Guns & Outdoors Forum

Few years back I was given an old Lyman powder measure. Original box, not abused but kind of icky. Mice had made a home in the box, and pissed all over it. Time and piss caused rust, pitting, etc.

I cleaned it up with the intention of repainting, and making it automatic, but didn’t do either. Last night I bead blasted it and threw on some powder coat. Which is so much better than paint.

Turned out pretty decent. I laid the PC on thick, to try and hide the putting. It worked well on the not so bad parts, and is certainly better than it was before on the really pitted parts.

It works well, and drops H110 within a tenth of a grain. The hopper is kinda jacked, I flipped it from the threaded end to the plain end and “threaded” it by forcing it into the measures threads. It’s assembled, so, I’m not pushing it. Worst case I 3D print a new one. Or machine one.

I MAY carry on with making it automatic, maybe not. Plan was to hold an empty case up to it, and it would operate itself. Why? Because I can.

Nice job on the PC.

PFD45 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:51 pm Nice job on the PC.

Thanks. It’s easy, as long as you follow the rules.
1. Good surface prep. Aka sandblasting.
2. Wipe with acetone.

That’s really it. The process kind of does it on its own.

The other rule is don’t bump the parts placing them in the oven. There’s ZERO touching allowed. No matter how light you THINK you can touch it, you can’t. Period. Point blank. End of story. You’ll wipe the powder right off.
Now, the nice thing is you can *maybe get away with just spraying more powder over the blemish before baking. (I got away with it. )
Worst case you blow it off with the air hose and start over.

Pics of it blasted and with the uncured powder. The tape is there to keep powder from going where it shouldn’t. It’s specifically designed for this purpose, doesn’t leave any residue after baking.

That turned out nice. My brother got me hip to powder coat and how durable it is. He does it alot and has a whole setup but won't take the jump to open a business doing it for people .

Ironically I found this thing last night. Didn't even know I had it. Not sure who it's made by but I'm going to test its accuracy later today.

Lee Perfect Powder Measure.

Sucks with ball powder like H110. It either binds or leaks.

Lyman is better.

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 7:53 pm That turned out nice. My brother got me hip to powder coat and how durable it is. He does it alot and has a whole setup but won't take the jump to open a business doing it for people .

Ironically I found this thing last night. Didn't even know I had it. Not sure who it's made by but I'm going to test its accuracy later today.
20250119_145112.jpg

I *had* one of those.

I smashed it with a hammer so that I wouldn’t be tempted to use it again, and that another innocent person wouldn’t have to deal with it.

There appears to be a part missing. Look at the box and you'll see a little thumper/hammer. When you charge the measure tube , you should life and drop the thumper to add consistency to every charge.

I use the same measure.

Nice work!

Freezer wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 9:34 pm There appears to be a part missing. Look at the box and you'll see a little thumper/hammer. When you charge the measure tube , you should life and drop the thumper to add consistency to every charge.

I use the same measure.

Nice work!

I’ve got the hammer dingus. I took it off because I was offended at the horrible way it was attached. And, other measures don’t use one, and they work fine. So does this one. It meets the accuracy of my scale, so I can’t prove one way or the other if it helps. If I ever get a scale with better resolution, I’ll for sure try it. If I end up automating it, I’ll add a vibrating dingus to it to perform the same function.

Newer ones have a hammered finish.

CPJ 2.0 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:41 pm
I MAY carry on with making it automatic, maybe not. Plan was to hold an empty case up to it, and it would operate itself. Why? Because I can.

CPJ, that piece is looking good, nice work

just a thought if you automate it.. finish your first coffee before heading to the reload bench
The reason I say that is we have an auto dish soap dispenser. As i quickly washed and rinsed a cup i inadvertently pulled it out of the sink and under the soap dispenser without noticing (hadnt had coffee yet) then i got through about a half cup before i figured out what happened.

It would only drop powder if there was a case present.

I've heard of "mouse fart" loads, but never a "mouse piss" load. . .

Good on you keeping the old beast running. The bulk of my loading equipment ISN'T Lyman, but the rep is that the company has changed so much over the decades, it's hard to say where a lot of their stuff comes from. There's much crankiness in the bullet casting community over how much Lyman monkeyed with established mold designs - especially Elmer Keith's - over the years to where you order the known mold number only to get something that's got different driving bands, lube grooves etc. . .

I think it's safe to say YOUR powder measure didn't hail from the PRC.

One of these years I will machine my own, stealing ideas from multiple company’s.

I’d also like to strip my 1972 model RCBS press, and coat it also. But I’m gonna wager that paint is pretty tough. Stripping it won’t be a joyous occasion.

Dude, that's patina!

Off topic here, I notice that your press is mounted on a stand. Did you fabricate it? Is there any flex? The press is a JR? I have one also but went with the Rockchucker when I started forming cases. The extra leverage made doing that easier.
I wanted to try elevating my press but haven't gone there yet.

jwv2023 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 4:26 am Off topic here, I notice that your press is mounted on a stand. Did you fabricate it? Is there any flex? The press is a JR? I have one also but went with the Rockchucker when I started forming cases. The extra leverage made doing that easier.
I wanted to try elevating my press but haven't gone there yet.

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.

It’s better elevated than not, but I need to add a brace or two because it flexes more than I like.
They sell them, but I have pretend design skills and know a guy with access to metal, a waterjet, and press brake.

That metal folding chair is a medieval torture device

Looks good
I was thinking it looked familiar had to go out in the garage and check.

Chiro1989 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:41 pm That metal folding chair is a medieval torture device

That’s for the cat when she’s not in my lap, or for standing on. Not sitting. Maybe sitting while welding, because I don’t want to catch my cloth office chair on fire when welding. (Again)

Ha, soon you will be fabricating cat trees and cat lounge decks for window sills

Chiro1989 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 5:34 pm Ha, soon you will be fabricating cat trees and cat lounge decks for window sills

She’s already got a tree, which is placed close to the front window.

But yeah, I’d totally do it. Cats are awesome. On par if not better than dogs, and certainly better than people.

"I'm not a cat person..."

breamfisher wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 7:03 pm "I'm not a cat person..."

I was ok with cats, if they were cool. Lots were not. Lots are ass holes. But, aviaries of similar plumage congregate in like places.
So now im a cat person.

[/quote]
...... but I have pretend design skills ........
[/quote]

That sounds like me. I prefer "advanced prototyping"