DAA primer pro collator

[chevrofreak]

3 hours ago, Maximis228 said:

I suggest anyone who uses Hotmail... Yahoo...AOL... or the like to change to a more modern service provider.

Services like the above are both low quality and give of a certain.... perception of the user.

I have been using the same email address for 20+ years.   The amount of accounts I would have to update is ridiculous. 

[Maximis228]

I REALLY wanted this thing to work well. Maybe I got a bad unit? IDK.

 

I ran a set of 1K primers 5 times (CCI 500 Primers) thru this unit. 4K on the V1 plate and 1K on the V2 plate that was shipped with it.

 

V1 plate with 100 primers at a time would work well but would only feed 95ish primers out of 100 and the last 5 would seem to just stay stuck in the unit or jammed up in the openings that feed into the tube. Once I added 200 primers in the unit at a time it fed very quickly. But I was still having jammed primers in the disk that would cause it to slow down overtime (Due to more openings being clogged). Its easy to clear the disk as it slides right off the main shaft of the unit easily. V1 never sent a single upside down primer to the primer tube chute ever. Which is fantastic. Right around the 3-4K mark I ran into the sluggish ramp that was already discussed in this thread. This caused feeding issues into the tube itself as it needed the additional weight of others primers to push them down the chute.

 

One very large concern I had after about 2K on the V1 plate was the amount of primer compound that had coated the primer disk from the tumbling action of the primers. There was a faint yellow dust over the entire surface. This can easily be wiped away but very concerning none the less. This was seen on the V2 plate as well (Obviously from the action of the unit itself).

 

V2 plate to see if that fixed my jamming issues. The V2 plate for CCI 500 primers was by far way worse. Right off the bat it sent upside down primers down and then jammed the disk up almost instantly. It was a struggle to get thru 100 at all without the unit completely shutting off from jamming.

 

I posted some stuff on my IG. - https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18089451388082595/

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Maximis228

[Stymie12000]

Ok, so got delivered today. Unboxed it and set it up per instructions.  Loaded it with 100 Winchester small pistol primers.  

 

First run about 1 in every 5 primers got hung up where it drops into the tube. The primers would slightly turn sideways not allowing them to drop freely.  They didn't make it past the black plastic. So I know it wasn't how I installed the primer tube. So I lubed the plastic channel and then wiped it down with a rag. Seemed to fix that problem.  

 

So finally got a run of 98 through it without getting caught up. But 3 out of 98 were upside down.  So out came the v2 plate. That helped the upside down primers. I did notice when I removed the empty bowl, to replace plate, one primer was underneath the plate. That happened when the unit was filling the tube. Also the unit always stopped with 97 or 98 primers. 

 

As of now I've got mixed opinion. Definitely didn't give me the impression that its way better than anything else out there. So definitely need to test more. I've only cycled 100 at a time for about 6 tubes. All WSP primers. 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Stymie12000

[tha1000]

oof

[RGC]

Going to set mine up over the weekend...if I have those issues, it'll be heading back and I will just stick to the pistol vibration devices.

[Furrly]

[DD78]

Just received mine today. I don’t have time to test it out right now, but will after I finish with work. I did remove it from the box and took a look at everything. Looks nice. I mean if I’m going to be honest here, it’s plastic so taking that into consideration, it’s nice for something made of plastic.

I’ll be running CCI 500’s through it so my plan is to test them and see how it works. An earlier post described using silicon lubricant on the ramp so if I start having issues with the ramp I’ll go out and buy some. I’ll report back this evening.

[ltdmstr]

Got mine today.  Huge disappointment.  Tried running with Winchester primers and nothing but problems.  Started off ok for about 40-50 primers then they started backing up in the output from the collator.  Cleared that out.  Now primers aren't getting picked up and hardly anything is coming down the ramp.  Then when they do, they're getting hung up at the hammer thing.  It's just multiple problems and appears to come down to the fact that the thing is made from such cheap parts, it's just not reliable.  I'm going to play around with it some more and see if I can get it to work, but so far it doesn't look promising at all.  I'd be more than happy to pay more for something that's made well, works like it's supposed to, and will last.  This doesn't appear to be any of those things.  

[The Donald]

12 hours ago, ltdmstr said:

Got mine today.  Huge disappointment.  Tried running with Winchester primers and nothing but problems.  Started off ok for about 40-50 primers then they started backing up in the output from the collator.  Cleared that out.  Now primers aren't getting picked up and hardly anything is coming down the ramp.  Then when they do, they're getting hung up at the hammer thing.  It's just multiple problems and appears to come down to the fact that the thing is made from such cheap parts, it's just not reliable.  I'm going to play around with it some more and see if I can get it to work, but so far it doesn't look promising at all.  I'd be more than happy to pay more for something that's made well, works like it's supposed to, and will last.  This doesn't appear to be any of those things.  

