Vibe motor for powder measure - powder settling

Pat Riot

Pat Riot

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Joined
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Location
West Virginia
I was complaining about the use of flake pistol powders and the disparity in the measurements of the charges thrown by my RCBS powder measure. An acquaintance of mine recommended mounting an aquarium pump to my powder measure to help settle the powder with vibration for more accurate throws.

1. Does this work?
2. What type of vibe motor do you or would you use to settle powder?

I am not sure I like this idea, but if it works I might just give it a try.

Thank you
 
Pat Riot said:
I was complaining about the use of flake pistol powders and the disparity in the measurements of the charges thrown by my RCBS powder measure. An acquaintance of mine recommended mounting an aquarium pump to my powder measure to help settle the powder with vibration for more accurate throws.

1. Does this work?
2. What type of vibe motor do you or would you use to settle powder?

I am not sure I like this idea, but if it works I might just give it a try.

Thank you
Click to expand...
 

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Thank you Gents. I think I found something I could use without raising my wife’s eyebrows. :rofl:
Useekoo USB Aquarium Air Pump, Ultra Durable & Quiet USB Nano Air Pump, Small Air Bubbler for Aquarium Fish Tank with Air Stone and Silicone Tube https://a.co/d/fj4cj1y

I kept doing searches and coming up with small high rpm motors or miniature phone and toy motors. I found a couple of mini vibe motors but 8 & 10 thousand rpm’s is way to high, I think.
Anyway, I guess I can’t go wrong for $9.

I guess I’ll see.
 
Rule3 said:
This ridiculous topic has been around for years. Scroll down to the bottom for threads:rolleyes:

What could be more annoying then listening to a "vibrator/fish pump" humming while reloading?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input. If this topic is ridiculous, why did you respond?

If I want to listen to a piece of equipment vibrate I do believe that’s my business.
 
You can get the vibrating part from a phone on evilbay and that’s about the perfect amount of vibration needed. Electric shaver motors work well, electric toothbrush motors, and the like do a good job.
 
bullseye308 said:
You can get the vibrating part from a phone on evilbay and that’s about the perfect amount of vibration needed. Electric shaver motors work well, electric toothbrush motors, and the like do a good job.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I thought about smartphone vibe motors but didn’t know you could actually buy them. I will check those out as well.
 
Pat Riot said:
Thank you. I thought about smartphone vibe motors but didn’t know you could actually buy them. I will check those out as well.
Click to expand...
Evilbay gets me in trouble with the wife. They have so many things you don’t know you need till you browse a little. Be careful, and I’m sorry in advance.
 
Dig your old beeper/pager out of your junk drawer, it has a vibrator in it.
There was another thread on this subject just last week.
More about powder bridging, here's what I posted there:

Had a powder clog in my Hornady powder measure.

I was loading some 9mm. With bullseye powder. It stopped dispensing after 11 rounds. Pulled the measure off. Checked the drop tube and die. All clear. Then i looked in and the drum was clogged on top where the powder went into it. 1ST time i had a clog there in any powder drop. I switched over...
www.thehighroad.org
You might find some other tips there too.
jmo,
.
 
Not to be that guy, but be careful where you mount the motor as they create heat and sparks- although typically contained.

Most vibrating motors are simply made by putting a small offset weight on the motor shaft to create an imbalance. Or, like already stated, tearing open an old beeper or cell phone.
 
Tilos said:
Dig your old beeper/pager out of your junk drawer, it has a vibrator in it.
There was another thread on this subject just last week.
More about powder bridging, here's what I posted there:

Had a powder clog in my Hornady powder measure.

I was loading some 9mm. With bullseye powder. It stopped dispensing after 11 rounds. Pulled the measure off. Checked the drop tube and die. All clear. Then i looked in and the drum was clogged on top where the powder went into it. 1ST time i had a clog there in any powder drop. I switched over...
www.thehighroad.org
You might find some other tips there too.
jmo,
.
Click to expand...
Thank you I did. Your weight idea and the graphite for static. That’s a new one I hadn’t heard before.


MarshallDodge said:
Most vibrating motors are simply made by putting a small offset weight on the motor shaft to create an imbalance. Or, like already stated, tearing open an old beeper or cell phone.
Click to expand...
I am familiar with how to build a vibe motor. I just don’t want to. ;)

MarshallDodge said:
Not to be that guy, but be careful where you mount the motor as they create heat and sparks- although typically contained.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the safety tip. Thank you. That’s a very good reminder.
The aquarium pump I bought is fully enclosed.

