550/650 Strong Mount Flex?

[Pat Miles]

Take another video from the front showing the bench also.

Pat

[Alvarez Kelly]

Is this the strong mount Dillon sells? Does it have their name on the side? There seems to be lots of copies these days...

[Shadowrider]

Mine seems to be rock solid. I'm sure if I were to put a dial indicator on it I could see some movement but what you have going on just doesn't look right at all.

[Charles Appel]

I've watched the video several times now. I've noticed two things.

1) The flex occurs when the ram is in the uppermost position. It looks like you are applying

pressure after the stroke is completed. Perhaps one of the dies is contacting the shell plate.

2) There appears to be a slight bend in the right leg (as viewed from the rear). This may be

an optical illusion, but it appears bent.

Good luck.

[ShadoFann]

I have 2 650 presses both mounted on strong mounts. One is the tall mount and one is the short mount. Both are solid as a rock and have zero flex. When I mounted both of them, I bolted the strong mount sides to the press and then bolted it to my bench so it set naturally on the sides when I bolted it to the bench. Maybe that's the problem?

[98sr20ve]

You can see the flex at the press/mount interface. It's not the mount flexing, it's the interaction at the two parts that is flexing. I think the oinly way for that to occur is the bolts are not tight or the bench itself is flexing and that puts a lot more force into the junction between the press and the mount.

Edited December 7, 2013 by 98sr20ve

[stick]

My SM moves very little if at all. My bench is very sturdy and it doesn't allow the SM to move.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[CB45]

As expexted, it was a faulty SM.

I went to my local reloading shop and switched out the SM. Not nearly the flex that I was experiencing.

He's going to return it to Dillon.

Y'all we're so quick to blame everything except a Dillon product. It bleeds Blue around here for sure

Edited December 7, 2013 by CB45

[Sarge]

Yes it does. Dillon makes good stuff but even good stuff breaks. I am glad you got it figured out but it could gave been any number of things causing the problem.

[Mastiff]

As expexted, it was a faulty SM.

I went to my local reloading shop and switched out the SM. Not nearly the flex that I was experiencing.

He's going to return it to Dillon.

Y'all we're so quick to blame everything except a Dillon product. It bleeds Blue around here for sure

We do bleed Dillon blue because Dillon products work and they continue to provide us unprecedented service and no charge replacements year after year, But there are loads of threads attesting to that. Rarely do their products fail and many of the readers of this thread had probably not seen a strong mount behave like that before, so we assumed it had to be caused by something else. That's the great thing about the BE forums. We have some fun, but we are always anxious to help you or at least provide some ideas even though we can be wrong sometimes. For me, it's most of the time.

Dog

[RDA]

As expexted, it was a faulty SM.

I went to my local reloading shop and switched out the SM. Not nearly the flex that I was experiencing.

He's going to return it to Dillon.

Y'all we're so quick to blame everything except a Dillon product. It bleeds Blue around here for sure

What was "faulty" about it?

[CB45]

It wasn't strong.

The local retailer had never seen anything like it before.

I'm not sure if SM's are heat treated, but maybe the heat treat was jacked up. Just a guess. The metal just seemed flimsy.

[RDA]

It wasn't strong.

The local retailer had never seen anything like it before.

I'm not sure if SM's are heat treated, but maybe the heat treat was jacked up. Just a guess. The metal just seemed flimsy.

I would have broken out the calipers to see if the metal was different thickness and also would have manipulated the old and new with my hands to see if the "faulty" one bent easier by hand compared to the proper one. But that is just me I suppose.

[jmorris]

After using the SM for a year or two side by side with another 650 mounted directly to the bench, I sold the SM. Castings don't flex much before they just break, sheet metal on the other had...

[Mastiff]

After using the SM for a year or two side by side with another 650 mounted directly to the bench, I sold the SM. Castings don't flex much before they just break, sheet metal on the other had...

I see where you find that. I would agree that mounting the casting directly to the bench is more rigid. But the advantage to the SM is the height and clearance I have below my bench top. I have always had the SM's for the SL900 and XL650 - never a problem. But, I do think dillon may want to consider dropping one gauge in thickness and consider some gussets or cross braces in areas which may add ridgity.l

Dog

Edited December 8, 2013 by Mastiff

[jmorris]

It would be much stronger with gussets but would cost more to ship that two almost flat plates. I think ultimate reloader sells some that are thicker than the Dillon ones but I just built a bench that was right for the chair/machine combinations I use.

The clearance below the bench top was not a concern because the top support of my bench is a 5" tall truss, so there is no flex even out in the middle. I do use the dead space for primer containers though and all of the electrical outlets are welded under there too.

One switch turns the air compressor on and off and the other shuts down power to all of the reloading equipment, so the entire bench is dead with one switch.

[98sr20ve]

After using the SM for a year or two side by side with another 650 mounted directly to the bench, I sold the SM. Castings don't flex much before they just break, sheet metal on the other had...

