Ball Bearing Redding Trickler

[oley55]

I have always used Lee Dippers and a Redding trickler and they has served me well with the exception of the very fine ball powders like H335 getting in-between the tube and the cast iron housing. The fine powder would sometimes bind-up the tube. I have putzed with it in the past trying O-rings and what not without success. A recent thread about throwers/tricklers for ball powder got me off my duff.

The walls of the Redding trickler are pretty thick at the waist and the tube is 5/16" in diameter. I went on line and found some 5/16"X1/2"X5/32" sealed micro bearings. Some careful drilling with a 1/2" drill bit and my 30+ year old Taiwanese drill press allowed me to drill just deep enough to be able to use the snap ring keeper and still have a little lip for the bearings to rest against. The fit around the shaft is close to being too snug and even fine gouges caused the bearings to hang up going on. A little polishing with some 0000 steel wool fixed that. A tiny drop of adhesive on the outside of the race tightened up the bearing in the trickler body. End result is perfect for my needs.

Note the absence of paint on either side was part of my previous putzing and not the bearing install.

 

[bozo699]

View attachment 1153268 I have always used Lee Dippers and a Redding trickler and they has served me well with the exception of the very fine ball powders like H335 getting in-between the tube and the cast iron housing. The fine powder would sometimes bind-up the tube. I have putzed with it in the past trying O-rings and what not without success. A recent thread about throwers/tricklers for ball powder got me off my duff.

The walls of the Redding trickler are pretty thick at the waist and the tube is 5/16" in diameter. I went on line and found some 5/16"X1/2"X5/32" micro sealed bearings. Some careful drilling with a 1/2" drill bit and my 30+ year old Taiwanese drill press allowed me to drill just deep enough to be able to use the snap ring keeper and still have a little lip for the bearings to rest against. The fit around the shaft is close to being too snug and even fine gouges caused the bearings to hang up going on. A little polishing with some 0000 steel wool fixed that. A tiny drop of adhesive on the outside of the race tightened up the bearing in the trickler body. End result is perfect for my needs.

Note the absence of paint on either side was part of my previous putzing and not the bearing install.View attachment 1153267View attachment 1153270

Nice!..... hope it works well for ya.
Wayne.