Old Lee primer handle broke again.

[A2theK]

Loaded maybe 5-6k with this and am very careful with swaging and lite touch. I fixed it with screws and a titanium backer last time. This time I am getting ugly, but more serious and a bit better material.

It is not done yet. Not sure it will even work, but I am not paying for a stupid new zinc handle on eBay that will break.

RR spike tip will probably be cut off.

It will be done. I can make replacement handles for $200 for the old Lee Prime. LOL Just joking.

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[dangerranger60]

I like It! Once you get the program written you should be able to turn them out by the thousands!

Really though, Good Job! DR

 

[A2theK]

Back in business. It is a little heavy but seats just like the old one. It's ugly too but what the heck. I do not think it will break though

 

[red442joe]

Gorilla!
J/K, nice job.

Joe

 

[RVTECH]

It is a little heavy but seats just like the old one. It's ugly too but what the heck. I do not think it will break though

I like it !

I would do something similar If mine ever breaks but it has been holding up for about 20 years now!

 

[po18guy]

HD! Do you have a classic cast press? This would be too ironic, as the cast presses are made from recycled Union Pacific rails!

 

[GWS]

That's always been my problem with Lee products They have great ideas, but use such shoddy material that they break in short order. I broke my Lee primer tool, I has a Lee Pro 1000 Loved the case collator but the plastic tubes were so brittle that they snapped when you shook the device to make the cases fall into place. The primer feed was rough enough to make the primers stick on the slide. It was great ideas, poorly made.
I dumped it and went Dillon
That said, I'll buy anything Lee makes in metals such as the turret press (I still have mine after almost 40 years) and I think their die sets are excellent, but if there's plastic involved on a Lee product?--- fuggedaboutit

 

[gmerkt]

I take the easy way out with Lee hand priming tools, I send them the broken thing and they send back a new one.

 

[po18guy]

I take the easy way out with Lee hand priming tools, I send them the broken thing and they send back a new one.

Was gonna say that a piece of metal in the daily mail makes more of an impression than a phone call or email. Haven't needed their assistance for some years, but they treated me right when I did. Same, actually, with RCBS and Redding.

 

[ma96782]

Mine usually broke where the rounded part met the straight part. Not the handle itself.

Anyway (for the less inclined)......
I don't think that they sell the replacement part(s) anymore. You might have to upgrade with the new model.

That all being said......nice work A2theK.

Aloha, Mark

 

[gmerkt]

Mine usually broke where the rounded part met the straight part. Not the handle itself.

Anyway (for the less inclined)......
I don't think that they sell the replacement part(s) anymore. You might have to upgrade with the new model.

Yes, that's true, they won't replace the parts for obsolete models. Because they've used them all up. If you send back a broken old style hand priming tool, they will sell you a new one for half price, plus shipping.

I liked the old tool better than the new one, easier to use. I have some of both but I've gotten away from using the old ones. What I really prefer now is their bench priming tool. It has the same fiddly new guts of the new hand tool. You get used to them.

The secret with Lee priming tools is to have two of everything. So when one set goes down and you have to send away to replace it, you still have your second set to fall back on.

The die cast pieces just break. With the old tools, I've had handles and links both break. Sometimes without much exertion of force. The newer bench priming tool, I'm on my third one. The first one I paid for, the last two were on Lee. The body of the tool is die cast, eventually the end where the shell holder sits just fails from fatigue without any undue stress.

I think maybe the philosphy behind much of what Lee makes is that their average user won't do mass amounts of work with it. Therefore the stress fatigue factor on die cast parts, for example, won't be reached on most of what they sell.

 

[ma96782]

Years ago.....I wrote to LEE and suggested that they make their product out of better metal.

"Pot metal" construction. Note the wear.

The breakage usually occurs at the arrow point.

Aloha, Mark

PS.....I just checked......the new model parts won't interchange.

 

[RVTECH]

i just looked at mine and I am noticing a very slight 'radius' of the thumb lever but I have always been careful to press it a bit lower toward the point where it narrows down at the base of it. This might be why mine has lasted so long.

I have tried to come up with an idea to 'beef up' my original thumb lever but there ain't a heckuva lot of 'meat' there to do much !

 

[A2theK]

i just looked at mine and I am noticing a very slight 'radius' of the thumb lever but I have always been careful to press it a bit lower toward the point where it narrows down at the base of it. This might be why mine has lasted so long.

I have tried to come up with an idea to 'beef up' my original thumb lever but there ain't a heckuva lot of 'meat' there to do much !

I would back it with a piece of epoxied steel soon. I have used mine for 20 years and the #41 CCI primers did it in. Like I said even with full swaging and light reaming at the outer edge of the primer pocket. I always used it one handed with lots of grease. Had a zinc slide on a P22 shatter too. Zinc is only good for corrosion mitigation like galvanizing and anodes.

 

[A2theK]

Years ago.....I wrote to LEE and suggested that they make their product out of better metal.

"Pot metal" construction. Note the wear.
View attachment 1058738 View attachment 1058739
The breakage usually occurs at the arrow point.

Aloha, Mark

PS.....I just checked......the new model parts won't interchange.

Whoa lots of cycles there. 1000's and 1000's Anyone have a foundry so we can cast new steel parts?

 

[po18guy]

Could not someone 3D print a better handle? Investment cast? MIM? Glass reinforced nylon? Oak or Hickory with brass contact surfaces? Something! It seems that the part needs some small amount of "give" as it seats the primer. Zinc does not like to give - it gives away.

 

[RVTECH]

Could not someone 3D print a better handle?

A better handle could have been made - if even still out of the pot metal. It could have been made another 50% thicker overall and probably would never break. The thumb tab is literally only about a 1/16" or more thick and the rest of it is pretty thin as well. It could have been cast as a 'solid' part without the 'voids' in it.

 

[A2theK]

If you 3d printed a handle you could make some $$$. Check out the other boards. The problem is everywhere and I get tired of planned failure and obscelence.

 

[po18guy]

What if you mold one from JB Weld? If it breaks, you could just JB Weld it.

 

[Certaindeaf]

This is why I rattlecan all my Lee stuff blue.







Not really