DAA primer pro collator

[mikeg1005]

Ya.... going to have to disagree with that one DAA.  I've got over 150k primers loaded through an RF100 and I've never cleaned the bowl.  It doesn't get primer residue since the primers aren't thrown around like a case feeder.

[Furrly]

2 hours ago, Hooked said:

Can anyone direct me to the video referenced in Saul’s post showing how to serrate the ramp using pins?  I can only find the first troubleshooting video. 

 

Thanks!

YouTube 

[4n2t0]

3 hours ago, Hooked said:

Can anyone direct me to the video referenced in Saul’s post showing how to serrate the ramp using pins?  I can only find the first troubleshooting video. 

 

Thanks!

 

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by 4n2t0

[Hooked]

1 hour ago, 4n2t0 said:

 

 

Thanks! Searched YouTube before asking here. Could only find the first troubleshoot video and all the teaser vids.

[Hooked]

For those with OCD, getting the last 10-12 primers out of the collator will drive you bonkers!  The sweet spot is definitely 200-400 primers in the bowl as per the manual.

[AHI]

after over 30 years in automotive repair  NEVER BUY ANYTHING IN THE FIRST YEAR OF PRODUCTION.

this seames true in more fields than not 

[Stymie12000]

18 minutes ago, AHI said:

after over 30 years in automotive repair  NEVER BUY ANYTHING IN THE FIRST YEAR OF PRODUCTION.

this seames true in more fields than not 

I'm learning this the hard way....

 

After teething problems from my "first batch" Mark 7 EVO and now this. I'm done buying new designed products. Going to let others be the Guinea pig.

Edited January 18, 2020 by Stymie12000

[mscott]

I was on the fence on whether I wanted to be a field tester on this thing however couldn’t resist the temptation and bought one. Received it a few days ago but hadn’t got around to opening it until I started reading this thread again. I set it up with the original disk in it and did not put the one that was version 2 or whatever in the machine. Went through 1000 to 1500 primers easily and not a single upside down primer. Couple things I did notice is a couple of tubes were a little bit low and had less than 100 primers. Then I had one overfill and the machine stopped because the chute filled up. After that I started dumping the tubes and hand counting what was dispensed. I got anywhere from 95 to 105 primers. I have no idea where the machine might have stopped counting on the high numbers because the machine was stopped by the led safety. My hammer also needs to be adjusted and it seems that about 1/3 of my notched disk doesn’t move it far enough so guessing it is not perfectly centered. The adjustment looks simple enough, but haven’t done it yet. I did notice the primers slowing down, so will cut the serrations before moving forward. I am using the old style silver  Winchester small pistol primers. I see no reason to install the V2 disc at this point. Until I get the hammer adjusted and chute serrated  I don’t feel like I could let it run on it’s  own while loading on the press. I’m not unhappy at this point since there really isn’t much involved in this game that doesn’t require some tuning. Look at all the threads on fixes for Dillon, mag tuning, etc.

[Rich406]

I received my primer pro, and after several hours of messing with it, it’s running acceptably. 
 

When I initially set the device up, nothing worked. I use Winchester primers and they wouldn’t slide down the ramp. I serrated the ramp per instructions, cleaned and lubed the ramp with pledge. 
 

once the primers would slide down the ramp freely, I had a problem with primers falling behind the disk and jamming things up. I tried both disks with varying degrees of tightness on the mounting screws. This made no difference. Finally I took the drum apart and cleaned and lubricated every primer channel. Problem solved.
 

Next.... the primers would build up in the ramp faster than the arm could put them into the primer tube. After some adjustment to the arm,  this seems to be fixed.

 

so there it is, now the device is running reasonably, but I’m not sure how long it will stay that way. One thing is clear, the entire path the primer takes through the device must be clean and lubricated.  Once I did that most problems went away. How many cycles will it take before I have to take it apart and clean and lubricate again. From what I’ve read it’s 1-2k max. I generally load 2-3k per session on an automated press, if I have to stop half way through and diddle with the primer pro, what’s the point? The ramp and probably the drum should be made out of metal. The plastic just has too much friction. 
 

‘I’m going to load a few thousand rounds tomorrow or Monday, I’ll report back on how the primer pro performs under extended use.  

