Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

auto drive 1050, experiences wanted


Recommended Posts

I bought it used from someone else but have been talking to Craig he has been great. The guy I bought it from said nothing needs to be modified on the press but reading here and talking to Craig the seller is wrong. my biggest problem is the he isn't sending the main shaft.

He sent manual. I haven't even received the kit in my hands yet but I am grateful for Craig standing behind his product even when I didn't buy it directly from him.

Doug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 101
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • 2 weeks later...

That Mark7 looks pretty nice.. But that price!! Will they sell it without the pretty computer screen? LoL

I've been looking at the ammobot since it also doesn't really modify the press and it appears I will still be able to load all rifle cases since the stroke isn't shortened like it seems with the forcht setup. So far my biggest con with the ammobot is the noise. The handle moving around could be dealt with by either cutting it down or somehow modifing it if I needed to. But I also like the ability to use the press without the motor on.

Biggest problem now is I need to gain 6" of space by either cutting the legs off my bench or making a shorter bench just for the press since I am limited with overhead space.. Already cut down the press a few inches to fit the bulletfeeder.

Anyone else have any experience with the ammobot? Ammobot MK1 Or see possible problems with that setup? Noise was another thing I noticed about it.

I'd be more than happy to discuss any concerns you have with our setup, or put you in touch with existing customers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boy that ammobot drive looks sweet. sure wish I could afford it. Out of all the options it does look like the best.

Having said that,

I had 3 PW auto drives, down to 2 since 1 went to member KTM 300 yesterday. They are tricky to set up properly but once set up are pretty nice to run. there are several key things to keep in mind.

*Make sure the machine is running and indexing perfectly with a hand handle before trying to set up the auto drive.

*Remove all shell casings from the machine.

*Loosen the clutch to the point you can spin the arm on the motor by hand and cycle it. Not so much so that the spinning arm is floppy. Just enough to spin by hand.

*Make small incremental adjustments, no more than 1/2 turn at a time on the handle side ball socket and no more than 1/16th of an inch on the motor end, stroke length adjustment.

You want to reach a point where you meet a slight bump at the two extremes of cycling but you can easily pop through it with a push of the hand.

Now load the shell plate and slightly tighten the clutch. Keep tightening until the machine will power through with all stations full. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN.

You will find that with a properly adjusted initial powered run the bottom stop on the machine will not be getting hit as it should. This is OK. loosen the front ball socket and rotate out 1/2 a turn. Try it again. repeat. you may find that when that starts to hit as it should that the indexing is not going as far as it should. Increase stroke length by 1/16". You may now have to slightly adjust the front ball socket again.

by making very minute adjustment to these two points you will get it to the point where it kisses the bottom stop and indexes fully without stress and big clunks.

Be very patient and go slow. walk away and do something else for a while if you start getting frustrated.

You may also find that with mixed head stamp used brass it won't always kiss the bottom stop. it comes very very close but you don't hear that tick of contact. I have found that that's ok as long as for the majority of strokes it is making contact.

Use lubed brass even if you are using carbide dies.

Good luck and if anyone needs help please PM me and I would be glad to help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I just contacted Craig, he will not sell the parts to Anyone, the only way to get His setup is by sending Your press in.

Are there any other companies that make and sell a rotary style clutch set up similar to that design? I really would like to do this conversion, but want to supply My own motor, VFD,PLC. Building the mount is no problem, I have a 900 RPM PW, but the more I learn about the rotary with variable speed, the more I feel that it is the way to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just contacted Craig, he will not sell the parts to Anyone, the only way to get His setup is by sending Your press in.

Are there any other companies that make and sell a rotary style clutch set up similar to that design? I really would like to do this conversion, but want to supply My own motor, VFD,PLC. Building the mount is no problem, I have a 900 RPM PW, but the more I learn about the rotary with variable speed, the more I feel that it is the way to go.

There is only ONE style rotary auto-drive conversion, and that is a Forcht. Buy the standard, non-VFD version and sell the motor on Ebay. Then do what you want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's His business, and He gets to make the rules, that I understand. But, I'd think He could make a fair bit of money selling the kits.

