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For the do it yourselfers

For those out there who may be a do it yourselfer like me here is a gearmotor for building a case turner.

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2007081802090846&item=5-1628&catname=

I have wanted a neck turner for a while. But always lacking enough funds I started doing some research. This motor/gearbox looks exactly what is sold by some makers. Now granted I still have to rig up a swith and a case holder set-up. But the speed and torque look perfect for turning cases.

Just figured I'd put it out there in case others may be interested.
 
For $28.99, if you already have the Forster Case Trimmer, you can use it for neck turning operations. For an additional $11.79 you can use an electric screwdriver to turn the cases. These are the prices at Midway. For that kind of money why do it yourself??
 
dmickey said:
For $28.99, if you already have the Forster Case Trimmer, you can use it for neck turning operations. For an additional $11.79 you can use an electric screwdriver to turn the cases. These are the prices at Midway. For that kind of money why do it yourself??

If you are going to use the Forster trimmer with the neck turner attachment, I would suggest you not even bother turning the necks at all. The nature of this turner will not allow you to turn concentric necks, at least not concentric enough for serious accuracy work. I think turning a Lapua neck with this turner would lead to a less concentric neck than what you started with. I don't want to go into all the different brands of neck turners, but a hand held unit is a must for turning concentric necks,assuming you don't have access to a a good lathe).

The motor in question in this thread does indeed look like the one used in case lathes built by Hammonds, Bruno and Don Neilson. Would be a good project and its a good price.
 
Outlawsix,


Great project, I have been looking for a better way to turn necks for quite a while,without spending $400..)

Please keep us posted on your progress...
 
I've been real busy at work. I have been gathering parts here and there. When I get time I will be taking photos and notes. Rest assured I will let ya'll know what I did and how it turns out.
 
dmickey, here's why. Becasue I will be putting a keyless drill chuck on it. Like the Sinclair unit. That way I can put a case holder on it. Or a primer pocket cleaner. Flash-hole uniformer, etc. I want something that will be useful.

I never thought spending $300+ for a dedicated case turner was very wise for me. But since seeing what Sinclair did with their unit. My eyes were opened.

I'll let ya know how it goes.
 
Are you guys turning cases for a living ? When I got my 30BR I spent a couple of evenings turning about 125 cases. I shouldn't have to turn any more for a year or so. I used a K&M turner with the dial indicator. I mounted the K&M turning arbor in my Milwaukee 1/2" HD, 2 sp, variable drill and clamped the drill in my bench vise. Worked just fine. The dial indicator would not even wiggle.
 
rayjay said:
Are you guys turning cases for a living ? When I got my 30BR I spent a couple of evenings turning about 125 cases. I shouldn't have to turn any more for a year or so. I used a K&M turner with the dial indicator. I mounted the K&M turning arbor in my Milwaukee 1/2" HD, 2 sp, variable drill and clamped the drill in my bench vise. Worked just fine. The dial indicator would not even wiggle.

Rayjay, I've shot my 30BR in over 30 aggs already this year, it'll be over 40 when the BR season is finally over. If I figured 75 shots for each agg, then I'll be pushing around 3,000 rounds fired in one season. That doesn't even include load work-up and practice. Then there is the 6ppc. Not as many group matches to attend, but I still manage to shoot a couple thousand of those each year as well. Brass doesn't last forever, so I think I'll end up turning better than 300 neck's this year. Do I enjoy turning case necks?? Hell no...it's just plain boring. I've been turning them for many years and have figured out that the cordless screwdriver method is not the most comfortable method of performing this task. I personally do it on my lathe, but a case lathe such as what's being discussed in this thread is a really nice addition to a reloader's setup.
 
tightneck
I turn case necks on the Forster trimmer and get them within .0003" or better, I turned them on the lathe and get them .0002". On the Forster I turn a sizing mandrel slightly larger than the Forster pilot and use a lock ring behind cutter so it will return each time I remove it, also try to tighten the case each time in the collet the same while pilot is slightly inside the case mouth. I also turn case once then turn case 180 degrees and turn again.
Maybe some want .0001" consistency and maybe they get it, but this works for me for now.
Dan
 
An update for ya'll. I'm finished!!! Got it working. Looks good. Took about an hour once I started working on it.

I did write an article with plenty of pictures about it. I sent an e-mail to the Head Cheese to see if he wants to use it for one of the articles for the main site. Not sure if that will happen though. The reason is I just looked through the vendor sponsors. So will have to wait and see what he decides.
 
Outlawsix,
This is very interesting indeed! Am very interested in how you rigged up a case holder. Am wanting to look into something like this for sure. Let us know! Thanks for turning us on to this idea, chris
 
Chuck, I appreciate the offer. For some reason I have had a bunch of offers just like yours. Hold onto the cases for a little while longer. I'm just waiting to hear from the moderator.

If it is decided not to put it up here I have another place to post it. I'll keep ya'll informed.

I wanted to add that if you don't have one of the Bodine motors I linked to you may want to get one. I have a feeling that they will go really fast. When I orderd mine I asked the woman if they could get more. She said yes. Now I don't know how many more they can get.

As a teaser. You can build one of these case turner machines for $150 or less. It all depends on what spare parts you may already have on hand.
 
I still haven'thear from the moderator. So I'm going to post the article here. If hedoesn't think it is appropriate I'm sure he will get rid of it. I tried to include plenty of pictures.

