Lee Value Turret Primer Catch/Shield

[jdgabbard]

Over the years I have usually just taped up a piece of card stock to redirect primers into the holes in the press. I have a hole underneath the press that collects primers into a soda bottle… However, I still occasional got a stray that ended up jumping out onto the bench. Sort of a pain when you’re decapping several thousand spent cases in one go.

Anyhow, I was sitting there tonight and decided to sit down and design a “Primer Shield” for the turret press and 3d print it. Turns out that it works very nicely. So I decided to add it to Thingiverse and share the link. If you need something like this I hope it can help you. And if you decide to 3d print these and sell them on eBay, you have my permission…just do right by the price…

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5657528

[deces]

That is a pretty neat invention there.

[jetinteriorguy]

Titan reloading already sells a device for this purpose for around $5.00. I had one years ago and it worked great. I think looking at it though, yours would be an improved design.

[jdgabbard]

Titan reloading already sells a device for this purpose for around $5.00. I had one years ago and it worked great. I think looking at it though, yours would be an improved design.

I have not seen Titan Reloading’s option. So I cannot comment as to which is a better design. One thing I will say about my own is that it is free, and serves my purpose. At least it’s free if you have a 3D Printer…

The one thing I’ve never liked about the Lee Turret press was their design for depriming. All of their presses in my experience just kick the primers out wherever they may land. And that is all I hoped to resolve with this. And really, I probably could have been made simpler. The 90 degree ‘flange’ could probably have been omitted from the design. However, I found that a few primers tended to bounce off of the shield towards the back of the press. So it is there to block the ones that do. And if it proves to be an issue still, the length can be extended, as it does not interfere with the indexing rod. I also may go back and revise the angle of the outer wall at some point, as it doesn’t exactly meet the contour of the press. It does not make a difference in function. Just isn’t as ‘pretty’ as I would like. But for 30 minutes designing and a few hours printing at a slower speed I can’t complain.

[jetinteriorguy]

I have not seen Titan Reloading’s option. So I cannot comment as to which is a better design. One thing I will say about my own is that it is free, and serves my purpose. At least it’s free if you have a 3D Printer…

The one thing I’ve never liked about the Lee Turret press was their design for depriming. All of their presses in my experience just kick the primers out wherever they may land. And that is all I hoped to resolve with this. And really, I probably could have been made simpler. The 90 degree ‘flange’ could probably have been omitted from the design. However, I found that a few primers tended to bounce off of the shield towards the back of the press. So it is there to block the ones that do. And if it proves to be an issue still, the length can be extended, as it does not interfere with the indexing rod. I also may go back and revise the angle of the outer wall at some point, as it doesn’t exactly meet the contour of the press. It does not make a difference in function. Just isn’t as ‘pretty’ as I would like. But for 30 minutes designing and a few hours printing at a slower speed I can’t complain.

I can’t speak to catching primers in all of Lees designs, but my Classic Cast turret has never dropped a single primer anywhere but in the tube designed to catch them, and I’ve easily loaded over 15000 rounds with it. As far as your design for the older three hole value turret, I think you’ve come up with a very clever design. I only mentioned the one available from Titan for the sake of those without a 3D printer, and I have direct experience with it and it works pretty good, I’d say it’s about 98% reliable for directing the primers into the catch. The value turret was a good machine, I only sold it to get the Classic Cast version for the four hole advantage and the better depriming setup. I did do one additional thing for dealing with spent primers on the value turret. I drilled a hole in the table with a hole saw under the press so the primers would drop through. I then constructed a box that just velcroed under the table to catch the primers. This box was big enough to hold probably 4000-5000 primers and didn’t need to be emptied more than once a month or so.

[jdgabbard]

I can’t speak to catching primers in all of Lees designs, but my Classic Cast turret has never dropped a single primer anywhere but in the tube designed to catch them, and I’ve easily loaded over 15000 rounds with it. As far as your design for the older three hole value turret, I think you’ve come up with a very clever design. I only mentioned the one available from Titan for the sake of those without a 3D printer, and I have direct experience with it and it works pretty good, I’d say it’s about 98% reliable for directing the primers into the catch. The value turret was a good machine, I only sold it to get the Classic Cast version for the four hole advantage and the better depriming setup. I did do one additional thing for dealing with spent primers on the value turret. I drilled a hole in the table with a hole saw under the press so the primers would drop through. I then constructed a box that just velcroed under the table to catch the primers. This box was big enough to hold probably 4000-5000 primers and didn’t need to be emptied more than once a month or so.

The Value Turret has a 4-Hole option, which I have myself. But as for its depriming, I’d say less than 5% of the primers make it into the primer catch without some type of addition to the press. Like I said, I just designed what I knew would work for me, and put it out there for others to use as needed.

[Kenstone]

I have presses mounted onto a 6"x6"x1/4" plates all with the same to-the-bench bolt pattern for easy swap-out.
I'm not a fan of drilling extra holes in my bench for primers, so I put some coupling nut stand-offs under the base of my Pro1000 to create a space for a spent primer catch container.
I have to remove one bolt and one riser to get that container out to empty it, not often though, as it holds a lot of primers.

.

[sparkyv]

Do you plan to sell these, jdgabbard?

[sparkyv]

Follow up: the shield works very well. The 90° fence helps alot. Nice design! Well done, Doug.

[jdgabbard]

Thanks. And I’m glad the piece I sent you was a drop in fit, so to speak…

[jdgabbard]

I have uploaded a new version of this Primer Shield with an integrated Flashlight here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5860974

The new design is the full height of the press, less about 4-5mm, and includes an attachment point for a 25mm LED flashlight from Harbor Freight. Geometry has also been changed to better contour to the press.

EDIT: Also, if someone wants one but doesn't have a 3D Printer, I have one extra test print that I am willing to ship to someone if they want to pay for shipping. First to post below and PM me gets it.

[jetinteriorguy]

I have uploaded a new version of this Primer Shield with an integrated Flashlight here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5860974

The new design is the full height of the press, less about 4-5mm, and includes an attachment point for a 25mm LED flashlight from Harbor Freight. Geometry has also been changed to better contour to the press.

EDIT: Also, if someone wants one but doesn't have a 3D Printer, I have one extra test print that I am willing to ship to someone if they want to pay for shipping. First to post below and PM me gets it.

That idea of adding the flashlight is one of the best ideas I’ve seen in a long time. It gives me an idea for adding one to my 550B.