Home Made "Dillon" Bullet Tray

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Gearhead Jim

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Feb 12, 2003
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I couldn't bring myself to spend the money for Dillon's nice 650 aluminum bullet tray, so...

I took 4 of my extra AkroBins and stacked them tight up against the base of the Strongmount, left side. Used mounting tape to hold the bottom edges of the bottom bin in place, one side resting on the bottom flange of the Strongmount and the other side (with double tape for leveling) resting on my bench. End openings are in front.

Top bin holds the bullets.
Next bin holds my safety glasses and earplugs.
Third bin down holds a cartridge gauge and magnifying glass for occasional inspections.
Bottom bin holds my calipers for checking OAL.

Assembly took all of 5 minutes, and I already had the bins.

In case I don't like this one, what home made bullet tray do you use? Somebody always has a better idea...
 
I found a knock off akro bin setup at Harbor Freight for $20. It came with 24 (4" x5"?) Bins and plastic mounting rails. I put the rails all along the edge of my bench. Makes it really easy to store brass and bullets while I'm loading (especially progressive). The best thing is I don't need to keep them there, I can switch out brass and bullet bins as long as it takes me to move them.
As a bonus they catch things that like to roll off the bench.
 
what home made bullet tray do you use?
Click to expand...

I couldn't see the cost either. Seems danged expensive to me.
SO I cut off the top of a Berry's bullet box.
Drilled a hole in the corner & tightened it down with one of the press's mounting bolts.

Shown here with my new favorite caliber: .41 Remington Magnum

bullet_tray.jpg
 
I used to have my 550b on a strongmount with facilitated the use of the Dillon (or other) trays. Especially for the finished round catch tray. I had to remove my Strongmount for ceiling clearance when I added my brass feeder. Now (hangs head) I use a deep aluminium pie pan lol.

You can see it on the other side of the press.. I know, I said station 1 "de-prizes" the brass.
Was first video. Humble apology. ;)

Anyway, the unattractive catch tray functions as it should and was my quickest for of "red-neck" engineering that remained safe and functional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Be8bjFwXC8
 
oh man!!! you label your tool heads too.

i used the lid of a coffee container. it's round
 
When I ordered my 650 I just "bit the bullet" so to speak and ordered every option, including the bullet tray.

A couple of months down the road now and the sting has started to wear off and the wound to my wallet has started to scab over.

I still appreciate re-purposing however, and am looking for something to fab a tool head holder. Any ideas you guys have would be appreciated.
 
I always just set the box on the bench on the left side of the press. Some times I add some spring loaded clips to keep the lids open.
 
I use a Frisbee. :)

Because its easy to grab the next bullet, and its not completely flat, so all the bullets naturally move to the center of it.
 
I use a small automatic pet food dispenser for bullets, and a second one with a modified / widened mouth for my brass. I can fit several hundred in each, but only have to pick from a single or double layered pile.
 
Before I built one of my benches for the Dillon 650 I figured the max heigth with the case feeder so It would have the required clearence. The OP for the U tube bench looks like it moves when he operates the press. My bench is made from steel framing strut and is bolted to the concrete wall with 3/8" red head concrete anchors. The house may blow away but the bench will still be there.
 
"I used to have my 550b on a strongmount with facilitated the use of the Dillon (or other) trays. Especially for the finished round catch tray. I had to remove my Strongmount for ceiling clearance when I added my brass feeder. Now (hangs head) I use a deep aluminium pie pan lol."

My loading bench is under a stairway and would have a clearance problem with the 650 casefeeder.

I did some measuring and discovered I could solve the clearance problem by lowering the casefeed by about 2". Cut the vertical support pipe and the clear plastic casefeed tube by the same amount, reassemble. The measuring and thinking took a hour, but the actual work was about 10 minutes.

Cheers!
 
oh man!!! you label your tool heads too.
Click to expand...

Not only that but HE USED AN OLD DYMO TAPE LABLER ! ! ! ! ! :D

WOW! It's not like THAT doesn't time stamp Hondo as a COG* or nuthin, eh? :D

Hey Hondo, can you still find tape for those things? I had a couple of rolls stashed away and the backing tape was falling off from the glue being dried out! ! ! !



* COG = Crochety Old Guy
 
Hey Hondo, can you still find tape for those things? I had a couple of rolls stashed away and the backing tape was falling off from the glue being dried out! ! ! !
Click to expand...

Hiya BCRider,

I can happily confirm that there is still tape available for the Dymo products!

Depending on the model you currently have there might be more than for others. I suggest you give our Canadian colleagues a direct call and they will point you in the right direction to where you can find it!

Telephone:
- 1-800-668-4575 (Monday to Friday: 9am - 4pm Eastern)
- http://global.dymo.com/enCA/ContactUs/default.html

For the rest,
There are some excellent ideas in here and some very good uses of Dymo tape as well!
Thank you very much for sharing it all!

With best regards,
Jesper K
DYMOSupport
 
I label my toolheads and powder measures with a black Sharpie pen, normal (not "Fine") point.

On the metal "ring/funnel" at the bottom of the clear hopper, I write the type of powder and charge weight the measure is currently set for. If I change, a quick wipe with some alcohol in a Kleenex removes the old writing and it's ready for the new numbers.
 
I have one of the Brother P-Touch printers. It can do multiple lines on a label. I have the caliber printed large, then three small lines with the funnel size, locator pin size, and shellplate # that goes with that caliber in my Dillon 550.
 
Hey Hondo, can you still find tape for those things? I had a couple of rolls stashed away and the backing tape was falling off from the glue being dried out! ! ! !

IDK? i have 5 or 6 rolls of tape from 25 years ago.
Just thought that'd be a good way to use some of it.

Label on the toolhead & label on the space where it's stored.

th-holder.jpg
 
That's a great idea Jim! I'll have to look at that! Thanks!

Gearhead Jim said:
"I used to have my 550b on a strongmount with facilitated the use of the Dillon (or other) trays. Especially for the finished round catch tray. I had to remove my Strongmount for ceiling clearance when I added my brass feeder. Now (hangs head) I use a deep aluminium pie pan lol."

My loading bench is under a stairway and would have a clearance problem with the 650 casefeeder.

I did some measuring and discovered I could solve the clearance problem by lowering the casefeed by about 2". Cut the vertical support pipe and the clear plastic casefeed tube by the same amount, reassemble. The measuring and thinking took a hour, but the actual work was about 10 minutes.

Cheers!
Click to expand...
 
Ever so often my wife likes to bring home "Chinese" from her favorite restaurant. The food comes in round and rectangular plastic trays with clear plastic covers.

For storage of leftovers they're great. Since I now mostly use a strictly manual RL550B, two of the round ones (one on top of the other) makes for an excellent bullet "tray" and one of the rectangular ones make an excellent case tray.

Cheap; works good and lasts long time.
 
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