Dillon 550 Precision: Shell Plate Tuning

[@tires2burn]

On my 2 550's the rotation was dragging at one spot just like yours. I found the shell ejection wire was rubbing on the rotating sprocket so I pushed the wire down a little and that solved my problem. Now I have zero play in the shell plate because the wire not dragging allows the plate to be tightened for proper clearance. By the way, your English is fine.👍

[@GunWodan]

Thanks for sharing -something I will pay more attention to. Never occurred to me this could be an issue!

[@valsimone6918]

Great video!!! I was having the exact same issue. I used your method of tuning and now my 550C is working perfectly. Thank you very much!!!!

[@GunWodan]

So glad you found this video useful! Thanks for sharing your results.

[@jeffburns4240]

Thank you so much for these useful and thorough videos. Detailed enough to get the job done and still simple enough to understand

[@dansales4414]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction in addressing the mushy indexing on my 550C. I jigged the indexing star up on the lathe to square the bottom up with the bearing surface. Worked like a charm.

[@GunWodan]

With a lathe at your disposal you can offer this as a service :)

[@glutimous]

Excellent video. Very well explained and thorough. Also, thank you very much for the English version :)

[@GunWodan]

Glad you liked it

[@sperosgrapsas6264]

if you read the maintenance manual for the 550, you need to grease the under side of the bolt head.

[@TomasHunting]

Really nice video. I just fount it and I am definitely going to do your steps to my dillon.

[@jimclark6883]

Outstanding detail given on trying to smooth out our Dillon 550's Shell Plate tension settings. I am going to work on my 550C right now & just subscribed to your channel. Thank You

[@GunWodan]

Thanks so much for your feedback - really appreciate it. Good luck with your Dillon!

[@Russell-1]

Thanks for doing the video. I was interested to see that you’d found similar improvements to the 550 which I’d applied to my own press when I purchased it about a year ago. I found the same issue as you did - namely the sight binding of the shell plate at one point in the rotation - it doesn’t really matter as it doesn’t affect function but I suppose I wanted the press to feel more like a German / Swiss made machine tool would! I used the flat end of a round brass bar with abrasive paste on it to remove burrs in the recess of the 4 spoked indexing ‘wheel’. I agree the wheel is fairly crude component & I’m surprised there’s no beautifully made CNC replacement available. I installed a roller bearing kit, it didn’t make a huge difference - probably as I’d already removed all the burrs on the various press parts. However I think the roller bearing let me tighten the central bolt down a touch more without affecting rotation. The spring on the powder measure really does help to avoid any granules of powder falling late. If I was only making one improvement the spring would be the one I’d choose. The slots in the bell-crank for the fail-safe rod had small burrs on both of my powder measures. The burrs caused the failsafe rod to jerk a bit when it was operated (function was fine) - it took just a few seconds to remove the burrs & now the rod operates very smoothly. The 550 is a superb press, as you’ve found out just spending a few minutes fettling a several things makes it even nicer to use.

[@GunWodan]

Thanks so much for sharing! It's nice to hear other people having gone through the same process I did. The Dillon 550 is certainly an amazing press for the money - doing a handful of small improvements doesn't bother me too much. We probably both agree that - apart from the powder spillage - these fixes are mostly nit picking.

[@Russell-1]

@@GunWodan I agree, the 550 is a superb press - that said - I always look for little ways to improve things even if it’s just a matter of ‘improving’ (as I see it) the feel of how a press operates. The only part I wish I could completely change on the 550 is the indexing wheel - the appearance lets the press down & it isn’t particularly well cast, which impacts on the smoothness of the shellholder rotation. As I wrote earlier I’m surprised nobody has come out with a CNC machined replacement.

[@GunWodan]

Would absolutely purchase one for each 550! Maybe Armanov will pick this up, sending them an email 😅

[@curryFM13]

@@GunWodan Kam eine Antwort?

