Lathe fun

[Pistolero]

Jeff,

Let me know if I can help in the move/installation.

Do a search on BenchMaster mill. That is what I have, it is pretty nice, if small, and no quill.

Not mine ,but just like mine, except colors. Putting a DRO system on it, too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Benchmaster...058034?hash=item489be407f2:g:iKMAAOSw5UZY-nIx

This seems a pretty high. I gave $800 for mine, about 10 years ago.
I would watch eBay, I hear that they come up around once a month.

Bill

 

[Pistolero]

AHA!, Got it. Just by eyeball, those are the threads used in the Lyman 310 dies, and also same on the Tru-line Jr presses. That drop tube must be made to screw into
a Tru-line Jr. press. Never had a Tru-Line, let me see if I can find a pic.

Lyman 310 and Tru-line Jr dies were made, IIRC, before the 7/8-14 die standard came up.

Grabbed online, not mine. Note the Dillon beside it.

In my limited experience with Lyman 55, only testing because a pain to drop, had to drop into a
scale pan, which is fine for testing, it showed good accuracy at pistol level charges with
PITA powders like Unique. I think nothing will ever meter Unique like Big Game or W748, but
this one seems pretty useful.

I was assuming that the bottom of the Lyman 55 should be like the bottom of my
RCBS Uniflow measures, which have little plastic spouts. Of course, the Uniflow has 7/8-14
threads on the bottom outside of the measure. So, now I understand what they had in mind
with the Lyman 55.


Bill

 

[Brad]

Exactly!
That is what Lyman was looking at for that drop tube. I have the adapter for 7/8-14 but never use it. I don't mount mine on a press so the adapter has no real use to me.

If I remember I will see if I can measure those threads.

 

[Brad]

A little time with Google tells me hose threads are 5/8-30 or very close to it. Not hard to thread a piece and see if it fits.

 

[Pistolero]

Smokeywolf, that is very useful info. In my ignorance, I tend to try for 100% or close threads when tapping. Sounds like a
serious error in steel and SS. Never did Ti.
Will be purchasing only spiral point taps in the future, unless an emergency requires a hardware store purchase.

Bill

 

[Pistolero]

Brad, not actually needed unless Ian has a Tru-Line Jr press, and I am pretty sure he does not.
Make either the adaptor I made for Ian, or one like mine for bench edge mounting.

An equiv for modern press would be a 7/8-14 with a cone outside funnel on the bottom, .560 spigot
on top, but the Lee thru expanders are better, IMO.

Since I had never seen the drop tube, I had no clue what it was "supposed" to look like, so I
made what I needed -- and what Ian needed.

Bill

 

[Pistolero]

Whew! I think we all learned something here, about the history of Lyman 55s, and machining, and more. I had
never thought about mounting on a press, only bench mounting, and may make another adaptor
like I made for Ian to fit my Lee powder thru expanders.

And oddball threads are easy with a lathe, esp if it is in the QC gearbox with no end gear changes req'd.

Thanks folks.

 

[Ian]

5/8 X 30 is what I figured. Never seen a Tru-line Jr. press before, very educational!

If you use Lee turret presses to assemble ammo in a start-to-finish operation, it's very handy to have a measure mounted on a die, either as a charge only die in conjunction with sizer, expander, and seat/crimp die or as a PTE die in conjunction with sizer, seater, and crimp die. I also have a Lee Classic Cast press that I converted to three-hole for speed and rig up PTE dies for it as well. If Lee measures were a little better I'd use them more, but I get inconsistencies in the bellmouths and charge weights sometimes, and when throwing 2-6 grains of flake powder they aren't very good. I tried the new Lee auto drum thingy and found it to be so flimsy and inconsistent that it's too dangerous to use.

 

[KeithB]

I hope this posts OK. The (hopefully) attached file is a simple spreadsheet that allows you to determine the proper pre-knurl diameter for a part so that you get a clean knurl w/no overlapping diamonds. It's basically a simple gear tooth formula that compares the knurl diameter and tooth count to the part diameter and tooth count. There is a small correction factor that is used to account for the part OD not being exactly equal to the mean diameter of the knurl. (The OD of a spur gear isn't the same as the pitch diameter of a spur gear.) If your OD is within a few thou of the suggested diameter then you can usually get a good knurl. (The plasticity of the material and the amount of pressure you use will often require a little fine tuning of the pre-knurl OD.) Be halfway between suggested diameters and you will never get a good knurl.

By the way, if you enter the knurl diameter in mm then the part diameter will be in mm. I would change the correction factor to 0.0002 from the 0.005 used for inch units.

Hope this helps

 

[Pistolero]

Downloaded and opened fine, Keith. Thanks. I will check the two parts to see how they
fit to the list. In all likelihood, I lucked into a good diameter the first time, and not the second,
neither time holding OD as a critical dimension, just cleaning up a bit for a smooth finish.

I can see what you mean, Ian. And I was entirely in the dark about what was used to adapt to case
mouths with a Lyman 55. I do have a Lee turret, but tend to use it like a manual turret. I don't use it too much,
mostly because I cannot keep more than 85-90% of the primers in the mickey mouse primer feeding mechanism.

Another reason to enjoy this forum.

Bill

 

[Ian]

I'm looking for extra Mickey Mouse primer feeders, the old style before the "Goofy" triangular, cast hinge perforated thingies that don't work AT ALL. There are a couple of examples on the cigar box in the picture I posted earlier in this thread, and I personally find them to be magnificent inventions, if comical. They remind me of Pez dispensers, but the pattern of little nibs cast in to the original MM primer feed trays are the best primer flippers invented by anyone, ever.

 

[Pistolero]

USPS says adapter will be there Sat. Oh, well, use it when you get back.

Actually, for flipping the array of tiny dots, or points in the newer Lee square trays
seem to work in two shakes for me. Not sure what kind I have about 3-4 yrs old
but they leak primers on the floor steadily.

Bill

 

[Ian]

Yeah, Saturday is what I predicted. But I gotta roll at first light, time is short. Thanks for making that for me.

 

[Pistolero]

Hmm, crud. You may need to send that thing back for modification. I tried using mine tonight and I didn't make the
taper on the top steep enough, was having some powder stay there. Yours is steeper than mine, but may not
be steep enough. I noted that after a drop of powder, it kept dropping a bit more each time I dropped the
little hammer. Pulled out my adapter and there were flakes catching on the tapered area.
So, tomorrow I will steepen the angle.

Be on the lookout for that, or just mail it back when you get back from vacation.

Bill

 

[Ian]

I can fix that in about five minutes with a Dremel tool and some sand paper.

 

[Pistolero]

OK I recut to 15 deg lathe setup, gives 30 included angle, used a hand tapered reamer to
clean up way down and then polished. Works fine now.

Bill

 

[Ian]

Sweet. Thanks, Bill.

 

[Ian]

Well, we checked the mail a little while ago, lo and behold there lay a package with a nice little adapter inside. Had to try it out, worked like a charm, I'll be using this a lot when I get back to replenish my Socom and subsonic .308 supply.

 

[Pistolero]

Good! Glad to know it works.

Have a good vacation.

Bill