I need to spend more time with the PW. I bought it lightly used off Ebay, somebody had monkeyed with the link arm, wayyyy out of adjustment. I got it centered up, then stroking pretty good, but it is cyclical in making contact with the down stop. About every 4th revolution it hits the down stop hard, then lighter, lighter, harder. I'm thinking My link arm may be geometrically whacked, need to see if there is a factory setting for a baseline. It works great for decapping brass, but was not consistent with the swage, haven't even tried to load with it. That is not really My plan for now, hand cycle for loading, PW for processing.

I found the post by BajaDude, some stuff there I will need to try this weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He wants the press because he wants it to be right when it goes out the door, plain and simple. I am speaking from experience, I acquired a 1050 with a Forcht conversion. I had to convert it to 40 from 9. In the "extras" I got was a mangled 9 shell plate.

I had no 1050 experience before this and unknowingly ran the press without the detent ball and ruined a brand new shell plate. Pretty much, my press was run hard and put away wet (and completely tore apart when I got it). I went through it and put it back together.

I ended up making a piece to change the timing of the primer system myself. My primer system is probably running on dead springs, but it works great. I am a machinist and like to tinker so the idea of making it work appealed to me. I never called Forcht and count the cost of the shell plate as a stubborn tax. I should probably call Forcht just to see how I should set up the "clutch".

My press now runs awesome and I have probably loaded 1500-2000 rounds on it the way it sits. That is only about 2 hours of very casual work. Don't let the youtube videos fool you...presses that run 2500+ rounds an hour aren't making ammo, they are processing brass. And most likely they aren't swaging primer pockets at that speed.

My drive is a 1200 rounds per hour setup and more than likely it will be 1000ish after I stop to refill components. But it makes consistent ammo and I can do it with a beer in one hand while listening to the radio and watching it run.

Edited by leas327
Link to comment
Share on other sites

He wants the press because he wants it to be right when it goes out the door, plain and simple. I am speaking from experience, I acquired a 1050 with a Forcht conversion. I had to convert it to 40 from 9. In the "extras" I got was a mangled 9 shell plate.

I had no 1050 experience before this and unknowingly ran the press without the detent ball and ruined a brand new shell plate. Pretty much, my press was run hard and put away wet (and completely tore apart when I got it). I went through it and put it back together.

I ended up making a piece to change the timing of the primer system myself. My primer system is probably running on dead springs, but it works great. I am a machinist and like to tinker so the idea of making it work appealed to me. I never called Forcht and count the cost of the shell plate as a stubborn tax. I should probably call Forcht just to see how I should set up the "clutch".

My press now runs awesome and I have probably loaded 1500-2000 rounds on it the way it sits. That is only about 2 hours of very casual work. Don't let the youtube videos fool you...presses that run 2500+ rounds an hour aren't making ammo, they are processing brass. And most likely they aren't swaging primer pockets at that speed.

My drive is a 1200 rounds per hour setup and more than likely it will be 1000ish after I stop to refill components. But it makes consistent ammo and I can do it with a beer in one hand while listening to the radio and watching it run.

Yes, it is swaging the primer pocket at that speed. Sorry to disappoint. You are correct that they are only processing. As Craig Forcht has posted on Youtube, 2k is about the limit on loading .45 ACP. Each caliber will have it's own specific loading speed.

