Drill press for neck turning

[muddy72]

Here is a video that Erik posted 12/22/12 with his lathe turning brass. Pretty slick! I admit I do watch occassionally.http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3800995.0

 

[eric32]

Madmixerman: that is a great idea for a super cheap setup I am thinking of that. But I was to add some sort of sliding aperatus to just side the brass in and out of the mandrel or the other way around either way it will work.

Leadslinger: if I am going to spend 250 plus mandrels I would just get a drill press with and a power driver and then I can use the drill press to start my home made annealer project. My thought behind the drill press or lathe is to have a multiple use tooling solution. With the 21 century being limited to just turning brass.

Muddy72: thanks for the thread it a whole lot of good info

 

[Erik Cortina]

I will make a video soon on the different uses for the mini lathe in the reloading room.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Leadslinger: if I am going to spend 250 plus mandrels I would just get a drill press with and a power driver and then I can use the drill press to start my home made annealer project. My thought behind the drill press or lathe is to have a multiple use tooling solution. With the 21 century being limited to just turning brass.

Gotcha. Just thought I'd throw it in the mix. Good luck

 

[wmdron]

I am also interested in the mini lathe. Awhile back I read about using a mini on Varmint Al's website http://varmintal.com/alath.htm I would love to see a video of a mini in action.

 

[eric32]

Guys Thanks you so much for all the info.

I think my plan of action will be a good corded drill with a speed controller. I will fab up some sort of sliding fixture for the turner to be held on. Thinking some sort of rubber bushing between the fixture and the turner to allow the alignment of the case and mandrel

Then I will start a little piggie bank for a full lathe.

 

[madmixerman]

Eric, I just chuck the case holder in the drill & hold the neck turner in my hand & slide the brass onto the mandrel. That way if there is any wobble the hand can compensate rather than having the turner held in some sort of device not movable.

 

[eric32]

I scored a drill press for $50 a couple of days ago before Erik made his mini-lathe video. So I watch the video in bed before going to sleep about 30 min later i thought of this little setup. It keep the K&M turner lose to center on the case and i can use the drill press handle to make sure it gets into the neck.And presto neck turned

The bags a 3/8 spacing fits the turner just prefect.
Srill press speed is 570 rpm not too far off Eriks speed.
got a carbide pilot and cutter on the way to be sure to handle the RPMs

 

[Macropod]

That's a neat use for a rear bag!

 

[Erik Cortina]

I scored a drill press for $50 a couple of days ago before Erik made his mini-lathe video. So I watch the video in bed before going to sleep about 30 min later i thought of this little setup. It keep the K&M turner lose to center on the case and i can use the drill press handle to make sure it gets into the neck.And presto neck turned

The bags a 3/8 spacing fits the turner just prefect.
Srill press speed is 570 rpm not too far off Eriks speed.
got a carbide pilot and cutter on the way to be sure to handle the RPMs

You are holding the case in the chuck? The case is tapered, so not the best setup. Get a case holder from 21st century and chuck it in drill press.

 

[Bruce W]

Pbike makes a unit that works with the forester case trimmer collets. I bought one about 5 years ago .It was 200 something bucks works great . It is engineered for the proper speed for neck turning brass. I dont know if he still makes them. He occasionally posts on this site. Bruce

 

[daniel brothers]

what's wrong with using a cordless hand drill in one hand, while holding the brass.... and the cutter in the other hand, and running them back and forth

 

[Erik Cortina]

what's wrong with using a cordless hand drill in one hand, while holding the brass.... and the cutter in the other hand, and running them back and forth

Nothing wrong with it until you have to turn 800 of them.

 

[eric32]

Erik

Yea i did it both ways, i also have a 21centry like the one you have with a handle tig welded. I have been exeperimenting with both method.

With the holding the case in the chuck

I open the chuck completely and please the case as far as it will go then snug the chuck up to the case. It doesnt give me much runout.

But i can under stand the concern with crushing the case body under the case. so i took some measurement of where the chuck clamps onto the case. And i didnt not see any change in dimensions.

 

[Erik Cortina]

Erik

Yea i did it both ways, i also have a 21centry like the one you have with a handle tig welded. I have been exeperimenting with both method.

With the holding the case in the chuck

I open the chuck completely and please the case as far as it will go then snug the chuck up to the case. It doesnt give me much runout.

But i can under stand the concern with crushing the case body under the case. so i took some measurement of where the chuck clamps onto the case. And i didnt not see any change in dimensions.

A brass magnet would work well for holding the case as well.

 

[eric32]

So crazy it just might work 8)

 

[Webphut]

I bought the 21st century lathe for my 6ppc brass. I used it for a while, worked pretty good, but it wasnt quite what I really was originally looking for but it was the closest thing. So I was up and going and doing it and finally after a month of waiting for some old american iron to surface, a power king model 611 drill press showed up on craigslist for $20 and I drove 2 hours for this rust globular thing that earned its stripes in what would appear to be years of cakes on stuff. it works way too sweet and quiet with the new v belt.(not in photo as I was changing the belt) I bought a stainless 5/8" split locking collar to use as a stop. (Mounted on quill drill shaft behind the front upper faciar/safety cover in photo) I bought sunclairs case driver and the matching 6ppc case holder for it. ( a lot less run out the the previous one. I modded previous one as I did not like the swivel action) Now I use the 21st century neck turning tool, the one that came with the lathe, and the sinclair driver in my power king drill press. What I like about it is its so so quiet.(I listen to talk radio while in my garage) It turns necks at 700 rpm. ( yes it does just fine, its not too fast) I use an acid brush to bathe the case necks in rcbs case lube while turning. Cases get warm, but they A really smooth, no feed marks. On the turner, I stripped it completely down. I ground the carbide cutter to have more radius rather than the 30 degree angled point. It leaves a smoother finish as I could see the lines from before on the necks. I turned the feed knob down so the tool will lay flat on all sides when set on a table. I recessed the arbor so the tip is flush with top of tool. I wanted no teeter todder when sat on a work bench and I wanted no protrusion past main body so I could clamp to fixtures in drill press. I am going to add a mitutoyo micrometer head with the non rotating anvil and with the .0001" vernier graduations in the future. MSC sells an adapter for the anvil so I can adapt a regular carbide cutter to the micrometer head anvil. Once I get it all assembled in Inventor, I will post a renderring of it for anyone wanting some ideas.

 

[JRS]

Purchase a Benchrite Case Lathe and be done with it

 

[Webphut]

LOL, if I had known about them before, I would have bought one. They look like nice units.

Im a semi retired halfa**ed machinist/fabricator/welder so the whole lathe and mill habits I guess have the better of me. I like being able to place the part To a fixture and then bring the tool to the work, idk, weird I guess.

 

[Webphut]

Now Forester, IIRC, has a collet setup for the drill press/mill to hold the cases. I suppose I could spin the cutter, but how do I bathe it in oil? Its all good, its fun too!