HELP! Lyman Power Trimmer butchers cases!

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30cal_Fun

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My Lyman universal power trimmer (case trimmer) makes strange noises and completely butchers the cases. The case mouth is left with four distinctive diagonal-castle-shaped bumps.
This problem persist through different brands of cases (S&B, Magtech, Fiochi) and different types of cases (.44 sp/mag and 7.62x54r).
The bumping sound worsens over time and about halfway into the trimming process I am unable to continue because the cutter head seems to bounce off the case mouth.
It primarily happens when I am trimming .44 magnum cases to special length.
One distinct feature of the problem is that the more the case needs to be trimmed the worse the problem gets. A once fired and sized .44 special case that only needs to be cleaned up in the trimmer hardly has the problem. It just leaves very small dents in the case mouth.
It doesn't matter if I apply light, moderate or hard pressure on the the handle.

Does anyone know what is causing this?!?

It seems as if the motor doesn't have enough power to cut cleanly and/or that the cutter head is dull. The cutter head is a normal one, not the carbide.
The cutter is in great shape though and very sharp and the motor doesn't seem to skip or be obstructed in any way.
I bought this case trimmer second hand from someone who bought it but hardly used it because he build his own case trimming station.

I made a short video of the cutter butchering a case. You can clearly hear that the bumping sound worsens through the trimming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbzQSmACXEQ&feature=youtu.be

And some pictures of a typical case. The first two pictures are of the case from the video that was a .44 magnum. The third picture is a typical .44 special case after just been cleaned up in the trimmer. This one was also trimmed from magnum to special length before firing and of the same brand. As you can see it just has two small dents.
 

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Yes, they are all deprimed. I even tried one case that wasn't deprimed and it still worked the same not worse or better.
The side that holds the case does have a little play side to side, but not excessive, it seems normal for a case trimmer.
 
The only play there is is between the hole in which the holder rod rides and the rod itself. Other than that everything is rock solid.
But it can't be adjusted or opened up in any way and it is in good shape. Nothing seems out of the ordinary.

I send an email to Lyman, I'll post the reply as soon as I get it.
 
I was having the same problem with the Lyman Manual case trimmer, replaced the cutter head and no longer a problem.
 
Slamming the case into the cutter head dings the case mouth. Slow the feed rate. Running that long to cut to length builds head. Lube the cutter head. I use CLP. Buy a new cutter head.
 
I would suspect the "power" Lyman trimmer to be made similar to the hand crank Universal trimmer and that it has a fiber bushing for the chuck spindle? The fiber bushing in an aluminum sleeve pressed in to the body instead of a good bearing made of hardened steel is not a very good method of holding a precision shaft. It's a cheap replacement to save costs. The fiber bushing isn't precision at all and probably has a lot of slop and fiber bushings are not bearings and should not be used for applications like on their trimmers. Looks like in your video that the pilot is off center? With the pilot either off center or slightly small in diameter for the case neck the cheap fiber bushing with slop will not hold cases rigid enough for a good clean cut. Lyman has a few issues with their trimmers. The Universal hand trimmer has the cheap fiber bushing for a bearing, the holding fingers in the chuck are too soft and made by metal injection molding, and their hand crank handle has a crimp to hold the handle to the crank arm which will get loose and wobble. I like the design and Lyman quickly replaced my chuck fingers free but they are not made for high volume reloading. It appears that your main issue is that the pilot is not running true but wobbling.
 
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Salmoneye: yes, the case is secured well into the holder. The entire holder assembly is wobbling.

243winxb: I don't think the feed rate has anything to do with it because the problem is there regardless of how fast or hard I push against the holder part.

Just as extra information: the cases fit pretty snugly over the pilot, there is very little play between the case and the pilot.

I think you might have the problem RG1.
It has a plastic looking bushing that holds the holder assembly in place, not a bearing. Around it is an aluminium sleeve. The play I described is between the plactic bushing and the holder rod.
The pilot is also a little bit off center, but no matter how I secure it, it is always a little bit off center. I tested the other pilots it came with and this 44 pilot seems to be the worst off centered one. The 30cal pilot is completely centered, the 22 pilot is even worse off centered. The cutter itself seems to be centered very well.

I think most of the wobble comes from the holder assembly because even with the perfectly centered 30 cal pilot my 7.62x54r cases have the same problem.
 
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Good luck with Lyman customer service, it is nothing like RCBS. I will never buy another Lyman tool again after the treatment I got from them. I have used their stuff for years, but I was disgusted, even after several letters and emails. If your trimmer was an RCBS, you would be expecting a new one tomorrow, free.
 
So how old is the cutting head?
My first guess would be that it needs to be sharpened or replaced.

I have a Lyman Power Trimmer & have not seen your issue.

It'd be great if you could post when you find the answer.
 
I have no idea how old the cutting head is. The previous owner had it sitting on his reloading bench for some years. It's in excellent shape though.
I have not had any problem with other lyman products. My lyman turbo 600 tumbler broke down a couple weeks ago, but it has worked great for over 10 years.

Should i just sell this one and buy a different one? Any suggestions?
 
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A couple things come to mind:

a) When I trim I place the case in the holder and then slide the trimmer portion with the pilot into the case, THEN I lock the case down. That ensures the case is square to the cutter.

b) The brass cuttings tend to get clogged around the holder portion. It may need to be cleaned out. It's not that hard to remove the holder assembly and dissassemble it.
 
Did you size the cases first so the trimmer cutter pilot fits the case mouth snugly enough to prevent the wobble?

rc
 
rcmodel said:
Did you size the cases first so the trimmer cutter pilot fits the case mouth snugly enough to prevent the wobble?

rc
Click to expand...

^^^ This, plus check the cutter head very closely, one of the blades may be broken or dinged up. The video you posted is not good at all! Something seriously out of synch. Try a new cutter blade first after resizing.
 
I use the hand crank Lyman trimmer, your cutter head is shot, and your pushing to hard, replace the cutter head with a new carbide head,
 
Can't tell for sure from the video, but it looks like the pilot is wobbling. Check by both the pilot and the cutter head.
 
Blue68f100: I just checked the price on those carbide cutter heads, what a rip deal! They are about 60 bucks! That's almost half what I payed for this trimmer.

MI2600: A: that's what I do, I but the case mouth over the pilot and lock it down, it makes no difference.
B: I tried cleaning the shavings off the cutter head every few seconds, but again, it made no difference.

rcmodel: Yes, I do size the cases first. The cases fit snugly over the pilot.

Rule3: The cutter is in excellent shape, no nicks, dents or chips.

280shooter: It doesn't matter if I put very light pressure on it or if I press very hard.

Jesse Heywood: yes, the pilot is wobbling, but there is no way to fix it. All the pilots it came with have some degree of wobble, the hole in which the cutter is fixed is probably to large.

I'll what for the reply from Lyman, if they too tell me to replace the cutter head I'll just sell the damn thing and buy a different one. I'm not paying that much (again) for a lousy piece of metal that MAY solve the problem.
 
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If yours works like mine it will cut until it makes a wire edge on the inside of the mouth. I have to pull the shell out and chamfer the inside of the case and it starts cutting correctly again. Sometimes I'll have to chamfer the mouth twice to get it to clean up.

Mine has worked this way since day one 20 some years ago. Watch for it to quit cutting easily, when it does pull the case out and chamfer the inside of the mouth then try it again.

It will make a world of difference.
 
My cutter would chew up the case mouths when it got real dull, they don't last forever,I ordered the carbide cutter ,I'm waiting for midway to let me know when they
Come in, seems even little things like a cutter is hard to come by,
 
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