Giraud triway on the way. Any tips to shorten my learning curve and/or reduce my screwing up cases?
Things like adjustment, best rpm/feed rate/pressure. Knowing when cut is complete? Since I’ll probably be using a hand drill, best orientation (up/down/horizontal) to prevent chips from causing distress?
Or should I just run the drill the way I shoot my gun: close eyes and pull the trigger real hard?
I run my hand drill vertically, facing up. I switch which hand is on the drill and which hand is feeding cases about every 20 cases. Feed gently, apply even pressure, and give a small twist at the end of the cut. Be careful of how you grip the case, I once grabbed too much case and lost a bit of finger nail to the locking mechanism. The more rpm the better, I found the best bang for the buck at the time was a $60 Dewalt that I plug into the wall, amd im still using it 7 years later. Gentle and steady equals large amounts of trimmed cases.
I was thinking tool facing up would keep chips off of case and it’s shoulder, but it seemed like a pita to pull off. Nice to know it’s possible… Guy on phone when I ordered said 1000 to 3000 rpm, but higher gave smoother cut. Was already thinking about a Lee shell holder in a driver handle to save fingers as I already find using fingers to hold a case against a drill spun primer pocket uniformer leads to discomfort…
Thanks for the input.
And I still have the corded black n decker I stole from dad 40+ years ago when I came to college. Spun many a 30/06 and 270 case with it…
Lol, I suggest a drill press. Comes good to go out of the box, though I extended mine some. You’ll feel/hear when its done.
Ive never chipped a case. Just dont press too hard or you can cut them short.
For mixed brass, I insert, twist, drop in a box, then mike them. The long ones get further work but most are good just from that.
My son’s old benchtop drill press is around here somewhere, I think? My Milwaukee does lie squarely on it back…
Current process has just left me worried about stray chips scoring cases or getting on shoulders to screw up trim length indexing. And with my Possum Hollow KT you have to push HARD (but it is accurate). This could be a change in lifestyle…
Interesting that you trim all, then check. If something seems off, I immediately throw the calipers on the case. If it’s “out of spec”, I either retrim or check headspace to see what affects oal (and retrim?). May have to try it your way once Giraud arrives…
Once you start doing it, you develop a feel for it. Ill check if something feels off.
Triway arrived this week. I have only messed with adjusting on maybe 20 cases. Length adj was easy other than you might hamper access to the cutter setscrew if using a driver handle with bit as opposed to a simple Allen wrench (wider shaft on driver handle). The window might not line up with the set screw… Adjusting cutter was almost tricky. I used the mouth of a sized, untrimmed case to line the cutter up and hold it while tightening the set screw. Trick is to lean case in proper direction (or not) to get the cut that you want on inside and outside. This was initially hampered by the fact I was concurrently learning rpm/feed pressure and final twist to finish a pretty job. Tried to measure/observe the result of some goofy attempts… As was mentioned above, spin it fast and apply gentle pressure. Using a Lee trimmer shell holder in a driver handle was better for me than bare fingers. I am optimistic about improvement this tool will bring into my meagre life. Thanks for making me buy it!