Hey guys I thought I'd share my brass prep tool just for the hell of it. I use it to trim my cases as well as chamfer and debur. lIt's an antique Miller Falls No.2 hand drill that I "restored" back to flawless working condition. As you can see I then put the case holder in the chuck, essentially spinning the work piece (case) while I hold the tools still which is kinda the opposite of how most trimmers work. Not saying it's better in any way just interesting.
So here's why I love using this thing. Unlike motorized tools like the prep centers and tools that are used with an electric drill, maybe not for trimming but for chamfering and deburring I just feel like I can do it more uniformly and precisely if I do it by hand. The problem with doing them by hand of course is that its just tiring.
So with this it's not tiring in the least bit, it works pretty quick, but you can "feel" it when you're doing these different steps. Here's the big advantage though...you can ensure each case is identical to the next better than any other way I have found. Because you have to turn the handle which turns the gear, it allows you to easily measure the amount of rotations the case has made based off of handle rotations.
And because of the gearing, a few turns off the handle and the casing has spun quite a bit. As an example when I chamfer the case mouth I give it 3 rotations of the handle and not only does it do it perfectly as long as applied pressure to the tool is even, but I know it is exactly the same as the next case due to the handle giving me a means of measuring it quantitatively...kinda.
Plus, it looks cool as hell on my table and kinda makes it a bit more fun just using it. Enjoy. Jesse
So here's why I love using this thing. Unlike motorized tools like the prep centers and tools that are used with an electric drill, maybe not for trimming but for chamfering and deburring I just feel like I can do it more uniformly and precisely if I do it by hand. The problem with doing them by hand of course is that its just tiring.
So with this it's not tiring in the least bit, it works pretty quick, but you can "feel" it when you're doing these different steps. Here's the big advantage though...you can ensure each case is identical to the next better than any other way I have found. Because you have to turn the handle which turns the gear, it allows you to easily measure the amount of rotations the case has made based off of handle rotations.
And because of the gearing, a few turns off the handle and the casing has spun quite a bit. As an example when I chamfer the case mouth I give it 3 rotations of the handle and not only does it do it perfectly as long as applied pressure to the tool is even, but I know it is exactly the same as the next case due to the handle giving me a means of measuring it quantitatively...kinda.
Plus, it looks cool as hell on my table and kinda makes it a bit more fun just using it. Enjoy. Jesse
