rcbs chargemaster problem

[DukeDuke]

certain buttons on the keypad are not responding like the dispense one.
The rcbs guy told me they don't repair them and my warranty is long gone.
any ideas?

thank you

 

[Dusty Stevens]

at least you dont have to re-buy the scale. a chargemaster is the only RCBS product I own. I have gotten away from all the other gimmicks they make very cheaply but the chargemaster seems to work good so go ahead and order another

 

[JamesnTN]

certain buttons on the keypad are not responding like the dispense one.
The rcbs guy told me they don't repair them and my warranty is long gone.
any ideas?

thank you

Well with nothing to loose, disassemble it and spray some contact cleaner inside.

 

[Lapua40X]

Well with nothing to loose, disassemble it and spray some contact cleaner inside.

I wouldn't classify what you have is a "nothing to lose" situation, and indiscriminately spraying contact cleaner into a solid state environment is risky business. The contacts for solid state devices often use gel switches and other controls that aren't serviceable using contact cleaners that sometimes work with mechanical switches.
Furthermore, if it's simply a matter of a failed solder connection other simple issue it'd be best to have someone who understands solid state electronics to look at it. Find a friend who knows someone familiar with electronics. A local amateur radio operator, electronics hobbiest who builds models of some sort, someone like that. See if they can help guide you through a trouble shooting sequence that makes senses.

 

[Mark Walker in TX]

My original one did the same thing… No repair was possible.

Bought another, so far so good.

 

[smoking-brass]

My original one did the same thing… No repair was possible.

Bought another, so far so good.

How accurate is the chargemaster from charge to charge?

 

[JoeMcNeill]

While at the East/West shoot in 2013 a gentleman reloading next to me had his RCBS chargemaster fail. He called RCBS and was told that if he sent his unit in, they would replace it with a new unit for a $100.00 exchange fee. I was happy to hear that as I have used the chargemaster since I started shooting short range BR and find that it works well. I have added one of the brass inserts and that has made it even better.

Joe McNeill
SW Arkansas

 

[DukeDuke]

the unit I have is/was very consistent and after I changed some of the the settings was fast too

thank you for the replies!

 

[Lapua40X]

How accurate is the chargemaster from charge to charge?

For my machine, overall accuracy is great. I compare its outputs with my beam scale with every calibration and have never found it to be out of sync.
The amount of overcharge/undercharge output with each cycle depends on the cut of the powder. I get about 2% over/under dispenser outputs but that's to be expected with some powders. Ball powder (H335) is the most consistent load to load, Spherical Powder (CFE335) a bit fussier and Stick Powder (Varget) is about the same as the Spherical. But it's still much faster than trying to trickle out accurate loads into a beam scale pan.
My RCBS 1500 is the best powder measure I've ever used.
A charge slightly under weight can be easily corrected with the trickler and one that's slightly overweight can be corrected by taking out a pinch of powder and dropped granuals back into the pan slowly until the weight is correct. I load about six rounds a minute at a relaxed pace with my machine.

 

[Medic505]

My first chargemaster had keypad death. I recall sending it back and fifty bucks later,I had a brand new one. Best part, I sold the new one and went back to using a keypadless rcbs powder measure. It works every time you pull the handle.

 

[Jet]

#5 on the key pad went out on mine a few years back. Called RCBS, they said send it in with $50.00 so I did. About 2 weeks later I got a brand new one in the mail.

Great customer service.

Jet

 

[Gina1]

Being a retired electronic/computer tech, all snap electronic switch's have a finite life span. Using the dispense button time and time again, it will eventually fail. I find switching to "auto" mode, is less wear and tear on that switch. (hold down the "enter button" ) the ChargeMaster will switch it to auto/manual. It also speeds up the reloading process. BTW I find the "McDonald's straw trick works wonders for accurate dispensing.

 

[rox]

How accurate is the chargemaster from charge to charge?

The last time I tested a Chargemaster against a lab or analytical balance I saw a overall charge weight spread of 0.14 grains. I believe the claimed accuracy is +/- 0.1 grains, so it was well within that.

Another set of results are available at the url below. These are not so good:

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f28/rcbs-chargemaster-accuracy-test-72153/

A lot of the widest results seem to be on the plus/high side, suggesting that they may have been due to a 'clump' dropping off the tube. The straw or brass inserts can reduce this, but the problem can be exacerbated by tuning the Chargemaster to dispense faster. This involves running the trickler faster until near the setpoint before switching to lower speed - this can fill the tube with a deeper layer of powder, so clumping is more likely. Running for a little longer at the slower speed while approaching the setpoint allows the powder to thin-out making clumping less likely and less frequent, but dispensing will be slower.

Another factor in maintaining accuracy is allowing the balance to compensate for drift. Like most strain-gauge load-cells, drift is a fact of life, and the balance tries to compensate for drift by tracking the zero point when the balance is reading at or near to zero. But it needs time at zero to do this, so if you cycle too fast and the balance hardly 'sees' zero for very long the drift error can accumulate.

I load about six rounds a minute at a relaxed pace with my machine.

That's an amazing throughput rate! That's a cycle time of 10 seconds per charge, and it must take about 5 seconds to pick-up the pan and drop the charge, then replace the pan and allow some settle time before the next dispense starts. That would mean the dispense time is about 5 seconds. I seem to remember my Chargemaster took 20 to 25 seconds to dispense a 46 grain charge of extruded/stick powder.

..

 

[M-61]

certain buttons on the keypad are not responding like the dispense one.
The rcbs guy told me they don't repair them and my warranty is long gone.
any ideas?

thank you

How old was it? Did it work OK up until now? Did you have it in a reasonably 'good for electronics' area? (Humidity,dust,was it covered etc?)
Just wondering as I am in my 2nd year with one and to date no problems. Accurate dispensing etc,. however I have changed none of the factory settings. And I have neither the ability nor desire to crank out one complete cartridge every 10 seconds.
If it's done alright by you (to your satisfaction) I would see no reason not to get another. I have never found RCBS to be lacking in customer support....in fact, in my opinion, the best.

 

[mikecr]

It's accuracy is tied to the effort you put into accurate charging.
Like anything else really(throwing charges, seating bullets, etc).
If you don't put any effort into it, watch it, learn from it, adjust as appropriate, then why would it be accurate?

I've learned to use my CM well. I can imagine my wife using it horribly though..
I don't even let her in my reloading space.

 

[DukeDuke]

I've had it for 3+ years. Kept it in the safe. Talking about a safe queen. Tested it today and it was like nothing ever happened, worked flawlessly. go figure. Hopefully it was just a hiccup and its all good now.

thank you everyone

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Just a hiccup. Great news!