I do like the tip @bullseye308 posted about those cell phone vibe motors. If the aquarium pump is a failure I will give those a shot n
 
I won't reload rifle on my Dillon 550 because of the vibration caused by the operation of the press. Only pistol on my 550 and it's great for that. I reload rifle on my T7 measuring each charge on a beam scale. No drama. What turned me against the vibrating measure was a Lyman 55 with a "knocker" on it. One of my first powder measures and a good lesson on powder measure vibration. It taught me that vibrating a volume powder measure and expecting accuracy just wasn't going to work out. The Lyman 55 was the most inaccurate powder measures that I have ever owned.
 
bfalcon00 said:
The cheap adult toys work well. I used that on my lee powder drops until I moved to Dillon.

The look on my buddies face when they would walk in the workshop and see that thing all taped up was priceless.
Click to expand...
That was quick thinking on your part. I read Lee now offers powder measures that have have vibrators.
 
frogfurr said:
I won't reload rifle on my Dillon 550 because of the vibration caused by the operation of the press. Only pistol on my 550 and it's great for that. I reload rifle on my T7 measuring each charge on a beam scale. No drama. What turned me against the vibrating measure was a Lyman 55 with a "knocker" on it. One of my first powder measures and a good lesson on powder measure vibration. It taught me that vibrating a volume powder measure and expecting accuracy just wasn't going to work out. The Lyman 55 was the most inaccurate powder measures that I have ever owned.
Click to expand...
Did the vibrations make the disparity in your powder charge weights worse?
 
frogfurr said:
The vibrations made the charges more unpredictable. To the point that accuracy suffered. Why would vibrating something make it more accurate? That's the conclusion I got from it.
Click to expand...
My theory with it was it kept the powder in the measure at a steady compact state. I can't really prove that though.

Couple that with keeping the hopper full, and that really did improve the accuracy of that lee powder measure.

It would stay +/- 0.1 all day. Which was a dramatic improvement over what it would do set up according to the directions.
 
Reloading is all about consistency. I know what my powder measures are capable of. However the the precision scale for vibrators does need some work.
 
I don't use much flake powder with my loads. I do however load several calibers to which the powder will come right up to the lip of the cases. I really don't like to try and seat the bullets like that so I use my electric engraver dialed down to just touch the side of the case to. It usually settles the powder immediately. It does take a few adjustments to get it dialed down though.

As for the Uniflow, having used one for most of my reloading since I got started, I seem to have developed a subconsious rythem when I operate the handle. I have friends who think I have a special measure because I can hit the charges so consistently. I got into loading large batches of handgun rounds back in the mid 80's on a single stage press, and as such was throwing all of the charges in 2-400rd batches. I just got to the point it was almost automatic raise the handle, tap it twice, and dump in one motion. It takes a little practice but once you get the rythem it makes up for powders that don't quite pack as well as they should. I always start and end with the handle down and the powder dumped. Quick motion up, two taps, and dump. It works on pretty much everything but some of the longer cut stick powders.

Hope that helps.

.
 
41 Mag said:
I just got to the point it was almost automatic raise the handle, tap it twice, and dump in one motion. It takes a little practice but once you get the rythem it makes up for powders that don't quite pack as well as they should. I always start and end with the handle down and the powder dumped. Quick motion up, two taps, and dump. It works on pretty much everything but some of the longer cut stick powders.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Thank you.
I kind of thump the lever on the up stroke then thumb it at the bottom stroke. I haven’t tried 2 taps / thumps to fill and settle the tube. I will add this to my

—————————————

A few years ago I quit using my Lee powder measure and scale. I noticed with the Lee powder measure that I needed to whack the lever a couple of times to get consistent powder throws. I had done this for years. I got tired of that and bought the RCBS Uniflow measure. It worked great for what I was loading at the time, which was cowboy action shooting and blasting targets.

A couple of years back, three years, I noticed it was just taking me too long to get consistent loads with Universal and Unique powders so I bought a large and small “Micro Adjustable Screws”, as RCBS calls them, for getting more accurate powder throws. I was okay with that set up but noticed when firing my hand loads I would occasionally notice deviations in how the recoil felt and changes in the sound of the report. I just kept shooting and didn’t worry about it. I had always worked a lot of hours. Hand loading and target practice was done on valuable “off time”. I really didn’t take the time to remedy this as I just didn’t really have the time.

Then I retired and I guess I got a little picky, so here we are. 😆 Also, I switched to using a digital scale. What a nice addition to my OCD… 🙄
 
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