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Light options for the Hornady LnL AP?


R1_Demon

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Hey all,

 

For those of you non-Dillon owners out there, I own a Hornady LnL AP press and I have seen some options of getting light "down" onto the shell plate and I'm wondering what you use for your setup?

 

I actually purchased the Inline Fabrication "Skylight" upon seeing the info on here on one of the posts a while ago when I first bought my press, but I didn't search out any other options at the time.  Well, I'm not really that thrilled with it.  It does shine light down onto the shell plate, but it seems to me that it only shines light down onto the middle of the plate.  I'd like to have more light on the outer edge of the plate, especially where the cases are, so I can look down into the cases for a powder check.  That is the entire point of me having the light in the first place.  If they would have had their center light (or the Skylight) spread the light further out instead of a direct beam down, I think it would have helped.  I do have their strip also mounted on the front inner side, but it seems too far away to the side to do much good to look into the case after the powder drop. (and again, it is on the side, so it lights up the SIDE of the case, not down INTO the case) 

 

So, I was wondering if anyone had any other options that they have used and like?  I just saw in the Dillon section, someone mentioning the UFO lights from KMS Squared and I thought (on the Dillon) that those looked really good as it was in a U shape around the toolhead and it seemed to really light up the inside of the cases as well as the shell plate.  So, I checked out their website to see if they have one for the Hornady and they do, but it is a much smaller circle in the middle.  I was almost hoping for a big circle of lights around the outer part of the dies (not the inner), which I think would light up the cases better than an inner circle that isn't much bigger in diameter than the Skylight by Inline Fabrication.

 

KMS Squared UFO Light

 

Inline Fabrication Skyline light

 

Does anyone have this UFO light setup and use it?  Does it actually light the inside of .40 and/or 9mm cases well?  Does anyone have any other thoughts or options (other than holding a darn flashlight and looking in each case manually) as for lighting options?  If I knew how to build these darn light strips myself, I would try some sort of bigger light strip circle outside of the dies, similar to what KMS Squared did with the UFO light, but I have no clue how to do that or where to get the materials.  Otherwise I would try it and see if it works better than the "inner light".  I feel I already threw $40 down the drain with the Inline Fabrication light (it is well made, but doesn't seem to work how I thought it would), so I'm afraid of buying the $30 UFO lights and finding out those don't light much better than the Inline ones do.

 

Of course, I could probably say screw it and leave the inline ones in/on and add the UFO lights to it and that will probably make me blind looking at the shell plate from all the light shining down and bouncing off the shell plate.  LOL  But I was hoping there was another "sure" option to use instead of those two together.

 

Sorry for the huge post...was just trying to get my point across.  :)

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That's oteroman.  I don't recall off the top of my head how many lumens the Inline light is.  I could check the link I guess.

 

Then again, the KMS2 Light is more on the outside nearer to the dies (as much as it can be), so that *should* push the light further out towards the cases.  And, as you mentioned, the 550 lumens should be plenty of light.  Ugggghhhh...maybe I'll just say the heck with it and order it and try it out and see how it goes.  I have to reload in a bedroom that doesn't get much light.  I don't have many options in my house in which to reload, so I'm trying to get as much light on the press as I can, so ultimately, the more light I can get on the press (especially "inside" the press) that I can get, the better it is for me.  :)  Thanks for your thoughts.  :) 

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Techj - Thanks a bunch!  Well that's good enough.  I figure if the light gets down into the majority of other pistol cases, then I'm sure it will work fine in .40 too.  I may eventually reload 9 too, so that works.  :)  I think I'm going to bite the bullet and give it a try.  It is less than the Inline version I bought a while ago, so what the heck.  I've paid more for other crap I have sitting around the house that ended up being a dud.  LOL!  Thanks again for the info!