As for the Clutch, since you're a machinist. You have three choices, depending on what clutch yours has. Use the old style Forcht 2-screw clutch, which is a bear to tune, buy his new style center nut clutch, which he released on the VFD machines, or buy a surplus Dalton OSD 225 from Ebay and machine the ID to the size of the output shaft of your motor. I went with the Dalton because at that point, Craig had not released his new design...and he did so after I pestered the hell out of him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I JUST purchased both the 1050s and the pw 900 rpm drive. NOT HAVlNG ANY PREVOUS EXPERIENCE WITH THE 1050 WAS A DISADVANTAGE! I have since upgraded to a 1200 rpm gear for brass processing. When doing your initial set up pull the swager rod and the primer seating rod out. ANY TIMING PROBLEMS WILL BEND THEM OR WARP THE SHELL PLATE! Pull priming fixture and Rachet off the press. Pull the tool head. Attach the drive to the press,loosen the clutch. WITH THE SHELL PLATE INSTALLED WITH LIGHT TENSION Rotate by hand and see how it feels..if set up seems even on both ends of the stroke. Turn the drive on and see if the shell plate index like it should. If it does with a loose tension on the shell plate,you will need to tighten the shell plate retainer. Shell plate tension/drag is critical to proper case feeding and smooth operation. I PURCHASED THE CERAMIC BALL AND BEARING KIT. YOU WANT THE PLATE TO DRAG JUST A LITTLE BUT NOT BIND. WHEN YOU GOT IT RIGHT IT SHELL WILL NOT MOVE UP AND DOWN WHEN YOU PRESS ON IT OR POP INTO BATTERY. When adjusted right It may start pulling up short and not index. You will need to lengthen the stroke of the drive until it does. Your goal is to get it to index every time with proper shell plate tension. WITH OUT PROPER SHELL PLATE TENSION YOU WILL HAVE CASE FEEDING PROBLEMS AND AOL PROBLEMS AND SIZING PROBLEMS. When set up right the drive will index plate smoothly with out poping or jumping noises every time. NOW INSTALl THE TOOL HEAD WITH OUT DIES. If you pick up a poping or cluncking noise it is coming from the tool head alignment rod. TRY TO ADJUST IT OUT. Mark the rod with layout blue to see where it is rubbing. The press should now run with out any major poping or clunking noises and index smoothly. First die to adjust is the case mouth expander. Grind the side off the bottom of a shell casting so you can view the inside of the case head. Set the expander at the end of the stroke to touch the inside of the case head. DIFFERENT HAD STAMP WILL BE DIFFERENT THICKNESS, TRY TO PICK ONE IN THE MIDDLE. . IF YOUR GOING TO DESWAGE SET IT UP NOW. That's my set up for processing brass. Leave the primer seating pin out, but put the primer slide back in. Leave the primer tower or rachet off if just processing. If you are fooling with range brass processing first ( cleaning sizing depriming, deswaging,flairing,polishing) makes loading smoother, "less spilled powder,tilted bullets,more consistent Oal and power charges". NOW FOR LOADING SET UP. DO NOT PUT IN A SIZEING DIE, use a universal decaper. Next set up your primer seater death adjustment. You did remenber to reinstall the pin when you tore down for cleaning. THEN SET UP AS NORMAL ON POWDER,FLAIRING AT POWDER STATION, Seating and crimping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I JUST purchased both the 1050s and the pw 900 rpm drive. NOT HAVlNG ANY PREVOUS EXPERIENCE WITH THE 1050 WAS A DISADVANTAGE! I have since upgraded to a 1200 rpm gear for brass processing. When doing your initial set up pull the swager rod and the primer seating rod out. ANY TIMING PROBLEMS WILL BEND THEM OR WARP THE SHELL PLATE! Pull priming fixture and Rachet off the press. Pull the tool head. Attach the drive to the press,loosen the clutch. WITH THE SHELL PLATE INSTALLED WITH LIGHT TENSION Rotate by hand and see how it feels..if set up seems even on both ends of the stroke. Turn the drive on and see if the shell plate index like it should. If it does with a loose tension on the shell plate,you will need to tighten the shell plate retainer. Shell plate tension/drag is critical to proper case feeding and smooth operation. I PURCHASED THE CERAMIC BALL AND BEARING KIT. YOU WANT THE PLATE TO DRAG JUST A LITTLE BUT NOT BIND. WHEN YOU GOT IT RIGHT IT SHELL WILL NOT MOVE UP AND DOWN WHEN YOU PRESS ON IT OR POP INTO BATTERY. When adjusted right It may start pulling up short and not index. You will need to lengthen the stroke of the drive until it does. Your goal is to get it to index every time with proper shell plate tension. WITH OUT PROPER SHELL PLATE TENSION YOU WILL HAVE CASE FEEDING PROBLEMS AND AOL PROBLEMS AND SIZING PROBLEMS. When set up right the drive will index plate smoothly with out poping or jumping noises every time. NOW INSTALl THE TOOL HEAD WITH OUT DIES. If you pick up a poping or cluncking noise it is coming from the tool head alignment rod. TRY TO ADJUST IT OUT. Mark the rod with layout blue to see where it is rubbing. The press should now run with out any major poping or clunking noises and index smoothly. First die to adjust is the case mouth expander. Grind the side off the bottom of a shell casting so you can view the inside of the case head. Set the expander at the end of the stroke to touch the inside of the case head. DIFFERENT HAD STAMP WILL BE DIFFERENT THICKNESS, TRY TO PICK ONE IN THE MIDDLE. . IF YOUR GOING TO DESWAGE SET IT UP NOW. That's my set up for processing brass. Leave the primer seating pin out, but put the primer slide back in. Leave the primer tower or rachet off if just processing. If you are fooling with range brass processing first ( cleaning sizing depriming, deswaging,flairing,polishing) makes loading smoother, "less spilled powder,tilted bullets,more consistent Oal and power charges". NOW FOR LOADING SET UP. DO NOT PUT IN A SIZEING DIE, use a universal decaper. Next set up your primer seater death adjustment. You did remenber to reinstall the pin when you tore down for cleaning. THEN SET UP AS NORMAL ON POWDER,FLAIRING AT POWDER STATION, Seating and crimping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SORRY ABOUT THE DOUBLE POST. I am using my andriod pad for this and having problems.

