Dowel Rod Trimmer

[Joe Wheeler]

I’m interested in making a dowel rod hull trimmer for 10 gauge. I have a general idea of how it looks and works but would love to see some decent photos of some and maybe get some pointers or do’s and don’ts.

Have just about all the supplies I need to finally load up some short 10s.

Thanks.

[Victor Wasylyna]

See https://youtu.be/JrULU2fslRE

-Victor

[Stan Hillis]

Joe, I'll snap a pic of one of mine and put it on here later today. Sorry I don't have a pic of it on file. But, I will after today!

Mine does not have blocks of wood, not that there's anything wrong with doing it that way. Mine is just a dowel with an Exacto angled blade inset into it, and a means to fine tune the length it cuts.

[Randy G Roberts]

Victors idea with a couple of additions/tweaks.

[edgarspencer]

Standard single edge razor blade clamped on arm. Adjustable dowels, clamped, with one 3/4" dowel. One dowel is turned to 10ga, on one end, 12ga. on the other. Second dowel is turned for 16ga. on one end, 20ga. on the other end. third, single ended dowel for 28ga. Closing the handle cuts into the hull, and a single twist of the hull cuts is cleanly.

[CraigThompson]

After watching the Youtube video thats a lot easier than I thought !

But if I need to trim anymore I'll stick with my oak jig and the bandsaw .:whistle:

[Frank Srebro]

A production way to do it if you can find a junker 10 gauge barrel at a Gun Show and have a mechanical bent. Barrel stub cut to 2-7/8", clamped in a vise and a craft saw in use. Ends of the cut hulls are easily smoothed flat by rubbing against fine wet/dry paper on a flat surface.

[edgarspencer]

Frank, I'm not sure what constitutes 'production', but, as you know, it takes 12 minutes to load ( or re-load)100 rounds on a 9000 press, but it takes me almost 20 minutes to trim a bag of 2 3/4" NPEs to 2 1/2". There's no fuzz on the trimmed hulls either.

[edgarspencer]

I enjoy seeing how we all attack a problem by different methods. It reminded me of a visit to our school, by a NASA astronaut, when I was (very much) younger. He said "If man didn't try to build a better mousetrap, we never would have gotten to the moon."

[Joe Wheeler]

Joe, I'll snap a pic of one of mine and put it on here later today. Sorry I don't have a pic of it on file. But, I will after today!

Mine does not have blocks of wood, not that there's anything wrong with doing it that way. Mine is just a dowel with an Exacto angled blade inset into it, and a means to fine tune the length it cuts.


Looking forward to seeing it.

[Joe Wheeler]

Victors idea with a couple of additions/tweaks.


Wow.....that in itself is a piece of art. Very nice.

[Joe Wheeler]

Standard single edge razor blade clamped on arm. Adjustable dowels, clamped, with one 3/4" dowel. One dowel is turned to 10ga, on one end, 12ga. on the other. Second dowel is turned for 16ga. on one end, 20ga. on the other end. third, single ended dowel for 28ga. Closing the handle cuts into the hull, and a single twist of the hull cuts is cleanly.

Man, I was not expecting to see any this nicely done. Very neat. Thanks.

[Joe Wheeler]

A production way to do it if you can find a junker 10 gauge barrel at a Gun Show and have a mechanical bent. Barrel stub cut to 2-7/8", clamped in a vise and a craft saw in use.

That would sure be an interesting way to do it. Prob. not cost effective though in most cases.

[Stan Hillis]

I cannot imagine anything that works any quicker, easier, or is any less trouble to make than one of these. This is one of my case trimmers.

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/70416_800x600.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/70416_800x600/)

With it I can trim a case in about five seconds. Blade is replaceable if it ever gets dull. Blade is not at 90 degrees to the axis of the dowel, but is very slightly downward angled in order to give it a quick "bite" into the full length hull. A thumbtack in the end of the dowel, even with paper shims under it, can vary the length of the cut hull to suit.

[Joe Wheeler]

I cannot imagine anything that works any quicker, easier, or is any less trouble to make than one of these. This is one of my case trimmers.

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/70416_800x600.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/70416_800x600/)

With it I can trim a case in about five seconds. Blade is replaceable if it ever gets dull. Blade is not at 90 degrees to the axis of the dowel, but is very slightly downward angled in order to give it a quick "bite" into the full length hull. A thumbtack in the end of the dowel, even with paper shims under it, can vary the length of the cut hull to suit.

Maybe this is a weird question but how do you get the blade into the dowel?

[Stan Hillis]

Not weird at all, Joe. It took me awhile to figure a way myself on the first one I made. What I do is make a pencil mark on the dowel indicating where the blade needs to be. Then I drill, with the tiniest drill bit I have, a series of holes as nearly connecting on the line as I can. Then, I put the new blade in a vise, with the jaws clamping the sharp end tightly, and the square base of the blade pointing upwards. I align the holes I drilled in the dowel with the base of the blade, and tap on the other side of the dowel with a hammer. Doing so seats the blade in the dowel firmly. Never had one come out yet. But, the blade could be clamped in the vise again, and removed, by prying upward between the dowel and the top of the vise jaws.

Doesn't take much longer to do it than it does to type it all out. :)

[Frank Srebro]

That would sure be an interesting way to do it. Prob. not cost effective though in most cases.


That nondescript 10 gauge barrel cost me 10 bucks at a gun show. :)

I did try a dowel cutter but because of variation in the depth of the base wads the cut shells had a +/- tolerance on length. Not that it mattered all that much when crimping but I wanted hull uniformity by use of a cutter that indexed from the shell rim not the base wad.

[scott kittredge]

That nondescript 10 gauge barrel cost me 10 bucks at a gun show. :)

I did try a dowel cutter but because of variation in the depth of the base wads the cut shells had a +/- tolerance on length. Not that it mattered all that much when crimping but I wanted hull uniformity by use of a cutter that indexed from the shell rim not the base wad.
I put a adjustment screw at the bottom of dowel ,screw in to shortn hull back screw out to cut hull longer, works great for different brands of hulls. Been cutting 10 ga hull with that type trimmer sense 2009 with no changes, it works.
Scott

[Joe Wheeler]

Thanks for all the replies yall. I'll be trying to make myself one here soon.

[Keith Doty]

Joe, I bought a "spin-n-trim" from BP and made mandrels for 20, 16, and 10 with adjustment screws like the original. About 2 seconds per hull, less than 2 minutes to change gauge. If you use different brands of hulls it's very simple and quick to adjust length.

[Rick Losey]

hmm, like Stan

all I did was measure the depth inside the hull to 2 7/8 outside -then put an slightly angled cut there on a dowel the just fits the hull and epoxied a utility knife blade in it -

just takes less than two seconds to spin a hull down to size

[Joe Wheeler]

Joe, I bought a "spin-n-trim" from BP and made mandrels for 20, 16, and 10 with adjustment screws like the original. About 2 seconds per hull, less than 2 minutes to change gauge. If you use different brands of hulls it's very simple and quick to adjust length.

Thanks for your input. Sounds easy enough.