michaelnel

I had sent Dillon just the lower part of my measure's body along with the large slide. Today FedEx showed up with an entire measure with both slides, and it appears the problem is fixed. The new lower body has a much tighter clearance with the slides. Thank you, Dillon!

Dillon gave me an RMA and I have sent the powder measure body and large powder bar back to them. Hopefully they can find a pair with less slop.

I check the primer ram frequently and when I see something on it I just lower the handle enough to expose the primer ram and wipe the stuff off with my fingertip.

I've loaded close to two pounds of W296 on mine and it does work, it just leaks powder. Dillon said "W296/H110/AA9 have always had this problem to a greater or lesser degree. The dimensions for the granule size of these powders overlap our dimensional tolerance. If you would prefer, you can send us your current powder measure with large powder bar. We can see if we can find either a taller bar or a tighter housing. Please send us your address."

Dillon responded to my email today, and they wanted my shipping address, so I guess they are going to try to select some tighter tolerance parts.

It's been a week since I wrote to Dillon, no response.

I agree. There is some non-zero chance they'll fix it.

They have known about this for about 10 years based on my googling. They aren't gonna fix it. They may help individuals who encounter problems, but Dillon seems to have a tendency to rest on their laurels. As long as the stuff keeps selling, they don't seem very interested in fixing problems with the design. Witness this issue, the sloppy toolhead fit, the 1/4/20 bolt to adjust the measure, the snapping shellholder issue, etc... As long as we keep buying the stuff they have no incentive to put any money into refining the design.

With WW296 I am using 24 grains for .44 magnum. That means I have to use the large powder bar, as the small one will only throw a max of about 21 grains. I have considered the shimming idea, but that seems it would work OK on the two piece small bar with the spacer, but a shim for the large bar would have to be hard enough to withstand the constant sliding back and forth, where on the small bar you could shim the stationary spacer on top and not be subject to that. It's silly that the premium progressive press manufacturer has let this problem go on year after year. I have posted about it on the DIllon forum, as have others, and nobody seems to have a viable solution. Dillon has yet to respond to my emails posted through their web form and through regular email. I shouldn't have to go get another mfg's powder measure to fix this. All Dillon has to do is tighten up their manufacturing tolerances and the problem will be fixed.

Nice to hear you were able to revive your old friend!

I realize this is an old post, but this is an old problem that Dillon has apparently not yet solved. Mine gums up after only about five rounds. The clearance between the large powder bar and the measure body is about .007, which is apparently enough to let the fine grains of H110/WW296 escape and get jammed in between. My measures are both new models (purchased within the last year, and the original one and the RL550B press were purchased through this site), and I do have the fail safe on it. I have hooked up an extra spring on it, but the real problem is that the clearance is too big. I have emailed Dillon but that was only yesterday and it usually takes a while for them to respond. I think I got measures that are toward the large side of the tolerance spread and powder bars that are toward the small side of the tolerance spread. If Dillon can come up with a smaller measure and larger bar, I bet it will work fine.

My .45ACP dies arrived yesterday (ordered 4/15, I think). The only thing I am waiting for now is the bullet tray.

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Ordered my 550 through Brian on 4/15. Received the press four days later. Since then I have received two more boxes (one with set of four large pistol primer tubes and spare parts kit, and another yesterday with the tools and tool bracket). Now all I am waiting for is the .45ACP die set (but I am currently using my RCBS dies in it and they work great) and the bullet tray. All in all, I expected to have to wait six to eight weeks and stuff has been showing up quite rapidly. I'm very pleased with the service and the equipment so far.

Well, since I already paid for a replacement light, I figured I had nothing to lose so I decided to try to fix the one where the wires pulled loose. First I used the edge of a knife blade to scrape off the glue holding the lamp to the black plastic tube I found two deep sockets that fit... one that fit inside the tube to bear on the backside of the lamp around the edges, and one that fit over the outside of the tube and that bears against the flange on the tube. A very light tap with a hammer and the lamp came out. I tested the polarity of the lamp and marked the white body of the lamp with red Sharpie for the positive side. I stripped back some more insulation off the wiring assembly (about 3/16", originally it was only about 1/16" and straight), twisted the strands and tinned them. I slipped the black plastic tube down the wiring so I would be able to slide it back up to capture the bulb assembly after the repair. I then formed the tinned ends into a J shape. I fitted the J on the wire harness to the J on the lamp keeping polarity correct and then squished them together, making a solid mechanical joint prior to soldering them. After soldering them, I slid the black tube back up the wires and popped the white lamp assembly back into the black tube. Then I filled the cavity in the top of the tube where the wires are with black permatex RTV, and am currently letting it cure. The light works fine now. So what I discovered by doing this is that the thing IS repairable. I also discovered that the initial assembly and soldering by Inline Fabrication was very very poorly done. As mentioned, the insulated red and black wires were only stripped back about 1/16", and there was only a tiny amount of solder on them. There was no mechanical connection prior to soldering. That's a biggie. Solder is not glue. You need to make a solid mechanical connection prior to soldering, and you should use enough solder so that it flows over that mechanical joint, providing a good electrical connection. Neither of those things was done by Inline Fabrication. Very shoddy workmanship. After the RTV cures I will have a Skylight that is made the way it should have been to begin with, and a spare that I can fix if I need to.