 

I use Remington 5 1/2 primers, first 50 or so ran OK, then started jamming up. Going to clean the ramp and hole to the tube with alcohol, then a light coat of silicon spray lube, see if that helps.

 

Cleaned the ramp down to the 'hammer' this morning, both just cleaned and lubed with some silicone causes it to feed worse. I shouldn't have to clean primer to use the machine, if I need to do that I'd rather just use my primer tray.

Edited January 18, 2020 by The Donald

[Hooked]

Got mine today. After a little tweaking, I got it to run CCI primers pretty reliably - 4 tubes filled with all primers the right side up.

 

I had the same stacking problem as everyone else mentioned - even after cleaning with alcohol and applying some silicone lube with a q-tip.  The solution for me was a very light dusting of powdered graphite in the feedramp.  Primers flow through the ramp and get picked up by the hammer nice and steady now.

 

I did find the time to fill the tube with the V2 plate was about twice as long compared to the original plate.  I was getting 1-2 upside down primers per 100 using the original plate which is why I switched to the V2.

 

If the feedramp was was made of a different material, I think the whole thing would have worked better.

 

Time will tell how reliable and how well this unit will be though. If I have to keep lubing the feedramp every time I have a loading session, that kind of defeats the purpose.

 

 

[looking4reloadingdeals]

Really sad hearing all of these reports. Was hoping for success as I need something besides hand filling tubes. Oh well I guess. Maybe V3 will hit the nail on the head?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dansedgli]

1 hour ago, Hooked said:

Got mine today. After a little tweaking, I got it to run CCI primers pretty reliably - 4 tubes filled with all primers the right side up.

 

I had the same stacking problem as everyone else mentioned - even after cleaning with alcohol and applying some silicone lube with a q-tip.  The solution for me was a very light dusting of powdered graphite in the feedramp.  Primers flow through the ramp and get picked up by the hammer nice and steady now.

 

I did find the time to fill the tube with the V2 plate was about twice as long compared to the original plate.  I was getting 1-2 upside down primers per 100 using the original plate which is why I switched to the V2.

 

If the feedramp was was made of a different material, I think the whole thing would have worked better.

 

Time will tell how reliable and how well this unit will be though. If I have to keep lubing the feedramp every time I have a loading session, that kind of defeats the purpose.

 

 

They recommend scoring lines in the ramp now. With 5 or 6 sewing needles to reduce the friction. 

 

Apparently this will be done on future ones.

[Stymie12000]

2 hours ago, dansedgli said:

They recommend scoring lines in the ramp now. With 5 or 6 sewing needles to reduce the friction. 

 

Apparently this will be done on future ones.

If that's the case, they need to fix the first batch of 240 units that they just shipped to customers in the US. Sounds like a hack fix.

 

I agree that the ramp needs to be out of a different material (metal). I too wouldn't mind paying a little more. Especially if it fixes the problem.  Only 240 units shipped to the US and we already have 5 of us experiencing problems.  That's a failure rate of 2%. And I'm sure more will pop up. So disappointing! 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Stymie12000

[4n2t0]

With so many initial problems one has to wonder how much testing DAA actually did prior to release. Why weren't they aware of these issues? Did they just test the thing with S&B primers and call it a day?

 

Throw another primer collator onto the heap...

Edited January 18, 2020 by 4n2t0

[Furrly]

I'm going to recieve mine on Monday, I don't even want to open it up. Might as well send it back for a refund until they figure this out.,

[slavex]

received mine today, Tested it for 5hrs with S&B, Federal and Ginex. Ginex are the only primers that give it problems, and they give the RF100, FA primer, and my Revolution collator issues too. First problem is they are very dirty primers, lots of dust, which causes issues with all the various systems I have, as well they are not super uniform in size or shape. I get the odd one that will not drop through the hole, or down the ramp, issues I also have with the other systems. But I get them for free, so I will make due. With the Feds and S&Bs it runs 100%, mine also has the scoring in the ramp that Saul mentions newer models will have as it came directly from DAA in Holland. I did have to spend some time cleaning after running the Ginex primers through it as they left a lot of dust in the system and other debris too. I did not need to use the V2 plate with any of the 3 brands I tried as they all fed through the V1 plate. 

[doublealpha]

Hi All,

I am sorry to read some of the negative initial feedbacks here on this board. And of course we take all feedback seriously. But a bit a fairness would be appreciated too.

