximately 60 primers in feed system (the primer collator holds more)
POWDER PROBE - Checks for both high and low powder charges.
BULLET FAULT - If the machine fails to feed or runs out of bullets, the machine shuts off.
VACUUM SYSTEM - Checks vacuum pressure to assure primer feeding.
CURRENT SENSOR - Any increase in preset amperage shuts off the machine.