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Lyman case trimmer/neck turner hack

SSL

Gold $$ Contributor
I'm sure others have had this problem, so here is my cure for what it's worth:
I've had an old Lyman case trimmer with the universal case holder jaws for many years. I had added a case neck turner later on and swapped out the hand-crank shaft to the one that works with a drill (got real tired of cranking by hand!). My problem has always been the clutter associated with a drill attached and having to use one hand to trigger the drill when I really needed both hands to align the case and run the cutter in. Battery powered "screwdrivers" were out because they run too slow for a nice smooth cut. The other day I had an epiphany. I hung a cheap 3/8" drill on a bracket out of the way under my bench, attached a Dewalt flex-shaft, plugged it into a Wen floor switch (only on when the pad is pressed - off as soon as pressure is removed) and used a cable tie to lock the drill trigger on my selected speed. Real Rube Goldberg setup, but it works great. Just finished 300 .223s (300 left to go) and then start on some .243s...and then .22-250s, .17 Remingtons...you all know how it goes. List never ends.
The old girl still works great and I'll be watching EBay for a couple extra neck-turning heads so I can have them pre-adjusted per cartridge for depth. Sadly, Lyman no longer makes them.
 
Good idea !

I had the hand crank one as well. I got tired of cranking that one for sure. So I got one of these -

https://www.lymanproducts.com/brass-smith-case-trim-xpresstm

It works really well and saves me a lot of work when forming 6.5 - 06 AI cases from 270 Winchester brass
Nice compact unit.
I figured that since I already had everything else (including the flexible shaft), an extra $30 for the drill and $15 for the foot pedal was cheap. Plus I can turn case necks too.
 
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