What to do when you destroy a Lee hopper

[44vaquero]

I was re-working my reloading bench today and in the process I knocked my manual Lee Safety Disk on the floor. Of course the red plastic hopper was toast, plastic does not endure a 4 foot drop to a concrete floor very well. After several choice words while cleaning up the mess, I decided a field expedient repair was in order!

Breaking out the moto tool and the hot glue gun. The fall only destroyed the top of the red plastic hooper, the cracks did not extend into the base portion. Trimming away the excess and hot gluing a 1/2 inch piece of CPVC in place leaves an acceptable base to attach a new hopper to.

A empty conditioner bottle and a pipe clamp were pressed into service (it's ID is a good fit to the CPVC's OD) as a powder hopper.

It's not the prettiest of solutions but it will work until the replacement arrives from Lee.

 

[blarby]

A damn fine field repair, sir.

 

[Fryerpower]

I have ZERO experience with this, but was there something special about the original material? Did it conduct electricity to prevent static electricity build up? I would be concerned about CPVC and static electricity. I had that issue when I pumped biodiesel through it. There was a snap and pop about once per second where it discharged into a barrel. I attached a screw and ground strap into the pipe and grounded it to the barrel. Problem solved.

I would hate to see your set up go boom!

Jim

 

[horsemen61]

Looks good but I have to ask no duct tape lol

 

[higgite]

The DIY repairman's mantra:

Cut to fit, paint to match. If it doesn't fit the first time, get a bigger hammer.

 

[btg3]

What happened to the nail polish bottle?

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...accendently-destroy-a-Lee-Safety-Disk-measure

 

[44vaquero]

btg3, like all good hacks this one has already been upgraded. The curve on the top of the conditioner bottle yields better flow.

Fryerpower, not too worried about static, I wiped everything down with a fabric softener cloth during assembly. Powder is flowing smooth and shows no signs of sticking.

 

[BYJO4]

That was certainly a good use of materials available to repair a needed componet.

 

[noylj]

The original material was plain old cheap brittle polystyrene.
I wonder how long the hot-melt will hold with all the weight above it vibrating as the press goes up and down.

 

[jmorris]

You might try sending them an email, all I have had to do in the past to get new parts that broke was to send them a photo of the broken part.

The reloading equipment business has very good customer service in general. Not just Dillon but the rest of them too.

 

[horseman1]

Nice work! I love home brewed solutions. Those are good skills to have.

 

[Barndog]

Impressive looks like something I would have done

 

[Jeff H]

I'm always amazed how frugal the reloading forum can be.

I like the repair to get you out of a jam over the weekend, but my first call the next business day would have been to Lee. A new hopper is only $6.00.


http://leeprecision.com/hopper-cov-round-red.html

 

[44vaquero]

Jeff H, I will take that as a complement! I actually already ordered the replacement, this was more of practical test of ones MacGyver skills.

I was actually surprised that it works and is very secure. It is at least as good as the factory unit, maybe better.

At any rate the important thing is that down time on the reloading bench was minimal.

 

[horseman1]

I was wondering as well, if it might not better

 

[44vaquero]

Horseman1, one thing I can tell you is I do not knock the cap off when uncovering the equipment, there isn't one.

On a side note: While the measure was disassembled I honed the top edges of the main body. The result was closing the gap between the hopper assembly and the disk. Less leakage on top of the disk and more consistent throws. I may do the same with the other 3 I own.

 

[Jeff H]

Jeff H, I will take that as a complement!

Good because it wasn't meant as a criticism. Just an observation.