Little Dandy resevoir weight

[Brad]

Khornet wanted me to make him a device to sit on top of the powder in a Little Dandy powder measure. The device would help keep powder packing more consistant as powder level dropped.
I did some thinking, ordered a hunk of 1.5 inch 6061, and a few taps.

Spent 1.5 hours at the lathe tonight. Got the rod largely turned. Still need to thread the end and get it polished.

This is the part that sits on the powder. It needs the bottom faced off flat and 3 or 4 small holes drilled thru it to allow air to escape. This is required as it is only .030 smaller in diameter than the ID of the resevoir and I don't want it riding on a cushion of trapped air.


If time allows I should have most of it done tomorrow night.

This sure is cutting into my reloading time.

 

[RicinYakima]

Nicely done, Brad. I would like to know how it works out!

 

[Brad]

You will get to see it here. I'm sure I can get Khornet to let me give it a quick trial run before handing it over to him.

This is actually a pretty fun project for me. Makes me stop and think about how to get the final assembly to go together right. Doing everything in the right order matters.

 

[358156hp]

It wouldn't take much to adapt that to a low powder level alarm. Especially with the number of Radio Shacks that are closing down.

 

[KHornet]

Brad and his lathe are doing very interesting work. Considering that he is doing this and other projects on pretty much a learn as you go basis, he has come far fast. I had two old single cav 357 molds, that he wanted to try hollow pointing, and he did a creditable job on both. The round nose 160 grainer, is a bit fussy to cast as the mold must really be hot, really hot, and the pin very hot as well in order to get perfect blts, but it is worth the effort. It is an interesting blt loaded in 38S brass, and of range scrap would be a whale of a defense load I believe. The 150 SWC came out about as perfect as any one could ask, and is not so fussy, producing very nice HP's. When I got the little dandy, and a half dozen rotors, I learned quickly that bulky powders like unique, red dot, and blue dot, wanted to have the hopper at least 3/4 full in order to drop consistently. No problem with the non flake powders, but even those seemed to want at least a half a hopper full. Brad and I talked it over and he is coming up with what I believe will be the cat's posterior for uniform powder drops. Will be anxious to get it in use in the near future. He also turned out a simple but slick tool form expanding crimp on gas checks a smidge.

 

[RicinYakima]

Having use fixed rotor powder measures for more years than I want to admit to, you are on the right track. I made a long spout funnel that sat on the open top of the Lil Dandy and held about the same volume as the original hopper does. As more is used out of the bottom chamber, some falls down from the funnel. That keeps about the same amount of head depth on the rotor. I have since bought a Harrell's pistol measure that is amazingly accurate for the top 75% of the powder column due to its internal design. I'm following your work and hope to see some comparison results!

 

[Charles Graff]

I have been using a powder measure weight for quite some time now and they do make a difference in the consistency of thrown charges. There is a fellow who makes and sells these on Ebay for about $28.00 if I remember right. I have one I switch between my Lyman 55s and another for my Lil Dandy. They are made from aluminium and brass. They DO work! If the measures is operated the same each time, I can't find any measurable difference in the charges, using Bullseye, Unique, AA5 and 2400.

 

[Brad]

I need to decide it I want to make a lid with a hole in it to keep the rod relatively plumb. If I do then the knob on top will be turned down in order to let the rod fit thru the hole in the cap.

 

[Brad]

Forgot to add that I'm starting to like the 4 jaw chuck. It is a bit slower to get stuff going but I can get things center far better and the centering is repeatable. My 3 jaw doesn't share that trait.
Using a dial indicator makes centering pretty quick once I got the hang of it.

 

[Charles Graff]

I learned the basic lathe in 1969 in a college machine shop course. All they had was 4 jaw chuck and we had to learn to center things. Once you get the hang of it, it is not hard at all.

 

[Brad]

Went back and redid a few things. I decided I wanted some way to keep things centered. That meant making a new lid with a center hole. It also meant the know on the top of the rod needed to be turned off.
For a new knob I drilled and tapped a Barnes all copper solid.

Rod slides easily on the top but without too much slop. Rod was turned to .375, made threading the top 3/8-16 easy, the center hole was drilled and reamed to .375 also. A little work with a split rod and emery made it just the right size.

Lots of learning went on here. Biggest thing learned was that a 4 jaw isn't difficult to center stuff in but it is also far more repeatable tha a cheap 3 jaw.

 

[Ben]

Test that puppy and report back.

Inquiring minds want to know............

 

[KHornet]

To me, a functional thing of beauty!

 

[Charles Graff]

So how has that gizmo worked out in use?

 

[Brad]

From what I have heard it seems to make no discernible difference with most powders.
I gave it a quick whirl before delivering it to khornet. With Universal clays I saw no difference. If I had so say anything I think it might have made things a tiny bit worse.

I learned a bit about machining in making it and I have a father in law who is happy with it so I consider it a success on those two counts.

 

[carpetman]

I posted on another thread that the old Belding & Mull powder measure does not have metering problem with any powder I have used. It does have a split partition so that the powder drops out of a small cavity so that the weight is always consistent.

 

[Brad]

I think a baffle like that makes a big difference Carpetman. Far more so than this contraption. That said, it was a neat thing to make.

 

[KHornet]

Have learned that technique in turning the rotor and type of powder makes a difference in accuracy using the device. Fine powders used are far easier to get exact charge weights compared to flake powders. Have found that by sharply turning the measure to fill the rotor (counter clock wise) and rapping back on the rotor hard a couple of times, and then when you drop the powder do the same thing a couple of times to dislodge any stuck powders will produce nearly 100% accuracy with most powders.

 

[carpetman]

Are you practicing for the olympics gymnastic team? Getting a Belding & Mull seems much simpler.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I just started using a Lil Dandy about a year ago... I love the thing for small cases like my 25 auto revolver loads & my 257 Special... & my result mirror what is above concerning ball powder verses flake powder... I don't get very consistent powder charges with Unique, but I get excellent results with AA#5 & W-231