Lee’s new Automatic Processing Press has generated a lot of interest for reloaders, particularly for those interested in processing large quantities of brass in a very short time. Without a doubt, this press fills the bill yet it isn’t without it’s problems. One of those being case feeding. The same troubles exist with this press as existed with the ABLP such case flinging and feed hang ups, just to name a few. That’s why I’ve created the APP Push Riser.

This new Riser recreates the feed mechanism of the Case Pushers offered here. These Risers guide cases into the existing grippers and prevent those feed hangs so common to the APP. The Risers are case length unique and match the numbering used for the current line of Case Pushers.

Find them in the Press Accessories section under APP Accessories!

For the past weeks, we’ve all been cooped up indoors and left to our own devices except for a select few who have been deemed “essential employees.” Most of you know that I’m still working a regular job while doing what I can to help my fellow reloaders. I am one of those “essential employees,” not just essential in the eyes of my employer; to them, I’m considered “mission critical.” I’m the one guy who keeps it all running when a band-aid fix won’t work. Add to this that my company has just purchased another facility and I have multiple sites to maintain. I’m sure you get why this has been very hard on me.

Even worse is that supply chains have been effectively cut. I’ve a printer that’s been down for over a month and is awaiting parts. I’m getting short on nozzles. Suspending production is looming because necessary parts for my equipment aren’t available.

To everyone who has an order in, I’ll be fulfilling your order. I have a Maker in another location who will be making the majority of outstanding orders in an effort to preserve my machines as much as reasonably possible. I thank each and every one of you for your patience and understanding.

Or not…

As designers and engineers, we all dread that day when we discover one of our designs got a little too close to someone else’s hard work. Today was that day for me.

Being a designer and having a 3D printer made it possible for me to recreate the Lee Lock Ring Eliminator bushing. This allowed me to develop many new items while keeping everything compatible with the Breech Lock system as found on the Auto Breech Lock Pro progressive press. Unfortunately, I got too close to exact and received a registered letter from John Lee stating this was an infringement and to cease immediately. He was kind enough to include a copy of the relevant patent, which I read in it’s entirety. I chose to comply with removal, pulled relevant products from the website and contacted John to let him know.

I have to say I had a great conversation with him. He genuinely appreciates the work I’ve put in to develop all my products but also doesn’t want our businesses to clash; neither do I. We did discuss many of the intracasies of the item in question and came to a reasonable conclusion. Crisis averted.

“Finally. The last details have come togther. Everything fits like it’s intended. Your design baby is at last complete. It’s been more than a month working to get the final functions and esthetics to come together. It’s finally READY“

This was me this past week. I started back in February working on the AutoCap case droppers. This entire project has proven to be a much more extensive process than I even remember from my days in the engineering seat at the company I worked for in Florida. This website has proven just exactly how extensive my work over these months has been; just count the products available and you’ll see how much time has gone into this. What you won’t see is that design is a process; one that’s overlooked by those not smitten by, what I affectionately call, the Engineer’s Disease. Indulge me to explain the process…

This whole collection of products is born out of (dare I say it?) … envy. Here I had my first progressive press and she could work quickly but I wanted faster. I wanted automated. Hands-off automation. Fill it up, push a button, walk away. THAT kind of automation. Dillon guys have it. Hornady guys have it, to some extent. I wanted it.

First things first, get the case feeding off the ram. Problem #1: mount point is an issue. There certainly isn’t much room to mount anything on the ABLP. The vertical posts anchoring the tool head to the base aren’t close enough to bridge between and I refuse to drill into my press. Instead of beating my head against the wall, I moved over to the case droppers. They’ve got to be easier, right?

First iteration; too complex. Second iteration; too thin. FULL STOP. Think it through. Third iteration; perfect. Now how to mount this thing? After 2 months, nothing seemed to fit the press right and room to add a case dropper to the ABLP was still at a premium.

“On to the back burner, Little Buddy. I’ll get to you later.”

Ramp repair kit needs to be done. Why now? I just crunched my rail for the third time and I’ll be damned if I’ll spend more money just to disassemble my press, remove 4 screws and swap a single piece of plastic. Not doing it. You can’t make me. A couple iterations and I’ve got v1 of the Ramp Repair Kit. (Lee never makes it easy to do anything for their presses.) After improving the material I was printing the ramps from, a new version came about and that version is what ships now.

Taking the discovery that “Lee never makes things easy” as a cue, I move forward to duplicating their Breech Lock bushings. I had already found the thread diameter and pitch of the bushings but there was one thing that never worked: I couldn’t get them to thread into any Breech Lock press. Closer exam revealed something I’d not noticed before: these things use a triple lead thread. New design iteration and we have them. Also have the Lock Ring Eliminator bushings as well.

Then, an epiphany struck that would evolve the case droppers and everything fell in place. An entire round of new versions came into being and most importantly, the mounting problem was solved! In the weeks following, more products were designed and more issues were resolved. I’m now happy to say …

At long last, it’s all finally READY.