so waht ya doin today?

[Ian]

Wow, slick as a whistle! Would never have thought it would be that easy. Peck-drilling with a paddle bit, whoda thunk it?

 

[Rick]

Wow, slick as a whistle! Would never have thought it would be that easy. Peck-drilling with a paddle bit, whoda thunk it?

Uh . . . . Brad?

 

[Brad]

Wow, slick as a whistle! Would never have thought it would be that easy. Peck-drilling with a paddle bit, whoda thunk it?

I didn’t either. I found a YouTube video where a guy did this on aluminum. If it works on aluminum it will certainly work on plastic. Never hurts to search and see what you find.

 

[Brad]

All done. Turned out pretty well. Because I removed the vise from the mill I also got the joy of trimming the vise. Forgot how much I dislike that chore.

 

[JWFilips]

Worked like a charm!

Heck Brad,
Why are you wasting all that pillow ticking on the work bench! Should be using it in flintlock rifles! I'm guessing it is about .018" thick sans the mutton tallow!

 

[Brad]

That pillow ticking was pulled from my old shooting box for the flint lock. I needed a sturdy cotton fabric to make a landing space for freshly cast bullets.
That stuff was .015-.016.

 

[Glaciers]

Brad that looks slick. Nicely done.
Here's what I use:

Took me 5 minutes to find these at Sportsman's and 5 more minutes plus $10 at checkout.
The 12 gage box has a hinged lid to keep the dust out, and the top punch box is for fishing flies so it has a curved bottom to the trays which makes it easy to get the punches out. Best thing is I didn't make a mess and didn't dull a drill bit.

 

[Brad]

But will it hold a 3” long push thru sizer with a lock ring onboard?
As for the mess, isn’t that just part of the process? Anything in life worth doing is worthy of a mess.

 

[Glaciers]

Man getting a little sensitive there.
And yes your UHMW storage rack looks good. As a matter of fact when I saw yours I went up to the shop to find a piece of 1/2" I have to do the same. It's a good clean idea and will save space.

 

[Brad]

Man getting a little sensitive there.
And yes your UHMW storage rack looks good. As a matter of fact when I saw yours I went up to the shop to find a piece of 1/2" I have to do the same. It's a good clean idea and will save space.

If I still used my Lyman much I would consider what you used. My Lyman and Star dies live in a little cabinet with drawers like people use for screws and such. They fit in well and it keeps the dust off the lube and the lube off everything else.
The push thru sizers are just long enough to be a problem. They are also far larger in diameter.
I grew tired of having a literal pile of them on my bench. One or two wouldn’t be bad but when there are over 10 of them it becomes an issue,

 

[462]

A question, Brad: Why did you drill a 15/16" hole, when a 7/8" would've sufficed?
I drilled a bunch of 7/8" holes in a piece of scrap 2"X4", to accommodate all the loose and miscellaneous dies.

 

[Brad]

I wanted to make sure they were a slip fit. I really wanted 57/64 as a clearance drill for 7/8 14 threads but wasn’t going to spend money on a drill bit like that. The 15/16 spade bit was also found at the local hardware store so I could do it today.

 

[waco]

I might have to make some thing like that at work out of stainless steel. 12 gauge? Maybe 10 gauge. I would probably just tig weld some legs on the thing but it would more or less look like yours. Maybe paint it John Deere Green just for the heck of it.

 

[Brad]

That would be sweet waco.
You have access to some tools I cant even dream of. And welding is not in my skill set. I may need to rectify that at some point.
Bad thing is that I can already see a need for a second one. And a way to store the push rods. Push rods will likely get a similar setup.

 

[waco]

I wonder if you could just nest the push rods in between the dies?

 

[fiver]

that's what I do with the star dies and punches.
I just drilled and glued a bunch of dowell on a board then drilled between the pegs for the stems.
I cut a couple of triangle pieces for the feet from the end of the board.
the whole thing is covered with a small towel from the kitchen.

 

[Brad]

Or I could simply place the pusher upside down inside the top of the die and call it good.
Nah, too simple.

 

[fiver]

you know it don't work like that.
either a separate board, or you gotta zig-zag the whole thing.

 

[Ian]

Or store the rods IN the dies?

 

[Brad]

Maybe Ian can help me over engineer it?
It I was going to make a separate board it would be like what I just made and the pushers would hang upside down. Good thing is that lets me see the size I stamp On the bottom.