hardness tester

[mack1]

Ihave been bitten by the casting bug and it is staeting to get serious. Looking in to hard ness testers and would like some sudjestions. The lee seems to be the most inexpensive but I would spend the extra money for a better tester. not wanting to do any high volume just my consumpsion.

[Calamity Jake]

See the link at the bottom of the page called Casting stuff?

Spend the $s for his tester and don't look back.

[Lloyd Smale]

yup cabintree model from the casting stuff web site.

[anachronism]

Read this first: http://www.lasc.us/Shay-BHN-Tester-Experiment.htm

My recommendation goes to LBT. The tester is simple to use, reads directly in bhn, & requires no conversion chart. The Lee one looks like a pain to use, & I never did have confidence in my SAECO tester.

[Greg in Malad]

I own the LBT, and I recommend it. I know people who use the LEE, and really like it. The Saeco doesn't read in BHN, and I havn't tried the cabintree. Pick one that fits your needs, and remember, a cheap tester isn't cheap if you throw it away and buy a different one.

[stubshaft]

Go with the Cabintree.

I remember when Veral was selling his tester for $25.00 and the design hasn't changed too m uch over the years.

I know people that have the Lee and argue over the apparent size of the dimple.

I use the Cabintree and can test boolits, ignots and just plain chunks of lead without having to do any prep work to it at all.

Best of all I can repeat my results to within .5 BHN.

[Edubya]

I use CabinTree and am plenty happy with it.
I can easily cast a WFN boolit and get identical or near identical readings on both end of the boolit. I can measure the ingot and cast boolits knowing that the results will show nearly the exact same as the ingot.
Remember that if you get ten other people to measure your boolit on their testers, they will get ten different readings.
CastingStuff is a sponsor, he sells the CabinTree Tester. I believe in supporting those that support us! CastingStuff is listed at the bottom of the page.
EW

[GP100man]

I tend to go to both extremes , I have a lee & get somewhat satisfactory results but the next 1 is a cabintree!!

$.02

[anachronism]

Go with the Cabintree.

I remember when Veral was selling his tester for $25.00 and the design hasn't changed too m uch over the years.

I know people that have the Lee and argue over the apparent size of the dimple.

I use the Cabintree and can test boolits, ignots and just plain chunks of lead without having to do any prep work to it at all.

Best of all I can repeat my results to within .5 BHN.

I remember when gas was .50/gal, but what bearing does any of that have on the topic?
The LBT tests ingots too. 1/2 bhn? Wow! that's really precise! Suitable for lab work!

[kelbro]

I am satisfied with the Lee. I'm not needing 'lab' results, just relative hardness and the Lee data correlates with everything that I've read as far as alloy hardness.

[Shooter6br]

i believe an artical has test results of the differant testers Glen Fryxell

[Jaybird62]

Had a Saeco. Sold it. Bought a CabineTree. Kept it.

[captaint]

Get a Cabin Tree and you'll only have to do it once. I hate buying things twice. enjoy Mike

[Lloyd Smale]

i owned both the seaco and the lbt when i bought the cabintree unit. Both of the others were soon gone

[mack1]

thank youall for the replys. Casting budget was set back a little this week, truck break down but will recover soon and I think I will order the cabin tree. Like the idea of having a runout tester as well.

[fredj338]

I had a Saeco, works fine, but pricey. I sold it & got a Cabintree. The LBT was on my list. liked the direct BHN reading, until I read it only accepts a 1" long bullet. Kinda sucks for those lovely long rifle bullets or even some of the heavy handgun bullets.

[Down South]

I have the Saeco and Cabintree. The Cabintree wins hands down. I've never used the LBT so I can't comment on it.

[dromia]

Owned or tried them all (Lee, Saeco, LBT and Cabine Tree) and like Gussy's the best, easy to use and for me the most repeatable of them all.

Get the one with the "V" block and make extra use of the guage.

[mack1]

I just recieved my Cabine Tree tester works great easy to get repeatable results. thanks for the advice being able to cheack runnout will be nice to. surprised at the hardness of my boolits but they are right on what the sheet that came with the tester. thanks again