beargrease
Member
Hi folks, there has been a lot of discussion about the Lyman All American press (LAA) over the last few months. I would like to add my two cents worth in case someone is thinking about one. First of all, have you noticed the price recently? Six months ago you could buy one for $40-60. Now they are over $100.???
Anyway for users and not collectors I must say that platform presses like the lyman and Texan T7 are terrific.
One of the best features is the priming. Platform presses have straight line vertical posts for priming, very accurate and they have a set screw to adjust to a very accurate degree the priming depth. My LAA seats primers like butter, very satisfying feel.
Thought you might be interested in a recent re-build. This particular press was getting a little grungy.
First thing was to tear it down completely. Lots of Allen set screws and drive pins. Be patient, it will come apart in a straight forward manner.
Then comes a through cleaning, first in a solvent bath, then wire brush any loose paint. Then a final rinse in white gas (Coleman fuel).
Then paint. I didn't like the old red color so I painted it a bright orange. A little brighter than Lyman orange, but close. I think it turned out very pretty (see pictures).
Then polish up any rusty parts and lube and reassemble.
My press is one of the older models and has the shotgun adapter bushing which was missing. These are impossible to find and are a very strange size (1.095"x28tpi). Weird! I made an adapter from a large 7/8x14 nut and turned it down and threaded it to fit the press. I left only a very thin flange and turned it down tight into the shell plate as it is intended to be permanent.
The large knurled shell plate nut has a very fine thread. The set screw is hard steel and will damage the fine thread every time. So, a small slug of brass was inserted ahead of the set screw and this eliminates the thread damage.
Next, I added turn handles to the turret. Now I can spin the head around, just like the big kids. These posts may be a little long and need shortening a bit.
Lastly I added a re-bound spring so the ram bounces up just a bit from the bottom so that the priming post clears the shell holder priming position so the cases can be easily inserted.
Well, thats it, I think. The Lyman T-Mag was removed from the bench and the spiffed up All American put in its place. I really like the new press (new to me) and it is a great sense of pleasure to tune up an old piece of machinery and make it run like new, or even better.
What do you think of the tune-up? Hope my photos show up.
Anyway for users and not collectors I must say that platform presses like the lyman and Texan T7 are terrific.
One of the best features is the priming. Platform presses have straight line vertical posts for priming, very accurate and they have a set screw to adjust to a very accurate degree the priming depth. My LAA seats primers like butter, very satisfying feel.
Thought you might be interested in a recent re-build. This particular press was getting a little grungy.
First thing was to tear it down completely. Lots of Allen set screws and drive pins. Be patient, it will come apart in a straight forward manner.
Then comes a through cleaning, first in a solvent bath, then wire brush any loose paint. Then a final rinse in white gas (Coleman fuel).
Then paint. I didn't like the old red color so I painted it a bright orange. A little brighter than Lyman orange, but close. I think it turned out very pretty (see pictures).
Then polish up any rusty parts and lube and reassemble.
My press is one of the older models and has the shotgun adapter bushing which was missing. These are impossible to find and are a very strange size (1.095"x28tpi). Weird! I made an adapter from a large 7/8x14 nut and turned it down and threaded it to fit the press. I left only a very thin flange and turned it down tight into the shell plate as it is intended to be permanent.
The large knurled shell plate nut has a very fine thread. The set screw is hard steel and will damage the fine thread every time. So, a small slug of brass was inserted ahead of the set screw and this eliminates the thread damage.
Next, I added turn handles to the turret. Now I can spin the head around, just like the big kids. These posts may be a little long and need shortening a bit.
Lastly I added a re-bound spring so the ram bounces up just a bit from the bottom so that the priming post clears the shell holder priming position so the cases can be easily inserted.
Well, thats it, I think. The Lyman T-Mag was removed from the bench and the spiffed up All American put in its place. I really like the new press (new to me) and it is a great sense of pleasure to tune up an old piece of machinery and make it run like new, or even better.
What do you think of the tune-up? Hope my photos show up.