Let me say that I’m a tinkerer by nature. I have seen the electric motor driven case turners for quite a while. But it never made much since for me to buy something just to turn case necks with. Well I saw that a vendor introduced an electric motor driven device that has a drill chuck on the end. Now this caught my attention.

So being the do-it-yourselfer that I am I figured I could do this for myself. I began searching for the correct RPM and Torque motor to fit my needs. I found what I was looking for here http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2007081802090846&item=5-1628&catname= .

The product description is exactly what I had been looking for. A motor with 115 RPM and 40 in/lb of torque. The fact that it could be made to turn clockwise or counter clockwise was just what the doctor ordered. These are new units according to the vendor. They have some paint missing but if you can look past that you should be quite happy. So I placed an order for 1 unit. Total shipped was around $105. I was away at work when it arrived at the house.

Once I got home I looked at the Bodine motor assembly and decided I didn’t like the capacitor on the same side I was going to be doing work on. Now if the capacitor location doesn’t bother you then you can skip down to the making up of the coupling.
SS851857.jpg
Since the capacitor location bothered me this is what I did. I took the cooling fan cover off the motor. I then pried off the triangle shaped fan retainer washer. Next off came the fan itself. Holding the fan blades I held the motor 1” off of my work table. I then struck the shaft in the middle of the fan with a dead blow hammer a few times. Once I had enough clearance under the blades I pried the fan blade assembly off the motor. I then proceeded to loosen the 4 screws that hold the front and back of the motor together. Once these were undone I slid off the back of the motor. As well as the main motor housing.
SS851858.jpg
Turned it around so that the capacitor was in the rear away from the work area and reattached the parts in the same order I had taken them off.
SS851862.jpg


Then it was off to the local pawn shop. I was looking for a drill with a ½” keyless chuck at the cheapest price possible. I found a drill in very good shape for $11.95 out the door. This took care of 2 of my needs. The keyless chuck and a power cord.

Got to the house and took out the screws holding the drill body housing halves together. I then removed the drill chuck assembly from the drill body.
SS851863.jpg
This piece consisted of the keyless chuck, shaft, drive gear and bearing. I placed the drill chuck assembly in my vice and proceeded to cut the gear and bearing from the shaft. I measured the shaft at ½”. The output shaft from the Bodine gear motor assembly measure 5/8”. So knowing this I headed to Lowe’s. There I picked up a gray plastic switch box, switch, 5/8” drill bit, 4 ¼”-20 set screws, a ½” ID 5/8” OD steel spacer and a 5/8-11 Coupling Nut.

Once back in my shop I chucked the 5/8” drill bit in the Mini-Mill chuck. This same operation can easily be performed with just a drill press and a vice to hold the work piece in place. I drilled the threads out of the 5/8-11 coupling nut. This gave me an ID just a hair bigger than the Bodine shaft. I then drilled and tapped the 5/8” coupling for,2) ¼” set screws. One on each end of the coupling. Next I placed the ½” ID steel spacer inside the coupling nut halfway. Then using one of the holes already in the coupling nut I drilled a hole through the steel spacer. I ran the tap back through the previous hole in the coupling nut. This way when I placed the Keyless chuck shaft assembly in the steel spacer, I can tighten the set screw and lock the coupling nut, steel spacer and chuck shaft together.
SS851874.jpg
I slipped this assembly onto the Bodine shaft and tightened down the set screw I had tapped on the Bodine side of the coupling nut.
SS851877.jpg


Next came the wiring. A wiring diagram can be found here http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2007081802090846&item=5-1628&catname= As it came, the motor was configured to turn clock wise. So I swapped a wire around per the diagram and had a counter clockwise drive motor assembly. For this motor as you can see in the picture. The brown and blue wires should be on the same side. And the black wire should be by itself. This is the way my motors wiring diagram said it should be.
SS851891.jpg

I was so excited that I chucked a 260 Rem case up and turned the neck. The last thing was to get a nice piece of ¾” Birch plywood to use for the base. For my needs I found that 9”x 18” is perfect. The wife and kids wanted in on the project so they sanded and finished the wood for me. I used,4) ¼” x 1 ½” carriage bolts to secure the motor to the base.

Now granted my keyless chuck does wobble just a little. About the same as using a hand drill or cordless screwdriver to do these operations. So next time I visit my smith I will ask him to take a scrap of barrel about 3” long and drill ½ for 5/8” and the other half for ½”. This way with him doing it on his lathe there should be no more wobble on my motor assembly once reassembled.

What I did can be done by anyone who professes to be a tinkerer. Now some may ask why a ½” chuck? Using that size I don’t need a case holder for 6 BR, 260 Rem, 308, 223, etc. The cases fit in the keyless chuck quite nicely. And it also holds a myriad of case prep tools. But it also allows one to use a case holder, such as a K&M or Sinclair.
SS851878.jpg
Such as primer pocket uniformer, flash hole uniformer, case neck brushes, etc.

So for those who have that do it yourself spirit. For around $150 depending on what parts you may already have on hand. You can make your own. Hope ya’ll find this helpful in doing your own.
Stephen
 
Outlawsix,

That is cutting edge man!! I am going to order a motor this PM.

I really do have 400 cases to turn soon.


Thanks so much for the great post.


Chuck
 
You'll see it soon I hope. I'm offshore right now. Hope to be in this weekend. I'll be in touch as soon as I hit dry land.
 
Good job. Thanks for taking the time to explain what you did and the clear pictures. Thank you also for the link to get the motors.

Tom
 

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