When using a auto drive sorting the brass is critical. 380,32 sw in with 9mm or 38 super gum up the works. I got the 1050s because my 650 was giving me problems, and the auto drive because I got thousands and thousands of components to put together in 9mm,45acp,300 blk,308. Kinda thought I would pay for it by processing brass. Sorting range brass is labor intensive!!! EVEN AUTOMATED IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME, you will have to sell a lot of brass to pay for a good sorter, cleaning is not rocket science, but is a mess,and not something I would not do if on well water, or if I had small children in the area. There must be a fair amount of lead dust in indoor range sweepings. The big problem is spending all this money and having your source of brass dry up.

The auto drives are not a whole lot faster than cranking them out by hand. If all you have is 3 or 4 thousand cases Don t waste your money. The extra time and care to keep it running is not worth it for 4000 rounds. In the last week I processed 16k of 9mm,5k of 300 blk , I got 10 more of 9mm, 15 k of 45acp and 5 k of 308. I will have 9mm processed for $60/1000, + 45acp at $70/1000. . If interested pm me.

J D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I wouldn't suggest auto driving a press you never used manually and were not familiar with how it works.

The wrong cases will stop production on a single stage too, can't blame that on automation. That can be fixed though, I built my own brass sorter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, it is swaging the primer pocket at that speed. Sorry to disappoint. You are correct that they are only processing. As Craig Forcht has posted on Youtube, 2k is about the limit on loading .45 ACP. Each caliber will have it's own specific loading speed.

As for the Clutch, since you're a machinist. You have three choices, depending on what clutch yours has. Use the old style Forcht 2-screw clutch, which is a bear to tune, buy his new style center nut clutch, which he released on the VFD machines, or buy a surplus Dalton OSD 225 from Ebay and machine the ID to the size of the output shaft of your motor. I went with the Dalton because at that point, Craig had not released his new design...and he did so after I pestered the hell out of him.

Sorry if I offended you, that wasn't the purpose of my post. I guess what I was trying to say was after spending a week of evenings trying to figure out how to make a pile of parts into a working automated press, I fully understand why Forcht wants to set up the press himself to make sure it's right.