I do not think what I did to mine should be covered by warranty. I never said it should, only that it wasn't. I do resent the "stupidity" comment above. You don't know me, I am not stupid. I made a simple mistake that anyone could make. However, I do think it is a poor design. It is VERY easy to pull those wires out, so it should have a strain relief built-in. Since it doesn't have a strain relief, then it should be repairable. I know how to solder, I could repair it if the light assembly wasn't glued into the plastic tube, or if the connections weren't buried deep in that tube where you can't really get at them to solder them. Dan knows that connection is fragile. He explains in the installation sheet that when you remove it from the tool head you should not pull on the wires, but should push it out from below instead. In an email to me he admitted they should be potted, but he was thinking that if he didn't do that then if someone's LED burned out they could return it to him and he could re-use the bushing. He also said that when he is happy with the design and does a big run of them he will start potting them (with epoxy or something similar) to fill the cavity and provide strain relief. I think the "no worries" warranty means Dan doesn't have to worry. Prospective purchasers of this item, on the other hand, should.

I did email him. Told him what I did. He did not warranty it.

He's selling me just the pigtail part at his cost, plus shipping. Still another $15.20 into this thing, and although I paid it, it's not worth fifty bucks to me. It should be repairable, but it is not designed to be.

I meant rather than pulling it out of the hole from the top, instead sticking a finger on it from underneath and pushing up.

No way to do it that I can see. The light assembly is glued inside a black plastic or Delrin tube, and the places to solder to are down too far in there for at least me to be able to solder on them. Dan is selling me a fix for $15.50. I am NOT going to use the zipties on it next time so that even if I do screw up again the wire will be free to move and won't pull out. I think there should be some kind of strain relief on that connection, or fill that cavity with black epoxy and pot the wiring in place if it's not going to be designed to be repairable. Not a great design, IMO.

I just got my 550 and the Skylight. Had it all hooked up, wire ziptied down, working great. But then I was trying to figure out the best way to dump powder out of the Dillon measure, and read a post that said to disconnect the failsafe rod and pull the two pins out and then remove the whole toolhead and dump that. "Cool", says I, thinking this is a great way to go. So I removed the failsafe bar and the two pins and slid it out, and proceeded to yank the wires out of the Skylight. It's destroyed. Don't be a dummy and do what I did! All I would have had to do was pop the Skylight out from underneath, but I didn't think of it. Now I'm not altogether sure I want to spend another $34 for a replacement. It's a nice thing and works well, but I don't think I want it bad enough to have $68 wrapped up in it.

I am completely amazed. I ordered a 550 and dies and some accessories on 4/15, fully expecting not to see it for at least a month or two. Lo and behold, my doorbell rang this morning and there was FedEx with the press! None of the accessories or dies, but the entire, complete Dillon 550... FOUR DAYS after I ordered it! I do have a set of good RCBS dies, so I installed those, and set everything up today. Way to go Brian Enos and Dillon!

Sounds like another instance of Glock Kaboom! to me.

I don't use a holster, but I have read reports that these sights work well with most popular holsters.

I just got rid of a Hornady L&L AP progressive press with the bullet feeder and case feeder. Hated it. Neither of the feeders worked well with .40SW brass & bullets, sent it all back for refund. Too much going on at once for me with the progressives. I am more comfortable with one movement of the lever does one thing. The Hornady was misfeeding primers, misfeeding bullets, giving large variations in seating depth, one of the cheap aluminum feeder tubes for the case feeder simply snapped during one of the numerous case jams, etc... So I am back to my roots with a simple RCBS Rockchucker and will enjoy the slower, more studied pace of the single stage reloading style. I have lots of free time, and reloading is an enjoyable activity for me, so I don't feel any need to rush through it.