Pro Chucker LED lighting

[Carmell269]

Greetings all. First time posting here so I thought I’d share some LED lighting I installed on my press today. Everything was purchased on Amazon, I will include links if you are interested in doing this yourself. I was unable to find any lighting kits made specifically for the Pro Chucker so I put this together for around $25.


I started by cutting backing strips from .030 styrene to mount the light strips to.


https://www.amazon.com/Styrene-Shee...=1546737328&sr=8-3&keywords=030+styrene+sheet


The backing strips were attached to the press with double sided tape. The light strips come with a self adhesive strip already applied. I suppose you could apply the light strips directly to the press but I wanted to have some insulation so I used the styrene.


The light strips are SMD 2835 LED, type S flexible which allows the strip to be applied in a radius. Each side has 9 LED’s. The strips are manufactured in such a way that you can cut the strip at marked locations which have 3 LED’s per segment.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GJGWT3R/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


The DC power supply comes with a screw terminal adapter to attach the strip wires.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01461MOGQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


With a total of 18 LED’s, the results are exactly what I hoped for in direct task lighting and the light strips are virtually unseen. If you have questions, please feel free to ask.


Love this forum by the way, lots of good, helpful members.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Welcome to the forum.
That looks good and should work really well for you. Good job.

I like the fact that these strips can be bought in bulk. I only wish they would be bright white instead of the bluish tint.
In 12 volt that seems to be the only thing available.

 

[santacruzdave]

Very nice work! Professional looking results. I like it a lot!

 

[GW Staar]

Clean and perfect! Great idea with the plastic card and dbl sided sticky tape. With my old iron Pro 2000 I just used magnets.....not an option with the new press. I added lighting to my PC7 too, but not so bright as yours.......or quite as clean......you got sun glasses right? Great job! Since I didn't think of plastic card or dbl sticky tape...what did I use? Stick-on Velco.....

I noticed the felt on the out-chute......great idea too. That'll cut down on the noise. Will have to copy that.....

Look into the new (last January) tube rifle bullet feeders from RCBS for the Pro Chuckers (.22 and .30 cal available)......absolutely great.....with or without the Dillon collator RCBS recommends for those who think they need more speed.

 

[Carmell269]

Thank you all for the generous complements ! Just finished loading 200 rounds of .45 ACP and it worked perfectly. Nothing like shedding some light on the subject.

 

[GW Staar]

One suggestion: Some users tended to overtighten the screws holding the die plate down and in process strip the aluminum threads. An allen wrench makes that too easy. You just want to remove the slack. My idea is to replace those allen screws with thumb screws from Ace Hardware. No wrench needed! They are in the nut/bolt/screw dept under lamp/elect. accessories. Called battery terminals. Picture below shows the result.

The hex screws are too short so they don't even use all the threads.....these thumb screws use them all and more likely will preserve the threads in the casting.

Another possible weakness with the set screws being too short and using fewer thread depth, is that when you stroke the press and put all that pressure on the die plate, pushing up toward the set screws, fewer threads used makes it more likely you can push the die plate into those threads and strip them.

 

[Walkalong]

Very nicely done.

 

[Carmell269]

Excellent idea GW Staar, thank you for sharing!

One suggestion: Some users tended to overtighten the screws holding the die plate down and in process strip the aluminum threads. An allen wrench makes that too easy. You just want to remove the slack. My idea is to replace those allen screws with thumb screws from Ace Hardware. No wrench needed! They are in the nut/bolt/screw dept under lamp/elect. accessories. Called battery terminals. Picture below shows the result.

The hex screws are too short so they don't even use all the threads.....these thumb screws use them all and more likely will preserve the threads in the casting.

Another possible weakness with the set screws being too short and using fewer thread depth, is that when you stroke the press and put all that pressure on the die plate, pushing up toward the set screws, fewer threads used makes it more likely you can push the die plate into those threads and strip them.
View attachment 820030

 

[GW Staar]

Forgot to mention that I used a grinder to round to screw bottoms like the set screws are rounded....so that they center in the depressions on the die plates. (to keep alignment true) Just screw on a temporary nut, chuck the screw head in a drill, turn on the grinder and the drill....shape for a second or two, unscrew the nut, voila!

 

[Reloadron]

Really nicely done and seriously good job with the pictures sharp and clear. The clincher for me was the Harley Davidson mat in the pictures.

Ron

 

[GW Staar]

Lol! If Harley Davidson would buy RCBS from Vista Outdoors, sales would triple overnight!