Made some brass.

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Dogfish
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Made some brass.

Post by Dogfish »

I set up my home made jig so that it trimmed them to the proper length for my die set so that once they were sized, no further trimming was needed. Chamferred and deburred, then ran them through my Dillon 650 to size them. Final act was to swage the primer pockets.

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Investment was $27 for the saw. Between my son and I it took us two hours to process the brass. Did LC brass for supersonics, and FC brass for subsonics.
Lonely Raven
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Re: Made some brass.

Post by Lonely Raven »

Nice!

Just FYI; I'm not sure it's like this with all HF trimmers, but the motor/blade section on mine can shift left and right about 1.5mm. So it went from bang on perfect cut, no need to trim, to being off by .5mm. I couldn't figure out what happened, thinking my jig had slipped or something, then when I went to check the tightness of the blade, I bumped the shaft and the whole thing shifted back to where I had it!

Again, I'm not sure if this is common, but if I cut too quickly, the blade will bind and stop spinning. I either have to cut in short bursts, or cut very slowly so the blade doesn't stop spinning on the shaft. I figure eventually I'll see about tightening the blade up, but it could just be a safety feature to keep from melting the motor.
Last edited by Lonely Raven on Fri Apr 19, 2013 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dogfish
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Re: Made some brass.

Post by Dogfish »

Thanks for the heads up! Didn't have any shifting on mine but I will watch for it.
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Coug91
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Re: Made some brass.

Post by Coug91 »

Lonely Raven wrote:Nice!

Just FYI; I'm not sure it's like this with all HF trimmers, but the motor/blade section on mine can shift left and right about 1.5mm. So it went from bang on perfect cut, no need to trim, to being off by .5mm. I couldn't figure out what happened, thinking my jig had slipped or something, then when I went to check the tightness of the blade, I bumped the shaft and the whole thing shifted back to where I had it!

Again, I'm not sure if this is common, but if I cut too quickly, the blade will bind and stop spinning. I either have to cut in short bursts, or cut very slowly so the blade doesn't stop spinning on the shaft. I figure eventually I'll see about tightening the blade up, but it could just be a safety feature to keep from melting the motor.

You might try installing a new blade. I get about 10k out of each blade... Of the saw makes it that far. Just keep the receipt and they will exchange w/in 90 days. The spring that lifts the miter breaks at about the same number of cuts, too.
Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil - Doug Patton
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Peace
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Re: Made some brass.

Post by Peace »

Nice jig!

I've only processed 1k brass so far but here are some of my observations.

- I replaced the screw holding the blade on with a hex head. The cheap OEM screw was too easy to strip and the hex makes it easier to tighten.
- Once I got my jig set, I cut to around 1.365". Just measured 12 of the last 500 I made and AVG is 1.366" with a SD of .003". Not bad for a cheap little saw.
- I bought a push button extension cord to use as a foot switch. Works great for turning the saw on & off for each piece of brass. Never felt comfortable keeping this little saw running for an extended period of time.
- I can knock out 11/min when I'm working at it. 9-10 if I'm taking my time.
- I have to cut at an even speed also. Trying to rush the cut bogs the motor. I found if I push down with one finger, it's just enough pressure to cut smoothly.
- My first saw was a dog so I returned it the next day. With the 2nd one Harbor Freight sold me a 2yr replacement warranty for $10. I'm sure it won't last that long and I'll get my money out of it.
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Overton-AR
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Re: Made some brass.

Post by Overton-AR »

So are you guys using this saw at the "FINAL CUT" to the brass??

If that is the case, what are you doing to "smooth" the case mouth.
The "cut-off" brass looks like garbage after being chopped on my little
Harbor Freight saw.

I use mine to cut the brass down to about 1.380" and finish the trimming
with my Dillon 1200 trimmer.
Lonely Raven
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Re: Made some brass.

Post by Lonely Raven »

Overton-AR wrote:So are you guys using this saw at the "FINAL CUT" to the brass??

If that is the case, what are you doing to "smooth" the case mouth.
The "cut-off" brass looks like garbage after being chopped on my little
Harbor Freight saw.

I use mine to cut the brass down to about 1.380" and finish the trimming
with my Dillon 1200 trimmer.
You should deburr and chamfer the brass, absolutely. Otherwise you'll get brass burrs in your die, which will scar up future brass run through the die.

I use the RCBS Case Prep station. I also picked up a Giraud trimmer, but if my cuts are bang on, and I deburr and chamfer on the case prep system, the expensive Giraud is not needed. (it's also *really* difficult to hold 300 BLK to the blade on the Giraud because of the shortened cases).
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Peace
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Re: Made some brass.

Post by Peace »

Overton-AR wrote:So are you guys using this saw at the "FINAL CUT" to the brass??
Not me. Like you said the brass is too rough with the saw. After resizing, which tends to stretch the brass some I trim with a CTS trimmer down to 1.360" Chamfer and debur after.
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KooterBlaster
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Re: Made some brass.

Post by KooterBlaster »

I use The Worlds Finest Trimmer for 300AAC. Its very consistent and $70 bucks. I also use one for 5.7x28mm.
Here is the link, I think its worth taking a look at. http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/wft.html
Dogfish
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Re: Made some brass.

Post by Dogfish »

I have $27 into this, and it works fine. Lots of ways to get to the final product of prepped brass, but where I have my jig set, there is no additional trimming needed after I make the cut. It also has a fancy "auto eject" feature, right into a bucket. :lol: Just chamfer, debur, and size. I use the RCBS case prep station (and a teenage boy) for eth chamfer/debur portion of the operation. I also swage the primer pockets, but that would need to be done with any .mil brass.
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