Lee Auto Drum problems

I just had my second Auto Drum screw up on me. At the bottom, the two metal 'ends' that sort of capture the thumb wheel spread enough that when loading powder into a cartridge, one climbs up a bit onto the thumb wheel, cocks, jams and doesn't let the drum return to get another charge of powder. The first time this happened, I wasn't paying enough attention, about 20 rounds got through, spread fairly evenly over two different boxes of ammo. I didn't realize it had happened intermittently before, ended up with several hundred reloads I couldn't trust for anything other than range use. Needless to say, my brass 'squib rod' got lots of use. Sent it to Lee, they sent me a new one. In the mean time, I used a second one I have, it just screwed up, same issue. I have the new one they sent, there is a lot of play between the thumb wheel and the 'legs'. I made a spacer out of a strand of .035" safety wire placed between one leg and the thumb wheel which keeps it from moving far enough to climb up onto the thumb wheel. It tends to push towards one side while loading, the internal spring of the Auto Drum has some tension to it. Of course this happened on the weekend, no way to contact Lee till Monday. Wonder if I'm the only one this has happened to?

 

Hard to understand written description, a photo will GREATLY help.

 

I swapped out the c-clip and added this clip to hold the gears and cap together when dropping powder seemed to help on mine

 

Pics???

 

I think I have a similar issue like JamieC does, but a picture will help to know for sure.

 

Putting a small hose clamp over/around those 2 tabs/ears keeps them from spreading.
What I did,
A common problem of 1st issue measures but has modified on since my Lee.
The mod might be just a bigger diameter thump wheel.
A phone call to Lee might get you a new/updated replacement measure for free...at the least some parts.

 

I had a similar issue with an early model. Lee replaced the unit.

 

Interesting.

Knows what safety wire is.

Lists hometown as an ICAO airport code.

Huh.

Must be an aircraft mechanic.

 

My first Lee Auto Drum powder measure lasted 3 years and 30,000 rounds. I noticed that the measure would increasingly lean and flop around when rotating the turret, but I couldn't figure out what was going on. The first picture shows how the shim had worn down the right ear. Finally the drum failed to rotate enough to drop all the powder. I bent the 'ear' back and the measure worked great again, but then the housing cracked, picture 2.

I bought a new one and this time I installed a hose clamp (picture 3) to prevent this from happening again. The two ears carry the entire load, including compressing the spring and friction in turning the drum, until the flaring of the case mouth begins. I'm sure I had overtightened the drum at times, which put an excessive load on the ears.

The new measure is working perfectly. There is very little play or tilt in the new measure, less that 1/4 inch at the top of the hopper.

 

20200216_075632 by JamieC posted Feb 16, 2020 at 8:39 AM

20200216_075617 by JamieC posted Feb 16, 2020 at 8:39 AM

I guess pics would have helped a bit, thankfully others had the same issue and MUCH better pics. The first pic shows the two ends, the second the bent end. When operating, the body tended to shift to one side, I put the folded piece of safety wire in that side so it couldn't move all the way over and allow the other side to climb up the thumb wheel. Should work unless it spreads more, the hose clamp idea sounds good. I thought of that first, wasn't sure if a hose clamp would work without interference, then the safety wire 'idea' popped up. I looked at the new one Lee sent, doesn't look much, if at all different, spacing wise. I'll contact them Monday.

 

One hint: When installing the Lee Auto Drum, be sure to screw it down just far enough to cause the drop tube to cycle the drum for full travel when you complete the stroke with the press handle. If screwed so far the drop tube bangs into the housing at the end of travel, you will get spreading of the tabs that contain the thumb wheel. The installation instructions do not make this point very clear. As long as the drum cycles fully (enough to drop all the powder), the AutoDrum is screwed in far enough. You may have to experiment with your unit a bit to see how it works.

 

I never screwed in the die far enough to allow the tab to hit the housing, but the tab/ear still spread out and eventually failed. I think that screwing in the die too far puts an unnatural load on the plastic linkage that turns the drum that could break the plastic.