That is NOT the O.P.'s problem. He has an issue elsewhere. Bolts and or bench. Something is up.

But yes. there may be a small advantage to having it straight on the bench. I had it like that before when I had a two height bench. So the upper height was basically 47" and the lower was 42". Now my bench is all 42" and I use the SM. I notice zero real difference from a functional point of view. It is nice to just have the mount to raise it up if you don't want a multi level bench.

[CB45]

That is NOT the O.P.'s problem. He has an issue elsewhere. Bolts and or bench. Something is up.

Please read my posts before speaking on my behalf. Quit trying to blame everything else except a faulty product.

Actually, it was a problem with the SM itself. Bench and bolts are fine.

Edited December 8, 2013 by CB45

[Sarge]

That is NOT the O.P.'s problem. He has an issue elsewhere. Bolts and or bench. Something is up.

Please read my posts before speaking on my behalf. Quit trying to blame everything else except a faulty product.

Actually, it was a problem with the SM itself. Bench and bolts are fine.

Damn dude! Why don't you just go get an LNL and throw all of your Dillon junk in a dumpster. Seems you are doing your best to alienate yourself from the ever helpful members of this forum.

[CB45]

I've basically been called incompetent by a few members on this thread. I don't take that lightly.

I figured it out and posted my findings. Then I am still insulted.

I am just trying to clear the air, so people really see what happened.

I am totally satisfied with Dillon. I'm not trying to upset anyone, just defending myself.

P.S. I have a LNL for sale if you need one.

[Sarge]

CB, Nobody said you were incompetent. If you take a poll and ask how many times anyone has experienced a faulty strong mount the answer will most likely be never. Sure, people have tried them and not liked them but as far as I know you are the only person to have ever brought up on here that you got a faulty one.

If you go back into the Dillon forum archives you will be amazed at some of the things that have been asked. 99% of the time it's operator error. In your case it wasn't, but you can't blame us members who tried to help you for not knowing you were the 1% who actually had a bad piece of equipment. SM's are a pretty basic, foolproof, accessory. The odds of it being bad were astronomical.

The members of this forum, as a whole, are not out to cause trouble or call somebody incompetent. There are some very knowledgeable folks on here that are more than eager to help anyone with a problem.

If anything, you were the one inciting conflict by making it sound bad to "bleed Dillon blue" or accusing us of not being willing to blame Dillon. Remember, that while there are all kinds of people on here who use other brands of equipment, Brian Enos, YOUR host, is a major distributor of Dillon equipment. Yes, the blood does run a little blue on these forums, and rightly so.

I hope when you get your new SM (free) that it works well for you. Maybe in a few years another guy will come along and have the same issue you did. Then you will be able to come on and say that you had the same problem believe it or not!

[98sr20ve]

That is NOT the O.P.'s problem. He has an issue elsewhere. Bolts and or bench. Something is up.

Please read my posts before speaking on my behalf. Quit trying to blame everything else except a faulty product.

Actually, it was a problem with the SM itself. Bench and bolts are fine.

Enlighten us. You ignore every request to validate the bench is suitable. In fact you say it's made out of 2X4's which means it really could be flexing in the wrong way. So what was the problem? I am not calling you an idiot or incompetent. I am actually trying to help. It's such a basic part. I did not see the part flexing in the video. I saw the flex between the SM and Press. So to me the SM was working fine but I am very curious what is going on.

And just because one guy says the press mounted to the bench directly is more rigid does not mean that is YOUR issue. SM work fine. Something is is up. That is not speaking for you. It's just obvious something beyond the norm is going on in that video.

Edited December 8, 2013 by 98sr20ve

[Racer377]

I didn't read all the posts, but Dillon makes super awesome stuff so it can't be the issue. I bet the problem is a wobbly bench.

[CB45]

I have already switched out the SM and am pleased with the new one! As posted above, my local reloading shop really hooked me up. He set it up on his bench and couldn't believe it either. He'd never seen anything like it before.

I am fully aware of the audience here, that's the reason I posted my issue here. I thought I would get good information. I specifically asked about the metal flexing. Turns out its not normal. That's all I wanted to hear.

Knowing that it was not normal gave me a direction to go. So that was good.

Edit: my public thanks never posted. So thanks to those who tried to help with my issue.

Edited December 8, 2013 by CB45

[RDA]

CB45 - rather than trying to insult people who were trying to help, it would have been far more helpful if you could have pinpointed where the Strong Mount failed. They are pretty simple parts, you could have measured the thickness of the metal or down some basic things I previously suggested to help identify more precisely where the problem was and that might have helped members going forward.

I don't bleed blue by the way, I do like my 650 but I have also done a lot of simple things to it to make it better and I have a whole host of manufacturers represented in my reloading area.

Glad you got your problem solved.