doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Homemade hull trimmer?

A while back someone here made a nifty contraption to trim hulls with their table saw. Does anyone remember this? I would like to copy it but I can�t find the old thread.

Thanks in advance.

Drill a 2x4 with a set of holes the same diameter as the hull,
Rip the 2x4, which will remove some of the hole diameter.
Place hulls in 2x4 with rim on the edge of 2x4. Clamp both ends of the 2x4 gently.
Set the fence on the table saw, so the correct length is set.
Saw the hulls.
Repeat
Mike

Sounds like a great system for mass production. However, please explain why you don't leave the 2X4 whole (unripped) and put the shells in the holes. Thanks.

You can but the hulls may vibrate back.
If you rip the 2x4 it adds pressure on the hulls to hold them.
Or you could just not rip the 2x4 and add a backing plate to hold
the hulls in the holes

I posted it, but I lost the pics.

Drill 3" blind holes in the edge of a 2X4. Make them as snug as practical. For 16ga, a 3/4 spade bit works great. For a 12ga, which I haven't done, a 13/16 would be ideal; 7/8 might be too sloppy.

Insert the hulls in the holes and put the case gheads against the fence. Set the fence to rip at the desired OAL, including the case rim thickness. With block loaded with hulls, make your rip cut. Hold the case heads snugly against the fence as you feed the board and I doubt vibration will be a problem. Remove the freshly cut hulls and reload.

Again, the goal is to bore the holes minimally oversize. Ripping the board thru the holes would be an alternative, but clamping the halves while sawing could be problematic. If I wanted a split jig, I'd split it such that I could use bolts and wingnuts to close it and not interfere with the blade and fence.

This is what I use for my 16ga. shells. Fully adjustible in hieght for different recipes and easy to make.

By the time you pick up shell to put in the jig, you can have already cut the shell down to size, never mind clamping them, then sawing, then removing.

http://s984.photobucket.com/albums/ae325/Dolapsch/Trimmer/

Don.

skeettx, thank you for the explanation.

I didn't want to spend more than 3 minutes making my jig, so I limited the output to 600 shells per hour.


My fingers don't get tired.

The jig can be used for kindling when the job is finished.

Mike, great contraption.

If you employ two jigs and a loader you could surely attain record outputs!

JC

JC,

It's awfully tempting to make one out of nice wood with an integral hnadle for pushing it along.

Of course, then I'd have to stain and finish it and maybe checker the handle...