Reversing turret rotation

[Fyodor]

@ Celem:
I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work that way. Thanks for sharing your experience. Maybe cold forming will be more uniform.

[celem]

@ Celem:
I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work that way. Thanks for sharing your experience. Maybe cold forming will be more uniform.

Today, I tested cold forming with the remainder of my rod. Twisting cold produces a proper looking twist that is similar in appearance to Lee's original shaft. My problem is how to grasp the shaft. I anchored one in in a sturdy bench vise. On the other end I first attempted using a 5" machinist's vise (from my drill press) to grasp the shaft. I thought that having a long, flat grasping surface would allow for proper placement without marring or distorting the shaft. Wrong. The machinist's vise could not maintain a firm enough grasp, even after torquing down it as hard as possible, and it slipped off.

Next, I decided to see if it was even possible at all for me to manually twist the 1/4" shaft so I grabbed a pipe wrench. After a little fiddling with the pipe wrench jaws I secured a firm grasp. Since it is the nature of a pipe wrench to increase its grasp under turning pressure, it held and the shaft twisted into a proper looking twist that resembled that of Lee's original shaft. The downside is that, as expected, the surface of the shaft grabbed by the pipe wrench had deep gouges from its teeth that, even if sanded flat, may not operate smoothly in the press.

I cannot use the pipe wrench by just grasping the rotation shaft further out the length of the shaft, beyond where it would be cut off, because this would produce a twist that is too long. The Lee rotation shaft has a distinct area where the twist should be, isolated near the bottom. In order to restrict the twist to that area, the shaft must be held at points immediately above and below the desired twist area. The sturdy bench vise is adequate for one end, as it did not mar the shaft's surface. However, the grasping point on the other side of the twist area needs to be held with something other than a pipe wrench yet something that grips as firmly as a pipe wrench.

Any ideas??

[Fyodor]

Maybe another vice... it must be small enough to be held and turned by hand, though.

Do you have access to a small mill? You could grind two blocks with a groove that resembles the outside of the shaft, and clamp that onto the shaft, and turn this with the pipe wrench.

[celem]

I ran across a post on the CalGuns forum where a guy made a reverse shaft and has a photo of how he did it. I have PM'd him requesting more info. If he responds, I will post here.

He has torch in the photo so he is apparently heating the rod enough to make twisting easier but not to the cherry red that I used, which makes the steel too soft. I see that he used a reversed socket on the end and an adjustable wrench near the desired end-of-twist area. This looks promising but I'd like to hear some details on his process before I ruin another rod.

Look at his photo at the link below:
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/show ... stcount=15

[Maximumbob54]

Ask him to make a few! I will pay for mine!!!

[celem]

Soon, I will post some news. I have made a reversed rotation shaft for my Lee classic turret.

I have to wait until tomorrow to test it because I have put Loctite on the nut at the top to keep it in a fixed position. I used lock tight blue because that is all that I have. If it does not hold adequately I will go buy some Loctite red.

I do not yet have the collar with the spring on it (the bullet ejector). The part that I need is called a set screw shaft collar, it is what is used for drill stops which can be purchased at the hardware store. I need to obtain that before I can fully test this, but I will post some information as soon as I can.

By the way, no I do NOT intend to make these for other people so please don't ask. However I want other people to be able to make your own and I intend to post adequate instructions for them to do so. Stay tuned.

P.S. The guy on CalGuns never replied to my pm.

[celem]

Ok, I have finished a reverse direction turret shaft and created a video that explains how you can do the same. It is not difficult - about an hour's worth of work, not counting the set screw shaft collar, which I have ordered but not yet received to work on the bullet kicker part. Anyway, please watch the video at the link below:

[youtube][/youtube]

[Maximumbob54]

Outstanding!!! Now I have to feed someone that video and see if anyone can make me one.

[62chevy]

Very Cool !!! And should be easy to make, thanks celem.

[Fyodor]

Great video, thanks for sharing!