Case Neck Turner

[Webphut]

I been turning necks with a few different neck turners for a little while now with none that I really liked. I do have a power king drill press in the garage with a fixture I been using to turn necks, but I am transitioning from reloading in the garage to a room in my house with AC and heat for better comfort. With this, there is not going to be any drill presses in the house obviously, so I wanted something that will give me the same results and to have fun new project, which I am always looking for.

Since I own a lot of the LE Wilson stuff and I always seem to go back to it, I used it as a bases to start out with. My major disappointment has always been that the turners I have used don't come with a standard .0001" resolution non rotating spindle micrometer head with a plain thimble. The turners I have used always seem to come with a sub par design of something that is suppose to imitate one and this is something I always felt would make turning necks way more accurate, so I went with a Starret, but Mitutoyo would work too. Mitutoyo costs a little more, but its not American made and I'm all about supporting the mom and pop shops in America. I used the Sinclare Driver and case holder, and not having the mandrel on hand, I spit this out real quick just have something to put in the assembly.

Now I want to make it clear so i don't get in trouble, there are a tons of patented designs here at play in my design so I would not be able to sell these. This is purely for fun and a little creativity, but I thought some other reloaders on the forums would like to see another version of a case neck turner which I think is actually a pretty nice design. The only thing I left out is the LE Wilson stand, but that is common item for those who most likely will recognize a lot of the parts on this.

I will probably start this in the near future when I have some down time. Nice little project. It should be fun. With a little luck it might work nice too.

 

[dkhunt14]

I turn brass with a right angle gear motor. I put a dimming switch from a variable speed fan on to control speed. A regular light switch one wont work. I hold the Turner by hand. I believe the Turner needs to float because of crooked cases or necks. I can easily hold .001 on turned cases. I used to use all K&M turners because of the way they adjust. I just recently bought a 21st Century and really like it. Another important thing is the expanding mandrel and tuning mandrel must give a good fit. The accuracy comes from the cutter following the fit of the mandrel. This why I like the cutter to float. Even the 21st Century turning lathe allows the case and turner to follow the expanded case BY letting it float. Matt

 

[Tiratore]

The K&M, which I use, and the "Pumpkin" have clever geometry I'm not going to try to explain, but they allow very, very precise adjustment. On the K&M, one whole revolution of the adjuster only changes the cut by something under 0.002. Divisions on the adjustment move the cutter 0.0002 as I recall (too lazy to go down stairs and look at the instructions again). An older, direct-movement, micrometer-driven turner in the toolbox is somewhat frustrating to use.

 

[T-shooter]

I been turning necks with a few different neck turners for a little while now with none that I really liked. I do have a power king drill press in the garage with a fixture I been using to turn necks, but I am transitioning from reloading in the garage to a room in my house with AC and heat for better comfort. With this, there is not going to be any drill presses in the house obviously, so I wanted something that will give me the same results and to have fun new project, which I am always looking for.

Since I own a lot of the LE Wilson stuff and I always seem to go back to it, I used it as a bases to start out with. My major disappointment has always been that the turners I have used don't come with a standard .0001" resolution non rotating spindle micrometer head with a plain thimble. The turners I have used always seem to come with a sub par design of something that is suppose to imitate one and this is something I always felt would make turning necks way more accurate, so I went with a Starret, but Mitutoyo would work too. Mitutoyo costs a little more, but its not American made and I'm all about supporting the mom and pop shops in America. I used the Sinclare Driver and case holder, and not having the mandrel on hand, I spit this out real quick just have something to put in the assembly.

Now I want to make it clear so i don't get in trouble, there are a tons of patented designs here at play in my design so I would not be able to sell these. This is purely for fun and a little creativity, but I thought some other reloaders on the forums would like to see another version of a case neck turner which I think is actually a pretty nice design. The only thing I left out is the LE Wilson stand, but that is common item for those who most likely will recognize a lot of the parts on this.

I will probably start this in the near future when I have some down time. Nice little project. It should be fun. With a little luck it might work nice too.

