LNL AP Pistol Rotor Issue

[glennn]

I recently bought a new LNL AP. It came with a two rotors, one for rifle and another for pistol. The rifle rotor installed perfectly into the powder dispenser and cycles/rotates freely. The pistol rotor installed fine until the last 1/8" or so. It goes in, but once installed it hung up. It would rotate, but under an unusual amount of force. It was so tight that the return spring did not have enough tension to return the rotor to the starting position. This happened with AND without the metering insert installed.

I called Hornady, they asked me to send it in so that the tool shop could take a look at it. Two weeks later, another rotor arrives, with the same issue. I really wanted to get some pistol loads assembled, so I took some fine metal sandpaper and took the rotor down some so that it would cycle better. It works OK now, but sometimes still hangs up. I'll probably take a little more off and polish the rotor to see if it helps.

Anyone have this problem?

Other than this, the press has been great.

[lugnut]

The LNL is a great press but I've heard about occasional "tolerance" issues here and there. Honestly- I'd send the whole thing back. I actually have a couple for different set ups and none of them have this issue.

[Mush from PA.]

Something is "Out of round". I would send the whole power measure back and ask for "One that really works". The customer service I have had with Hornady has been great. You shoud expect a product that works as advertised.

Did you clean the power measure completly before using it? Could there be some left over gunk from the factory?

Edit: Did you lube with powered graphite? Can be found at a car parts store for a buck or two.

Edited October 11, 2010 by Mush from PA.

[blue]

mine was hard to move at first too. After breaking it in it works fine. try moving the arm up and down until everything loosens up

[glennn]

Something is "Out of round". I would send the whole power measure back and ask for "One that really works". The customer service I have had with Hornady has been great. You shoud expect a product that works as advertised.

Did you clean the power measure completly before using it? Could there be some left over gunk from the factory?

Cleaned it thoroughly using One Shot. It meters fine with the rifle rotor, so it HAS to be the pistol rotor. I removed the pistol rotor today after loading 200 rounds of 9mm yesterday. Took my dremel and polished the areas on the rotor that showed wear from rubbing against the powder dispenser frame. All is well now.

I know I should expect it to work perfectly out of the box, but I hate waiting. I'd rather fix it myself. I came from a Lee Pro 1000 and it was nice to actually prime on the machine without hiccups. Thanks for the input.

Edited October 11, 2010 by glennn

[glennn]

mine was hard to move at first too. After breaking it in it works fine. try moving the arm up and down until everything loosens up

Thanks for the advice Blue.

I guess my Dremel accelerated the break in process. hehe

[glennn]

Mush-

I lubed it with powdered graphite, but if you could witness this binding, it was beyond lube. Thanks for the advice!

[Mush from PA.]

Mush-

I lubed it with powdered graphite, but if you could witness this binding, it was beyond lube. Thanks for the advice!

I'm glad you got it working. It takes very little (thousands of an inch) too much metal to bind. I always keep wet and dry sand paper handy for such problems.

[SLM]

Hundredths of a thousandth of an inch can cause issues. The fit of the rotor to the housing has got to be extremely precise to keep any powder from working its way between them, especially with the very fine powders like Accurate #5, #7, etc. I've never heard/read of it being a problem with the Hornady measure but I've read of it being an issue with the Dillon sliding bar system on here.

[BallisticianX]

I had a similiar problem with 2 out of the three measures for my LNL(I keep them setup for different calibers) One problem was with burrs on the measure body in the milled slot where the insert rides catching the rotor. The other one was a rough surface on the powder drop tube that would catch on the top edge of the lower assy die. After polishing and lubing the rotor and drop tube with graphite Ive had no further problems. The LNL press is a solid performer but like everything out there you will have quirks.

Edited October 15, 2010 by BallisticianX