[@brianwagganer1263]

Thank you very much

[@Majeskty]

Check the end of the small ‘set screw’ the end of iit is made of brass which is soft metal and can get damaged. I was having 45 ACP reloading issues and that set screw was damaged. It had a burr on the end of it with a gouge also on that brass end, thus not flat against the the shell plate bolt and was not able to truly tighten the shell plate bolt holder, thus it would loosen.. Called Dillon support and they said it happens over time and are sending out a new one ‘free’ along with a new powder funnel which was scored on the sides. Couldn’t understand why I was getting a part of the brass getting crushed and Dillon thought the powder funnel scoring could be the issue.

[@GunWodan]

Ouf breaks my heart every time a case mouth gets torn up by the dillon powder funnel. Usually happens to me when I've got the brass pin out for easy case access :(

[@Robert--cm2nf]

Using the 550 for decades and never had your issue , because the case sets itself on the floorplate and the play with the shellplate is of no concern with the reloading itself

[@GunWodan]

Unless you're priming on the press ...

[@jolebole-yt]

15:28 Flitz paste works winders on polishing metal. Faster too. My new shell plate for 223 is fully locking up on one stage. I will have to see whats that about. Tolerances on the 550s are not as good as they should be.

[@GunWodan]

I am getting this situation where any shell plate on any of my four 550s (a,b and 2x c) will have one tighter station than the others. If you find the cause for this ans ideally a cure - please let me know! I‘ve just learned to love with it. Locate the tight station and make sure it‘s JUST fine

[@jolebole-yt]

@@GunWodan Remove the shell plate and the center bolt and inspect the hole where to bolt goes into with a light. On my press I found a spent primer found its way in the hole and was somehow affecting the rotation. After cleaning out the primer shavings, the plate rotation is better now. No more binding.

[@jerrid7182]

Great job!

[@MrWachtmann]

Sehr cooles Video, mir ist aufgefallen, dass die Hülse in der Dillon 550 ja scheinbar mit dem Stoßboden auf dem Teil unter der Shell plate aufliegt und nicht auf der Shellplate selbst, wie auf meiner 750. Das ist ja eigentlich ein gewaltiger Vorteil weil dadurch unregelmäßigkeiten der Shellplate keinen Einfluss auf Setztiefe oder shoulder bump haben kann. Kannst du das bestätigen?

[@GunWodan]

Danke für Dein Feedback - freue mich sehr über Kommentare :) Das kann ich so bestätigen. Man sieht es auch sehr gut wenn ich die Shell Plate entnommen habe. Die Hülsenboden haben messingfarbene Abdrücke auf dieser Basisplatte hinterlassen. Das ist auf jeden Fall ein grundlegender Unterschied zu dem 650/750 Konzept!

[@rudicompte9219]

Thanks mate great solution ❤

[@GunWodan]

Happy to help

[@MD-mm1zv]

Perhaps a set of Norton oil stones used in sharpening cutlery would work well, if this is an issue.

[@GunWodan]

Absolute but you‘d need a very plane stone. The ones I use for knifes get uneven fast …

[@N9IWJ]

Dillon says tighten main screw down back off 1/8 of a turn then tighten set screw Lube is called for in 2 places, detent ball oil, top of screw where it meets sheelplate light grease After removing platform an alignment tool is necessary to put it back correctly, 14.00 at Dillon Be careful altering the parts by sanding or filing I really would not say do this but it's your press kzbin.info/www/bejne/anO2qnybfsuJfNk

[@jackdpowell]

Adjust with brass in place.

[@GunWodan]

That‘s a good point. Found a few calibers where this is really necessary depending on case head geometry

[@americanguy1317]

its CALLED FLAT LAPPING

[@ridgerunner5772]

The audio is horrible, and the Closed Caption typed in a black background and posted on the black background of the Press baseplate makes viewing/reading impossible..... I had to view this 5 times to get the jest of it all..... Appreciate the topic, but the lecture is a bear to view.....

[@GunWodan]

Sorry mate, hope this has improved in my later videos. Been working on the audio setup a lot since. The CC are auto-generated by KZbin, I have no influence on them. Thanks for watching!