Some comments like “I’m not even going to try mine” or that “primer dust accumulating after 2K primes is “a huge concern” are just plain unfair to the product.

Primer dust accumulates whenever primers are handled. Anyone who has ever used a vibratory primer feeding solution has seen the yellow dust build up. It can be wiped away, and is no issue at all! our system certainly handles the primers less violently than they are handled in a steal vibratory bowl!

 

Criticism regarding the first units not having serrations on the ramps is valid. Frankly we were not aware of the primer sticking issue when those units were shipped. And not for lack of testing, as some kind reviewer suggested. We fed through many tenths of thousands of primers on these systems during development, of various kinds (Fiochhi 223, rifle and pistol were our main test primers. But we also tested with CCI, Federal, Winchester SP, S&B rifle and pistol, Murom and Magtech. A couple of others too.

Our mistake was that we fed the same primers through again and again, as we were not using the primers to load ammo, but just to test. The stickiness of the primers is gone after they are fed through the first time, so that issue was not realized as being a serious one. The primers tend to  have this lube on them when they come out the box, but once they are out in the open, in trays, as we kept them, they are dry ,and don’t seem to stick.

 

Now much of the issues described are due to this tackiness of the primers. And it is effectively resolved by using a plastic cleaner from time to time (maybe every 1000-1500 primers or so) just run a earbud dipped in some solvent down the ramp surface and the primers will run quickly again. Also through the output exit hole, as friction there will lead to primers wanted to turn sideways and possibly stick. Try this and you will see it works.

 

Once we realized the issue, we serrated all the ramps in house and that helps a lot. That serration can easily be done later using pins as I demonstrated in a video. I am also prepared to send replacement ramps to customers who received the first batch without the serrations if they feel unwilling or unable to serrate their ramp, and if their chosen type of primer is problematic. That will take several weeks though, as a the moment all of the first production run has shipped, and new parts will not be in until mid Feb.

 

Bear in mind please that close to 1,000 units of Primer Pro’s are now out there being used, and the majority of customers are extremely pleased with its function and are having few or no issues. We are receiving plenty of positive comments too, although those customers often tend to be less vocal online…

 

Anyway, we stand by this product and it’s design. We know it works! Try the 2^nd disk if the first produces less than perfect results. Try the cleaner on the ramp to prevent slow moving primers which do create issues, or follow my suggestion to serrate it.

I will be at shot show the coming week, so will not be much available to respond for the next few days, but can be reached by email off our site.

 

Sincerely,

Saul kirsch

Double-Alpha Academy

[Stymie12000]

So I got more time today to test. 

 

I ran a sample of 1000 (100 of the same 10 times) WSP. I cleaned the ramp before I started. I also have the v2 disk installed and made sure that the screws were tight but not over tight.

 

I only made it to 900 before the primers started to stack up the ramp and machine shut down.... I will clean again but on a product like this I feel like I shouldn't have to. Brand new from factory we need to clean and lube. Ok no big deal but if it doesn't even get to 1000 before cleaning, then what's the point. My cheap vibra prime is doing a better job...

 

Also, within my sample of 900 I had 4 upside down primers. So clearly the v2 plate isn't working with WSP.... 

 

There are too many problems with my unit that it's pointless to use. 

 

I will definitely be in contact with DAA to see how to move forward. 

[chevrofreak]

4 hours ago, slavex said:

received mine today, Tested it for 5hrs with S&B, Federal and Ginex. Ginex are the only primers that give it problems

This is disconcerting.  I am down to about 40k S&B primers and was about to order a ton of Ginex 

[Hooked]

2 hours ago, doublealpha said:

Hi All,

 

I am sorry to read some of the negative initial feedbacks here on this board. And of course we take all feedback seriously. But a bit a fairness would be appreciated too.

 

Some comments like “I’m not even going to try mine” or that “primer dust accumulating after 2K primes is “a huge concern” are just plain unfair to the product.

 

Primer dust accumulates whenever primers are handled. Anyone who has ever used a vibratory primer feeding solution has seen the yellow dust build up. It can be wiped away, and is no issue at all! our system certainly handles the primers less violently than they are handled in a steal vibratory bowl!

 

 

 

Criticism regarding the first units not having serrations on the ramps is valid. Frankly we were not aware of the primer sticking issue when those units were shipped. And not for lack of testing, as some kind reviewer suggested. We fed through many tenths of thousands of primers on these systems during development, of various kinds (Fiochhi 223, rifle and pistol were our main test primers. But we also tested with CCI, Federal, Winchester SP, S&B rifle and pistol, Murom and Magtech. A couple of others too.

