RCBS LAMII ratchet conversion

[chboats]

I had used one of the older RCBS sizers for a long time then a friend gave me one of the newer LAMII sizers that has a T handle in place of the ratchet. I much prefer the ratchet. I am sure someone has done this before but just thought I would pass along as my easy fix to convert the LAMII to a ratchet.

Cut a ¼” wide slot straight down into a ½”, 1/4” drive socket. Replace the T handle with a quarter inch bolt 1 or 1 ¼ “ long. I used an angle grinder with a ¼” thick stone to grind straight down into the socket. If you can get a 12 point socket it will slip over the shaft. If you use a 6 point socket you may need to open up the opening as I did with a Dremel.
Total cost $2 (if you don’t count the ratchet)
Total time 30 minutes

Carl

[winelover]

Good Idea. You could convert back any time you want! I'm gonna try it with a El-Cheap-O Asian socket I have laying around.

Winelover

[94Doug]

Me to. Could always pick up a spare socket at some flea market or something....perhaps someone with the machining skills come up with a different set up than the bolt in place of the T handle?

Doug

[chboats]

94Doug - I have heard of some welding a hex shaft on the top of the shaft for a ratchet, but I don't weld. I just wanted something easy that worked. If you think about it the T handle is nothing more than a long bolt with plastic ends. The socket will fit over the T handle but you have to keep pushing it back and forth so that the handle doesn't get in the way.

carl

[winelover]

I converted my Lam II this AM. Used a unplated 9/16" deep well 1/4" socket I had laying around. Instead of the slot I drilled a hole thru for a 1/4 - 20 brass bolt. Wore out a few drill bits in the process but got-it-did!

Winelover

[C.F.Plinker]

I'm probably not thinking far enough ahead but could you JB Weld, epoxy, or braze the 1/2 inch socket to the shaft. I did try to drill an old Craftsman socket I have and the socket just laughed at me. Of course the socket says "Made in U.S.A." so that could have something to do with it.

I took a 1/2 inch length of 1/4" rod and ground the ends so they have a 120* included angle. Sort of like a short fat canoe. Then I continued to shorten it until it just fit inside the socket. This goes in the hole in the shaft and the socket fits over it and grabs onto the ends of the rod. Now to see if it is strong enough to take the pressure of forcing the lube into the boolit.

[chboats]

C.F.Plinker - Sounds like it should be strong enough. Besides if it works for you, that's all that matters. I used a grinder to cut the slot in the socket. I like the slot idea because I have 2 LAMII sizers and this way I can shift the socket and ratchet from one to the other easily. I can under stand how cutting a slot or drilling a hole in a good quality socket might be a problem. The grinder didn't care how hard the steel was.
Carl

[Calamity Jake]

Being in the machinest trade I took my LAM II shaft to the milling machine and cut a hex on the end for a 7/16"socket.

[C.F.Plinker]

Wouldn't it be nice if RCBS made them that way?

[wallenba]

Thanks, great idea!

[Mike W1]

A little grinding on a new $1.29 socket and I'm set. Thanks for the idea, lord knows it would never have occured to me!

[sleeper1428]

I'd been considering doing a conversion of my LAMII to a ratchet system and after seeing this post I finally decided to put my thoughts into action. Being retired and fortunate enough to have an old but still quite useable metal lathe, I decided to fabricate a fixture that would allow me to use a Lyman ratchet in place of the T-Bar handle on the original RCBS LAMII. Digging around in my spare parts box, I found an old pressure screw left over from a few years ago when I reconditioned my Lyman 450. Unfortunately, the thread on that screw is an oddball size (3/8-20) and I had no taps of that size. A quick check on the price of such a specialty tap - $50 to $70 - convinced me that there had to be another way. So I chucked up the screw, measured and cut off the screw leaving myself 3/4" of threaded shaft and then turned down the remaining threaded portion to 1/4". Then I single point threaded that shaft at 1/4-28.

The main body of the fixture was turned out of a CR steel bar with an OD of 7/8" and a length of 1 3/8". A 1/2" hole - the size of the RCBS shaft - was then drilled in one end of the fixture to a depth of 3/4" and then an additional 0.001" of metal was removed using a small boring bar to allow an easy slip fit of the fixture over the shaft of the LAMII. The position of the cross hole on the RCBS shaft was determined and a 1/4" hole was then bored in the fixture. I then turned a short piece of 1/4" shaft - 1 1/8" - and bored 3/32" holes on each end for use in securing the shaft in place with 1/16" cotter pins. A couple of spacers where then turned to keep the shaft centered. I then drilled and tapped a 1/4-28 hole in the opposite end of the fixture, making this threaded hole 1/2" deep. Once I was sure that everything fit together properly, I mixed up some JB Weld and opened my tube of Loctite Red #271 Threadlocker. JB Weld went in the thread relief area while Loctite Red went on the actual threads. A 1/4-28 nut was then run on to the shaft and the threaded shaft was run into the threaded hole in the fixture and tightened up. The fixture was then set aside for a couple of days to allow full set of both the JB Weld and the Loctite and it was then installed on the RCBS LAMII. So far it's working great and my only real cost was for a package of three 1/16" cotter pins since I already had everything else on hand.

The only alteration I would make if I were to do this again would be to thread that shaft with a left hand thread and tap the hole with a left hand tap. That would eliminate any need to depend on JB Weld and Loctite to keep the shaft from loosening and backing out of the fixture. But since I didn't happen to have a left hand 1/4-28 tap on hand, I went with what I had to keep the cost down. Considering the fact that this lubsizer is used exclusively with Carnuba Red and thus is heated when in use, I don't forsee any problems with stiff lube causing me to put excess pressure on the fixture.

I've included some photos of this fixture and as you will see, I didn't spend a lot of time smoothing things up. I'll probably cold blue this fixture later on but I thought I'd leave it as is for the photos.

sleeper1428

[RobS]

Nice work fellas. And now for my show which is not a whole lot different.







I did have to tap the center of the original plunger screw to accept the bolt but it can all be taken apart and set back up to the manufactured ball end t-handle.