View attachment 1011491

Interesting idea but I have a couple questions. Is .0001" accuracy actually achievable? A potential problem is that after you expand the neck to fit the mandrel for turning, is the inside diameter actually round or did it spring back slightly out of round due to the hardness of the brass and possibly the difference in thickness before turning? The only way I can see eliminating that is to expand and then turn while the case is still on the expander under tension. Maybe have the expander/mandrel mounted in precision bearings. And another issue. The chuck where you clamp in the rear of the cases. It may need to clamp from the outside diameter instead of the rear and extractor groove. I use K&M tools and notice some cases (even Lapua) sometimes wobble a bit more than others when I'm turning them with a drill. By hand holding, my hand floats and doesn't put any side force on the necks. The cases are not warped that I can see on a runout gauge. Possible the rear surface aren't 100% perpendicular to the centerline. The micrometer adjustment is nice but will need some sort of locking mechanism after it is adjusted.

Keep working on your idea. We need something more accurate and repeatable. Make a prototype if you can and see how it works out.

 

[Webphut]

I hear you all. This is just my ideas from what I have experienced and what I think would be better. As for the wobble, I will just have to tackle that once it comes up. Maybe I will incorporate a industrial type collet closing system instead of the Sinclair driver and case holder. The collet could close down on case body. But this could work, so Ill save that idea for if this does not work. This may all be a pot of sh*t, the proof will be in the end result. It could be what all the other case neck turner original ideas came from and the ones on the market are the better design.

 

[Webphut]

Oh the .0001" resolution is only because it seems that some of the posters are looking for that kind of accuracy. Its brass, throw it away and pull out a nice new straight one. Thats what I do.

Most my experience, just a little, .0001" is not usually the problem, its usually a bad design, not because the designer designed it wrong, but usually theres a piece of information that holds back the full potential of a design. Once these issues are addressed, everything just almost like litterally falls into place no matter if the part is +\- .001" or.000001".

 

[T-shooter]

I hear you all. This is just my ideas from what I have experienced and what I think would be better. As for the wobble, I will just have to tackle that once it comes up. Maybe I will incorporate a industrial type collet closing system instead of the Sinclair driver and case holder. The collet could close down on case body. But this could work, so Ill save that idea for if this does not work. This may all be a pot of sh*t, the proof will be in the end result. It could be what all the other case neck turner original ideas came from and the ones on the market are the better design.

No harm in trying. Build a prototype and then start debugging and modifying.

 

[Webphut]

Exactly

 

[dcali]

It's going to be hard to match the adjustability of the eccentric mandrel designs with a micrometer adjustment. (Was the pumpkin the first? I know there are several units with this design these days. I have the Sinclair, which is pretty nice. )

 

[LHSmith]

Obtaining 0.0001" tolerance in turning case necks is entirely possible by using the higher end tools made by companies specifically catering to accurate reloading (Sinclair, 21st Century, K&M), controlling temperature of the process, maintaining a consistent regimen, using a quality micrometer with the proper anvil/ thimble design and developing a proficiency in using it.

 

[Webphut]

Obtaining 0.0001" tolerance in turning case necks is entirely possible by using the higher end tools made by companies specifically catering to accurate reloading (Sinclair, 21st Century, K&M), controlling temperature of the process, maintaining a consistent regimen, using a quality micrometer with the proper anvil/ thimble design and developing a proficiency in using it.

Kind of a delayed reply..
So I put project on hold for a few months, going to tackle it, but life is happening right now.

So I feel the same way on weather certain tolerances are achievable, especially on brass. Brass for those who do not know much about it does not machine friendly with super sharp tools such as drills...Brass as a rule likes really dull drill bits, but why carbide then right? Anyways, with out getting too deep into science, yes it is definitely possible, but like anything else, how much you want to spend? This kind of why I went with the $350 to $450 Micrometers, but had to draw the line somewhere, so I opted out on the optics table for a platform for the design. Now I do not know many people who just go spend that kind of money on reloading equipment, especially when it is in the R&D phases...lol. I am a little caddy wampus I suppose, but my wife going be really caddy wampus come the day she sees the account charges...For Shooting? What about So and So's braces,...lol, real life stuff comes first, for me it does anyways.