Aluminum Lee auto disk adjustable charge bar pix + dimensions

[Elkins45]

I was recently contacted by a fellow Cast Boolets member who asked about a post I had made referencing an aluminum adjustable charge bar for the Lee Auto Disk that I own. This particular little gizmo was purchased in the pre-WWW days of the early 90's from an outfit called E. Arthur Brown. EAB is still in business but I don't see this charge bar anywhere in their catalog. I suppose that since Lee now makes their own plastic one there just wasn't enough of a market for them to keep making them.

Anyway, I took some pictures and measured the dimensions at his request. I thought I might as well post them here in case any of the machinists or other handy types with access to milling machines might like a project.

[44Vaquero]

That charge bar looks a lot like a Dillion (part #200062) unit. I would be curious to know the dimensions of the Dillion unit, perhaps the Dillion charge bar could be adapted for use in the Lee?

[Elkins45]

I am told by the fellow who asked for the pix and dimensions that Dillon bought the right to use/adapt Lee's design in their powder measures.

[fryboy]

they actually traded patent rights altho i cant recall what lee's end of the deal was , it's also mentioned in one ( or both ) of the lee books

[44Vaquero]

Lee uses Dillion's press patent.

[DougGuy]

Thanks go to Elkins45 and to my son Ben who knocked this one out of the park with his expert machine work, best Father's Day gift I ever received!

Hey 44Vaquero, theperfessor had too many irons in the fire to do this project so my son took it on and did a real nice job with CNC equipment. Have just now fitted one into an original Auto Disk measure and haven't thrown charges with it yet but I know it will work good, it is closer tolerance than the original EA Brown bar that Elkins45 has, and fits in there pretty dang snug without binding.

I did use a V block and some wet or dry paper and lap the cast base of the Auto Disk, and reshaped the powder drop hole to match the hole in the charge bar, which also got an engineering change to the slider to make it more like a "cat's eye" shaped metering chamber, which is similar to the newest Lee micrometer charge bar. I also polished and fitted the actuator lever into the slot in the bar to smooth it up.

I don't intend on selling these but since they are no longer made, and they worked SO WELL, I just had to see it reproduced and wanted to show in this thread how to make one if other members would like to use the pics and dimensions they are quite welcome.

Parts used other than the billet aluminum body and slider were a SS 1/4x20x2" socket head cap screw, an "e" clip, and a spring all sourced at ACE hardware for $5 which is enough to do two charge bars.

Cad Cam drawings:





Finished charge bar assembled and fitted to the original Lee Auto Disk powder measure:

[gefiltephish]

Hopefully yours won't suffer from the same problem as the Lee acb
http://forums.loadmastervideos.com/f...opic.php?t=582

Any chance at all of the rest of us poor slobs gittin' one a dem baby's?

[DougGuy]

Hopefully yours won't suffer from the same problem as the Lee acb

Not adjusting down low enough to meter small charges? I think mine will go smaller than the un-modified Lee but I don't shoot anything smaller than .45 ACP so I don't have that problem.

Any chance at all of the rest of us poor slobs gittin' one a dem baby's?

The post with the photos and dimensions are all a machinist needs to make you one, that was the purpose of the detailed post, to allow these to be copied. Patent/trademark rights likely prevent them from being made for sale.

[theperfessor]

DougGuy, that is a very nice piece of equipment there, your son did some fine work. You should get many years of service out of that.

[Jailer]

Very nice, but I prefer the simple method for an adjustable charge. Works on my Classic Turret too.

[Chilmonty]

DougGuy, you probably sell a Bunch of those powder bars!

VERY nice work!

[DougGuy]

DougGuy, that is a very nice piece of equipment there, your son did some fine work. You should get many years of service out of that.

I agree! Coming from you perfessor, I regard that as a well deserved compliment.. Thank you. I will pass that on.

This thing is awesome in how consistent it is, I have never had one that nailed tenth of a grain charges 7 or 8 times out of 10 but this one does. I threw 17gr of 2400 with it, and couldn't believe on a digital scale it kept hitting right dead on 17.0 every time for 5, 6, 7 in a row, then a tenth off, then 3,4 more right dead on, and after 150 rounds that were carefully weighed and trickled as necessary, not one single speck of powder anywhere on the bar or the powder measure, or on the turret!


I have a really nice Dillon 550 measure, that just met it's match.

Thanks y'all for the compliments, this was my son's Father's Day gift for his ol' man.. I love things that you do that money can't buy, they mean so much more..

[Elkins45]

There are no markings on it anywhere to indicate that it is patented, but that doesnt necessarily mean it isn't. I think I'm in agreement with Doug that I would want to make sure the gizmo isn't patented before I started making them for resale.



I think that set screw in the Lee disk idea is also a pretty good one, but it wouldn't work for rifle charges. For pistol loads I'll bets it's the cats meow!

[leadhead]

I bought three of the E Brown charge bars years ago and wouldn't trade them
for anything. They made one for rifle and one for pistol. The one for pistol was
thinner than the one for rifle. The one for rifle was the same thickness as the
double stack setup for the disks.
Denny

[dudel]

I wonder how those charge bars would be in Delrin? Self lubricating, non sparking, and I suspect easier to machine.

Don

[FLINTNFIRE]

I wish I had one as the nylon or whatever lee uses got scratched up using some older wc 820 pull down powder that I had for 44 mag. , noticed it binding and sticking and when I checked there were scratches from tiny particles of brass in the powder , so that powder is only used in a dillon square deal b now. Nice looking unit and congratulations on the fine gift.

[blysmelter]

Hmm, how about makeing one like that but double the heigth of the Lee plastic one; suddenly on have a nice solutin to charging riflecases on the Lee Turret press..
Guess that will not infringe any patents?

[dbosman]

The adjustable charge bar and discs were listed in the February 8th, 1998 Lee catalog. Maximum of two more years until someone can make and sell all they want to.

Third parties had adjustable charge bars for MEC presses way back when. If there ever was a patent on the concept, I seriously doubt it still applies. Caution - I am not a patent lawyer, but I do have opinions.

[kyle623]

Hmm, looks like a project to try when i get some free time.

[blysmelter]

that charge bar looks a lot like a Dillion (part #200062) unit. I would be curious to know the dimensions of the Dillion unit, perhaps the Dillion charge bar could be adapted for use in the Lee?

Has anyone ever looked into this? Can Dillon charge bar be used with a Lee measure?