Making a Lee sizer

[freebullet]

Very nice video.

That does look tiring on the thumb, only complaint with my wft's. Simple solution for both of us don't press as hard or go so fast. I guess, you could make a universal multi angle or step mandrel to cover a few sizes & chuck it up if ya wanted?

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

Wonderful video. Just like wood working. Many small steps to the desired outcome.
An some uninformed wonder why items cost what they do!

 

[Gary]

If I was doing it for money, nobody could afford the product.

 

[Brad]

The roughing part is quick and easy, it is the final part that is time consuming.
With a setup like Keith has the roughed blanks could be easily mass produced in short order. It is the final boring and polishing to size that takes the time.
While a guy could make money doing this he needs to realize his time won't be worth much.

 

[KeithB]

I will soon have die blanks available again for Lyman/RCBS, Saeco, and Star lubers, die retention nut wrenches for Lyman and RCBS lubers, and cup type custom fit top punches for Lyman/RCBS and Saeco sizers, hopefully by the end of the month. We plan to restock our inventory with enough to carry us through the move to the new shop.

I apologize for jumping into somebody else's thread but I saw my name mentioned.

If the mods here have no objection I will post in the Swap/Sell section when that happens.

 

[Gary]

You're moving again Keith? Seems like just a year or so ago you got moved, probably just my faulty memory.

 

[Brad]

Post away! I will be a customer. So much easier to spend my money with Keith than my time in the garage.

I assume the Lyman blanks are outer dimensions finished and a pilot hole drilled like the Star blanks?

 

[KeithB]

All die blanks can be had in undrilled form or with a 3/16" pilot hole. All outer dimensions finished to size. O-rings supplied with all dies.

Started looking for buildings over a year ago, thought I had found a place twice, finally bought a piece of ground and am in process of getting 42 x 64 building erected. Hope to have final plans and loan by end of month, hope to have new building finished for May move.

 

[Pistolero]

I will await the "GO" signal for Keith, but I will be picking up a few Star and RCBS blank dies, with center drilled.\
as soon as he says they are available. I bought a morse 0 taper reamer to make the taper into these bullet
sizers easy. The max size of the taper itself is .356, but the reamer continues on larger, fortunately. 1.5 deg
taper from center, or 3 deg full included angle, approx.

I can heartily recommend the wrench for starting the die retention nut that Keith makes. The fine thread into
aluminum for the Lyman 450 and 4500 die retention nut worried me every time I replaced the die nut, it would be
so easy to cross thread and seriously damage the main casting, esp with the stiffness of the lube on everything making
the feel so much more difficult. The nut starter wrench holds it perfectly straight and it screws in without drama
every time. Well worth having, IMO.

Bill

 

[oscarflytyer]

Brad - you make them for sale? And/or, easier to make one from scratch, or open up an existing one. I have a couple sizes I would like. Thanx

 

[JWFilips]

Have a question on the Drill bit video: isn't there supposed to be cutting fluid squirting everywhere?

 

[Brad]

My lathe is equipped with a flood coolant pump, reservoir, and such but I don't ever plan to use it.
It is a mess unless in a more enclosed environment. It also adds an expense and over time the coolant, usually will alter based, can get a bit funky. I don't need the smell, cleanup, and mess.
I use a small brush to add cutting oil to the drill before starting to drill. If I am drilling out large amounts of metal I frequently withdraw the drill, brush off the chips, and add more cutting oil.

Flood coolant is more of an issue in production work. It helps remove heat from the tool and material generated but the cutting forces. Most of those machines take deeper cuts and far higher RPMs than I am using. This also improves tool life, again far more important in a production environment.

I'm sure Keith can add more to this, I'm sure he uses a flood coolant in his machining center.

 

[JWFilips]

Brad,
Thanks,
I was admiring the cleanliness of your shop! My local machinist shop does look a oily mess ( and smells!)
Now I understand
Jim

 

[Brad]

Clean? Ha
My lathe needs a good cleaning. I need to get the swarf cleaned up, it is covering the bed in areas and the chip pan is getting bad. I then clean the ways well with WD40 and paper towels. The entire lathe gets a good wipe down with WD40 and paper towels. This is all followed with a good oiling of moving parts.

My headstock has a slight oil leak so I always keep an eye on the oil level.

A metal lathe is, by nature, an oily mess.

 

[KeithB]

Brad is right on, we use full flood coolant soluble oil in our two CNC machines but not on the manual lathe and mill. If you don't use it regularly it turns rancid, need to keep it oxygenated. Our CNC mill is fully enclosed but the CNC lathe isn't. We had to put a piece of 5" guttering on the front to keep drips off the floor.

Brushing on cutting oil like Brad does is a good way to protect your tools without making a big mess. But it doesn't do much to carry off heat so you have to run things a little slower, which is fine for toolmakers and hobbyists but not so good for production. I keep several boxes of Harbor Freight 1" brushes around, squirt/dip some oil on the brush and paint it on your drill or tap.

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

JW you beat me to the lube question.

 

[Pistolero]

Yep, us amateurs can't usually justify the cost and mess for our manual machine tools.

Bill

 

[KeithB]

When I bought my knee mill I bought a coolant pump setup that was a pump attached to the lid of a large metal bucket. Ran piece of tubing up to a mag base for the nozzle, ran a couple of pieces of clear tubing from the cavities at the ends of the table to the fill screen on the lid for the return. I was machining annealed 4140 steel using a High Speed Steel dovetail cutter to cut tool blocks for my quick change tool holder. I wanted to protect the cutter as best I could and it worked fine. After that it basically got in the way with all the problems Brad and others have pointed out. I gave it to a friend who plans to use it to pump cutting oil in a vertical honing rig he is making to hone shotgun barrels for spot shoots.

 

[smokeywolf]

Only time I've found flood coolant a big advantage in a non-production (prototype) environment is when knurling. It washes away the particulate that is abraded during forming (I use a former as opposed to a cutter) and makes for a prettier, cleaner knurl.

I do like and use on occasion, a coolant mister.

 

[KeithB]

Agree 100% Smokey. Using knurling wheels that have the proper corner shape minimizes that problem, most of the detritus seems to come from particles broken off by the leading edge of the wheels. It's especially bad with aluminum, that stuff flakes like crazy. Next time I knurl on the manual lathe I'm going to hook up an air hose and nozzle to blow off the particles, maybe that will work.