 

Our mistake was that we fed the same primers through again and again, as we were not using the primers to load ammo, but just to test. The stickiness of the primers is gone after they are fed through the first time, so that issue was not realized as being a serious one. The primers tend to  have this lube on them when they come out the box, but once they are out in the open, in trays, as we kept them, they are dry ,and don’t seem to stick.

 

 

 

Now much of the issues described are due to this tackiness of the primers. And it is effectively resolved by using a plastic cleaner from time to time (maybe every 1000-1500 primers or so) just run a earbud dipped in some solvent down the ramp surface and the primers will run quickly again. Also through the output exit hole, as friction there will lead to primers wanted to turn sideways and possibly stick. Try this and you will see it works.

 

 

 

Once we realized the issue, we serrated all the ramps in house and that helps a lot. That serration can easily be done later using pins as I demonstrated in a video. I am also prepared to send replacement ramps to customers who received the first batch without the serrations if they feel unwilling or unable to serrate their ramp, and if their chosen type of primer is problematic. That will take several weeks though, as a the moment all of the first production run has shipped, and new parts will not be in until mid Feb.

 

 

 

Bear in mind please that close to 1,000 units of Primer Pro’s are now out there being used, and the majority of customers are extremely pleased with its function and are having few or no issues. We are receiving plenty of positive comments too, although those customers often tend to be less vocal online…

 

 

 

Anyway, we stand by this product and it’s design. We know it works! Try the 2^nd disk if the first produces less than perfect results. Try the cleaner on the ramp to prevent slow moving primers which do create issues, or follow my suggestion to serrate it.

 

I will be at shot show the coming week, so will not be much available to respond for the next few days, but can be reached by email off our site.

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Saul kirsch

 

Double-Alpha Academy

 

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!

[Nevadazielmeister]

And for those of you just joining us, we have the DAA Primer Collater requiring immediate tuning upon delivery, minor manufacturing adjustments, cleaning every 1,000 primers or so, and the manufacturer saying that the majority of the units have no issues. 

 

You know, MBX magazines went through this in the Southern portion of the United States. That is why Southerners use SV magazines and stay away from the MBX's. I am thinking it is really important for a manufacturer of anything to ensure testing and usage amongst a test crowd instead of rushing to market. While I grant that maybe I am making a minor assumption here, the perception amongst this thread indicates there are a lot of fixes already. It is hard to believe that these could not have been resolved prior to release. 

[Sarge]

4 minutes ago, Nevadazielmeister said:

And for those of you just joining us, we have the DAA Primer Collater requiring immediate tuning upon delivery, minor manufacturing adjustments, cleaning every 1,000 primers or so, and the manufacturer saying that the majority of the units have no issues. 

 

You know, MBX magazines went through this in the Southern portion of the United States. That is why Southerners use SV magazines and stay away from the MBX's. I am thinking it is really important for a manufacturer of anything to ensure testing and usage amongst a test crowd instead of rushing to market. While I grant that maybe I am making a minor assumption here, the perception amongst this thread indicates there are a lot of fixes already. It is hard to believe that these could not have been resolved prior to release. 

Ever notice how many things in our games go through the same thing?

[4n2t0]

2 hours ago, Sarge said:

Ever notice how many things in our games go through the same thing?

 

That's because as consumers we no longer expect, well, anything. Is it new? Check. Is it expensive? Does it have lights and buttons? Check. How could anyone possibly expect more??? This product is a prime example of that mentality, people couldn't throw their money at DAA fast enough. 

Edited January 18, 2020 by 4n2t0

[ltdmstr]

After spending some time with this thing, I would say that from a quality standpoint, it's absolute junk.  Cheap plastic, lightweight and delicate parts, etc.  The little metal rods that operate the hammer thing are actually thinner than a paper clip.  The main assemblies and rotating parts are made from plastic that looks and feels like what you'd find on a $2 toy at Walmart.  The whole thing is just crap.  I have a PAL filler, which works great.  If you look at that, it's machined from aluminum with a delrin plate and a nice cover.  Everything is machined to close tolerance and is built to maintain those tolerances, work as intended and last a long time.  A big part of the problem with the DAA is it's difficult to get precision and reliability from lightweight, cheaply made parts.  And that's probably the main reason why they don't work.  They did a nice job with the bullet feeder and some of their other stuff, so I don't understand how they missed so badly with this thing.

Edited January 18, 2020 by ltdmstr

[Dirtchevy841]

Damn I was so wanting one of these. All these negative reviews I think I’ll be passing on this. I could fill my tubes faster than stopping and cleaning or adjusting this thing. Maybe in the future they will come out with one built like the Bullet feeder with better parts until then it’s back to the tubes.