homemade case prep area?

The tools are usually bigger than the case, so grabbing the smaller case is going to cause hand cramps more quickly than grabbing the tools would. I would just make something to hold the cases and run with that.

Keep at it. I use my lathe a lot. Before that I used a cordless drill a lot. Drill press. So many ways. No lathe? small electric motor and make an adapter for the tools. Just some ideas. But, I have used them all at one time.

Well, not home made but put together by me. I have the same issue, my hands have terrible arthritis and trimming/chamfer/deburring a thousand rounds of .223 on a rainy Saturday was killer so I spent the money on a Frankford Arsenal Case Prep Center. I got it on sale and had my loyalty points at Sportsmans Warehouse. So for less than $100, my hands feel so much better and its fast! I use the RCBS Trim Pro for 30-06, 30-30, .243 .44mag and .357, due to lower volumes.

For comparison, I was using the LEE case trimmers mounted in the Dewalt drill, took forever and killed my hands.

I mounted the prep center on to the board and the catch tray, made from an old Gladware container. The Trim Pro is also mounted. I found out early in the Frankford Arsenal Prep Center ownership, it needs to be mounted, if not your gonna be using your free hand to hold on to it while in use. It slides all over the place.

ohihunter2014 said:

how's the trimmer on that thing work? one day I will get fed up and buy an electric one. does it tale up a lot of space or loud?

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Not loud at all. It takes up a 12"x12" space. It trims very nice, it trims from the shoulder as a reference. Just size, plunk test, case gauge one round, set the machine up to that round per instructions and lock it all down. I have trimmed 4,000 cases now and it's still where I set it. I would only use it for one caliber myself but it's not that hard to setup for another caliber.

I can't get a pic to load

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Where is reads "share this photo" in photo bucket "select all" of the "direct" link and cut/copy it.

Now type [img ]Paste "direct" link in here[/img ] except leave out the spaces between the g's and ]

When you post, you will get this.

I am building my own automated trimming system, which I call my "poor man's Giraud Trimmer". Basically, I have the Giraud Tri-Way Timmer head which trims, chamfers and deburrs all in one step. It is designed to go into a hand held drill, but with my arthritis, I cannot hold the drill and the case at the same time.

Here is my solution, and it should work with all of the drill-mounted trimmers:

I went to Harbor Freight, and bought a buffer, which is basically a motor with a shaft of either end that you can attach a buffer wheel to. It looks just like a grinder basically:



Then I cut off the threads on one of the arms, bought an adapter, and mounted the Giraud Tri-Way Trimmer:

Before Cutting:



After cutting, which took me about 50 seconds with an angle grinder:



Next, I got a file, turned on the motor to get it spinning, and then filed/chamfered the edge of the shaft to get it smooth:



The adapter I got from Amazon goes from 1/2" (the diameter of the buffer shaft) to 3/8" (the diameter of the Giraud shaft). I got it from Amazon here:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XHG7WC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1



From here, is is a simple mounting job:





Now the Giraud Tri-Way trimmer goes into the end of the adapter.



Total cost:
-Harbor Freight Buffer - $35 with a coupon
-Adapter - $33 (ouch)
-Giraud Tri-Way Trim head - $100

Total cost = $168 instead of the almost $500 that Giraud charges for their trimmer with the motor.

This allows me to trim, chamfer and deburr all in one step. I also own a Lyman Case Prep Xpress that I bought on sale at Amazon for $95 (they are normally about $120) to do the rest of my case prep work.



Saves my old hands and fingers!

Automated solutions like this are not cheap (I have $165 in the Giraud trimmer and almost $100 in the Lyman case prep), but to me it is worth it. Makes case prep a breeze, and with the Giraud trimmer, the cases look amazing!!!

ohihunter2014 said:

they also make a trimmer for your lyman prep center that would have saved you $165 .

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Yeah, but I really wanted the Giraud!!! Once you see a case prepped on the Giraud, you will never settle for anything less...

The buffer I have spins at 3,450 RPM, which is just about the same speed as the full-sized Giraud trimmer, and the motor is 1/2 HP, which is much more than the Giraud trimmer, but that is fine as long as it does not bog down and continues at 3,450 RPM.

The Lyman prep center spins MUCH more slowly and with a lot less torque than my solution, and in fact it only spins at 125 RPM!!! It is great for primer pocket cleaning/reaming, etc., but for me, I wanted a high-end trimmer but without the $500 price tag.

Other methods work just as well I am sure, but for me, this is a dream come true!

I clamped my Rigid 1/2" drill to a leg on my work bench. I use a WFT and it works great in that drill. It has a lock button for the trigger, You can trim cases pretty quick. For deburring and chamfering I use a #8x32 connector nut as the chuck and just use readily available tool heads in the same drill.