My machine works good now. I guess I already had it in my mind before I got the press that the clutch was going to be more like a shear pin setup. It works fine, I just had to mess with how much I needed to snug the bolts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I should probably call Forcht just to see how I should set up the "clutch".

If its a 3 bolt clutch get an inch lb torque wrench. When I bought mine he said something along the lines of "set it at 6 inch lbs", but that was WAY low IMO. I usually run 15 inch lbs, but have run up higher. If you get a piece of brass that the primer sticks in the pocket and makes it to the swage station the press will stop(clutch will slip). You USUALLY cant back the machine up so you have to torque the clutch down and force it through. Then you have to break the torque on the clutch and reset with the torque wrench. I keep a ratchet with a hex socket on it as well as my inch lb torque wrench with another hex socket on it at the press so I can make quick work of it when it happens.

You just have to play with it, but an inch lb torque wrench is the required tool for the job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

That Mark7 looks pretty nice.. But that price!! Will they sell it without the pretty computer screen? LoL

I've been looking at the ammobot since it also doesn't really modify the press and it appears I will still be able to load all rifle cases since the stroke isn't shortened like it seems with the forcht setup. So far my biggest con with the ammobot is the noise. The handle moving around could be dealt with by either cutting it down or somehow modifing it if I needed to. But I also like the ability to use the press without the motor on.

Biggest problem now is I need to gain 6" of space by either cutting the legs off my bench or making a shorter bench just for the press since I am limited with overhead space.. Already cut down the press a few inches to fit the bulletfeeder.

Anyone else have any experience with the ammobot? Or see possible problems with that setup? Noise was another thing I noticed about it.

We are working on a new drive that reduces the noise output from the motor. It is also much smoother. The new drive is going out on current production machines ordered from this point forward. Please contact me if you have any more questions about the AmmoBot.

Do you have something planned that wont raise the press so high? I only have 5 inches above the casefeeder as is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That Mark7 looks pretty nice.. But that price!! Will they sell it without the pretty computer screen? LoL

I've been looking at the ammobot since it also doesn't really modify the press and it appears I will still be able to load all rifle cases since the stroke isn't shortened like it seems with the forcht setup. So far my biggest con with the ammobot is the noise. The handle moving around could be dealt with by either cutting it down or somehow modifing it if I needed to. But I also like the ability to use the press without the motor on.

Biggest problem now is I need to gain 6" of space by either cutting the legs off my bench or making a shorter bench just for the press since I am limited with overhead space.. Already cut down the press a few inches to fit the bulletfeeder.

Anyone else have any experience with the ammobot? Or see possible problems with that setup? Noise was another thing I noticed about it.

We are working on a new drive that reduces the noise output from the motor. It is also much smoother. The new drive is going out on current production machines ordered from this point forward. Please contact me if you have any more questions about the AmmoBot.
Do you have something planned that wont raise the press so high? I only have 5 inches above the casefeeder as is.

We don't have an option to go shorter with the current configuration. We need every bit of the space we have for machine adjustments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How does the ammo bot deal with jams?

We use a stepper motor, which works using magnetic fields. If a jam occurs, the magnetic fields are overcome and the motor slips internally. The machine then detects a short stroke when the arm returns to the home position. We have a video that shows what happens.

This functionality was there from the beginning, so the video is of a previous version of the machine. The current production version still contains this functionality. Here's the link to the video:

More videos on this machine can be found on our Media page:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for link showing the Jam. Does it automatically drop the ram on a jam or does it stop?

Can you reverse it slowly to clear a jam and carry on or would you need to pull all the cases and put everything back 1 space?

It stops with the arm in the up position. You'd then need to index all the cases back one position and check everything. However, it would be best to be watching when it happened and hit the handheld kill switch to stop it when the jam occurs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only problem I see with that is you now have an uncrimped case in the bin with any number of completed rounds, could be like looking for a needle in a stack of needles.

When I built mine I just programmed it to time out and stop where it was at the instant it jammed.

About 33 seconds into this video.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...