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I have had the KMS light on mine since March. I can't compare it to anything else but I love the thing. It lights up everything really well and you can easily see into cases. Obviously the light isn't right on top of the cases but it's right inside the holes in the press. The light that goes up the arm curves and helps get more light into stations 3 and 4. I load 9, 40, 45 and 223. I can see in the pistol cases with no problem at all. 

 

The kit comes with literally everything you will need to mount it. Imho the UFO light and the Inline Fab ERGO lever are the best aftermarket add-on's for a LNL AP. 

 

Wait, there is one negative. It will make everything outside of your press look dark. :) 

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LOL...thanks for the info, promtcy.  I actually bit the bullet on Fri and ordered the UFO light.  It arrived on Sun, but I was too busy to install it.  So, hopefully tonight or tomorrow night I'll be able to clean the press and install it.  Like I said, I have the Inline Skylight already installed, with their "side light strip" where I think the new UFO side strip will have to go.  So, I will have to move it.  I'm wondering if I should maybe move it to the other side of the vertical bar and mount it there.  I probably will take out the top light and just use the UFO light, but I'm wondering if I should maybe have two side strip lights running.  I can use the Inline splitter than came with it so, I can run both light strips off of the one plug/switch.  So, no additional wiring or plugs are needed.  :)   I just figured that it would add another set of vertical lights and that probably couldn't hurt.  Since I already have it anyway.  No sense in throwing it out.  :) 

 

Maybe I'll post up a couple of pics if I decide to do that so all can see the results.  :)  Just in case someone else is interested in doing the same thing.

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WOOOWWWW!!!!!!  I just installed the UFO lights and just wow!  They are like triple the brightness of the Inline Skylight. I was thinking of keeping the side strip from the Skylight with the UFOs for some additional light but I couldn’t even tell it was turned on compared to the UFOs.   I’m truly impressed thus far and I haven’t even used the press with them yet.  LOL!   That 550 lumens made a huge difference!  KMS2 gets some kudos for design!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/14/2017 at 2:08 PM, StuckinMS said:

I bought an LED clamp on lamp that has a flex neck on it for 17 bucks. Will try to upload a picture.

Can't get pic to upload. Anyone wanting pics can pm their email address and I will gladly send pics

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  • 1 month later...

I had the Inline Fab light as well and KMS blows it out of the water.  I actually couldn't even tell my Inline Fab light was still on (I was going to try and use both since I had both) once I installed the KMS light.  Seriously.  If I would have known about them initially, I would have gone with them.

 

So, if anyone is on the fence between the two, I would certainly go with the KMS light.  However, Stuck's clamp on LED light is nice too.  He did send me a pic.  I forgot to frickin' upload it here.  I've been so darn busy with classes and everything.  Now that I have "remembered", I will dig up the email and pic and post it here for him, so people can see what he is talking about.  I'll do that when I get home this afternoon.  But I definitely can't complain about the KMS light.

 

On 10/14/2017 at 12:43 PM, KMS_Squared said:

All,

 

Sorry getting to this thread late. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your KMS lights please make sure you drop us an email at support@kmssquared.com 

 

 

I also think it is cool that KMS Squared created a user name to log into this post.  Thumbs up for that.  As of now, I don't have any concerns or issues.  I think you guys did an awesome job at getting bright light down onto the Hornady plate and I can see way better than I have with any other "on press" option that I have seen for the Hornady press.  Like I said in a previous post...kudos to you guys.

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Here are pics of the KMS Squared light on my Hornady LnL.  Ya, ya...don't crucify me for the light surface rust on my shell plate.  It's killing me, but I haven't loaded in a couple of months and our rental house sucks arse, so the windows are horrid.  There is no where I can keep it in the house that the humidity or air won't get to it.  Ugggh...  :-/  You're supposed to be looking at the light anyway.  LOL!  :-P 

 

Light_on_Hornady_press_001.jpg

Light_on_Hornady_press_002.jpg

Light_on_Hornady_press_003.jpg

Light_on_Hornady_press_004.jpg

Light_on_Hornady_press_005.jpg

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