 

 

[Rich406]

11 minutes ago, mscott said:

I was on the fence on whether I wanted to be a field tester on this thing however couldn’t resist the temptation and bought one. Received it a few days ago but hadn’t got around to opening it until I started reading this thread again. I set it up with the original disk in it and did not put the one that was version 2 or whatever in the machine. Went through 1000 to 1500 primers easily and not a single upside down primer. Couple things I did notice is a couple of tubes were a little bit low and had less than 100 primers. Then I had one overfill and the machine stopped because the chute filled up. After that I started dumping the tubes and hand counting what was dispensed. I got anywhere from 95 to 105 primers. I have no idea where the machine might have stopped counting on the high numbers because the machine was stopped by the led safety. My hammer also needs to be adjusted and it seems that about 1/3 of my notched disk doesn’t move it far enough so guessing it is not perfectly centered. The adjustment looks simple enough, but haven’t done it yet. I did notice the primers slowing down, so will cut the serrations before moving forward. I am using the old style silver  Winchester small pistol primers. I see no reason to install the V2 disc at this point. Until I get the hammer adjusted and chute serrated  I don’t feel like I could let it run on it’s  own while loading on the press. I’m not unhappy at this point since there really isn’t much involved in this game that doesn’t require some tuning. Look at all the threads on fixes for Dillon, mag tuning, etc.

I found that if the device shut off and there were primers past the eye, but not yet in the tube, on the next cycle it could overfill due the counter not accounting for the primers that had already passed the counting eye.  

[chumly2071]

I'm waiting still for my unit to arrive (ordered December 8th, supposed to ship sometime next week). Reading through the thread, I'm a bit disappointed in the results. Some adjustment I can see and understand, but even after all the revisions, modifications, and tuning, having to clean and lube an appliance like this every 1000 to 1500 cycles is unacceptable. I hope my experience is better than what I am seeing here, but time will tell.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

Edited January 19, 2020 by chumly2071

[ltdmstr]

Biggest problem with mine is getting primers to feed out of the hopper.  After the first 50 or so, I hardly get any that make it to the ramp.  I have no idea why that is, because I can't see what's going on when it's running.  When it's apart, I can see the primers are picked up on the rotating plate, but they don't appear to be going anywhere from there.  Changing the plates doesn't make a difference.  Not sure if mine is defective or what, but every mechanical function on the thing seems to be not working properly.

[Hooked]

1 hour ago, ltdmstr said:

Biggest problem with mine is getting primers to feed out of the hopper.  After the first 50 or so, I hardly get any that make it to the ramp.  I have no idea why that is, because I can't see what's going on when it's running.  When it's apart, I can see the primers are picked up on the rotating plate, but they don't appear to be going anywhere from there.  Changing the plates doesn't make a difference.  Not sure if mine is defective or what, but every mechanical function on the thing seems to be not working properly.

How many are you loading in the bowl at a time?

[The Donald]

1 hour ago, ltdmstr said:

Biggest problem with mine is getting primers to feed out of the hopper.  After the first 50 or so, I hardly get any that make it to the ramp.  I have no idea why that is, because I can't see what's going on when it's running.  When it's apart, I can see the primers are picked up on the rotating plate, but they don't appear to be going anywhere from there.  Changing the plates doesn't make a difference.  Not sure if mine is defective or what, but every mechanical function on the thing seems to be not working properly.

I just had the same problem. First run loaded '100' no problem, then had ramp issues. Cleaning a lubing did not work, so just cleaned it with alcohol. Then got it to run out a '100' thought I had it fixed, added another 100 primers so have at least 200 in it. Now the collator is not picking up the primers.

 

Is the light/sensor on the ramp what counts the primers?

[Timido]

1 hour ago, ltdmstr said:

Biggest problem with mine is getting primers to feed out of the hopper.  After the first 50 or so, I hardly get any that make it to the ramp.  I have no idea why that is, because I can't see what's going on when it's running.  When it's apart, I can see the primers are picked up on the rotating plate, but they don't appear to be going anywhere from there.  Changing the plates doesn't make a difference.  Not sure if mine is defective or what, but every mechanical function on the thing seems to be not working properly.

Sounds like mine.  Winchester small pistol doesn't hardly make it to the ramp.   I ran one sleeve of  CCI small pistol and 97-100 worked fine.  

[ltdmstr]

I have 100 Winchester small pistol primers in the hopper.  They're getting picked up by the rotating plate, but apparently they stay there.  They never get dropped at the ramp.  It's the same with both plates.  I think the light sensor just turns the hammer off when you get to 99 so it doesn't overfill.

[chevrofreak]

[Hooked]

45 minutes ago, ltdmstr said:

I have 100 Winchester small pistol primers in the hopper.  They're getting picked up by the rotating plate, but apparently they stay there.  They never get dropped at the ramp.  It's the same with both plates.  I think the light sensor just turns the hammer off when you get to 99 so it doesn't overfill.

The collator definitely works better with 200-300 primers in it at a time. With my unit, it’s only when the hopper gets down to 10-12 primers in it that the light sensor times out and stops because no more primers go down the ramp. If I refill at that point, the collator will resume counting from where it left off unless I hold down the button and reset the unit.

 

Maybe try a couple hundred primers in it if you haven’t already and see what happens.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Hooked

[slavex]

I used to clean my RF100 all the time, even Federals left a smear of dust in the bowl of it. It's like people forget all the threads on tuning it, or the FA hand held unit. It's a no win situation for companies. Don't make new products and people bitch, make new products and people bitch. 

[ltdmstr]

4 minutes ago, slavex said:

I used to clean my RF100 all the time, even Federals left a smear of dust in the bowl of it. It's like people forget all the threads on tuning it, or the FA hand held unit. It's a no win situation for companies. Don't make new products and people bitch, make new products and people bitch. 

 

I have a PAL filler and it works great.  It's actually a really nice piece.  And way better than doing them manually with a tube.  But it's still slow.  I just thought this would be faster.  The thing probably would be great if it was made with quality parts instead of crap.

[mscott]

I got my hammer adjusted and serrated the ramp and ran a few hundred more through it with 100% success. I started with 200 in the hopper and now have 500 in there. I have not tried less than 200, so might be something to having enough in the hopper. Will have to see when I do some loading and actually use the primers. I have not yet seen a single upside down primer, so feeling pretty good about it so far. 

 

[Brooke]

Fortunately for me I never got around to ordering one of these. I did have high hopes for it because I have a freaking RF100 which is also a rip off. 

 

This really brings up a slightly different thought for me. First I really like the idea that DAA pushes to improve and innovate. Gun products of all kinds including the guns themselves seem to be of questionable quality. I don't shoot Glocks because I hate the triggers but you have to admit they feed well and go bang nearly every time you pull the trigger. Im not sure any other gun manufacturer can make that claim.

 

Here is my DAA experience. Had Racer  mag pouches  for CZ mags. Worked fine . No issues.

 

Bought a 2011 (actually 2 of them that work fine now after repeated trips back to manufacturer for repair) and an Alpha X holster and Alpha X mag pouches for same. The holster repeatedly and randomly snagged in spite go my best efforts to fix it. Stupid me bought a new insert for it and started over with the same result. s#!t canned it and bought an Everglades holster that is spectacular.

 

The Alpha X pouches (their most expensive one) had to be redesigned with a ball bearing in the retention ball so you didn't snatch the pouch off with the mag.That fix certainly helped but I occasionally still snatch a pouch off because the retention using the logo to fix the ball to the pouch is just plain too weak. You cannot tighten the freaking thing enough for total reliability.

 

So all that said, I still admire their willingness to innovate but I sure wish they would test the stuff before selling it. This primer filler appears to be the worst case because it can affect so many people. 2011's are not everyones bag. Primers are. No one (certainly not me) would brag on the RF100. It doesn't deserve to be marketed. I will say  Winchester primers are the worst in it. At least CCI and Federal will run but not very good.

 

Im not jumping on anything new from these guys ever again.

 

[DD78]

Got around to setting up and testing it last night. My initial plan was to run the same 500 CCI’s through it to see how long it would take to mess up. Rather than doing that, since I already had five tubes filled, I just loaded those rounds, then dumped 300 CCI 500’s into it since I had about 300 rounds left to load. All ran fine.

I have a bunch of loading to do over the next few weeks so I’ll see how it goes. I’d rather test it how I load versus running 2-3K at one time since I never load that many in one session. I’m hoping to run another 500 rounds this evening. I’ll report back at the 1500 round mark since that seems to be the count where most who have issues are seeing the problems arise.

I can see the frustration of folks with automated presses since they’re doing 1K+ every session, and needing to take this thing apart to clean it every 1-1.5K would be frustrating. Anyhow, I’ll report back in a few days.

[Rich406]

12 hours ago, ltdmstr said:

Biggest problem with mine is getting primers to feed out of the hopper.  After the first 50 or so, I hardly get any that make it to the ramp.  I have no idea why that is, because I can't see what's going on when it's running.  When it's apart, I can see the primers are picked up on the rotating plate, but they don't appear to be going anywhere from there.  Changing the plates doesn't make a difference.  Not sure if mine is defective or what, but every mechanical function on the thing seems to be not working properly.

try lubing the primer channels

[Timido]

What should we lube these primer channels and ramps with?