New Primer Tube Filler

For you young entrepreneurs out there, the design of most (but not this particular) primer feeders is based off a ubiquitous industrial machine called a vibratory feeder. It can be done DIY with a tuna can, strips of soda can aluminum, and a tiny unbalanced DC motor. I am sure a really good one could get to market for way less than Dillon's $400 price.
 
Watched that - was going to post here asking if anyone had a couple of primer tubes I could use for developing an open source solution.
Didn't because I'm trying to get the PIDs out the door - have three built and have the process down. I should be able to do small scale production and move on to other things.
 
The packaging of primers separated individually is why they can be shipped in quantity.
Put them in a tube and they aren't going anywhere.
It's also a safety issue having the primers all in row touching each other. If one detonated the whole string would go off. The packaging separates them, albeit only by a little but may be enough to keep things manageable if one were to light off.
 
$80
Putting this on the list

 
$80
Putting this on the list

Vibraprime is $46 - is the double alpha twice as good?

Haven't tried this but I've already done flip trays so modifying my existing model to fill a tube would be we easy - better would be to use my existing square Lee compatible tray and my own version of the vibrating tube filler
 
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Vibraprime is $46 - is the double alpha twice as good?

Haven't tried this but I've already done flip trays so modifying my existing model to fill a tube would be we easy - better would be to use my existing square Lee compatible tray and my own version of the vibrating tube filler
If it’s FA vibra prime then filling tubes is easier by hand.
Unless the one I had and the replacement one they sent me happened to both be lemons they were useless. I tried them for hours on end with no luck.
 
This looks pretty nice and the price is very attractive.
Frankford Arsenal has one a few years back but it was a piece of junk. They even sent me a replacement thinking it might be a lemon but they were wrong they all sucked.

This one however looks really nice.


View: https://youtu.be/6yREPMnysNw


I must be one of the fortunate ones....my 2nd Franklin Arsenal (yep, first one was shit...replaced for free) works like a champ. Never going back to pecking at primers.
 
I must be one of the fortunate ones....my 2nd Franklin Arsenal (yep, first one was shit...replaced for free) works like a champ. Never going back to pecking at primers.
Lucky man. I’m going to try the DA at some point. Not like I really do enough to make filling primer tubes super annoying. 3 or 4 in a night doesn’t drive me crazy. Though this will make it much more enjoyable
 
Anyone have ID and OD on primer tubes?

I'm stuck in my house until the 4th so I have some time to play around.
i have not even checked, i figured with out the little plastic pick up piece making DIY tubes was sort of usless. Crazy how much they want for small pieces of aluminum tubes. Maybe when I get a progressive other than my lee Pro 1000 I might revisit primers tubes. For now the short runs on my Hornady 007 with one of each primer tubes will do.
 
$80
Putting this on the list


Not a lot, but here is a discount. Up to 15% on some items.

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i have not even checked, i figured with out the little plastic pick up piece making DIY tubes was sort of usless. Crazy how much they want for small pieces of aluminum tubes. Maybe when I get a progressive other than my lee Pro 1000 I might revisit primers tubes. For now the short runs on my Hornady 007 with one of each primer tubes will do.
You can buy the replacement plastic for $1-2.
You could make your own tube and order replacement plastic pieces. Would still be cheaper if you need a lot of them.
 
For about twice the price, you can get a Pal Filler from Italy that is 10 times better. There is a ton of discussions regarding these products over on the Brian Enos forum.
 
Vibraprime is $46 - is the double alpha twice as good?

Depends on what you're looking for.
If I was only using 1 or 2 tubes, then I'd stick with the flip tray and stabbing them.
For $80, if it'll fill 5/6/7/ tubes without a hitch and works with every primer make and type out there, then I'm all for it.
If for $50 it'll only fill 2/3 tubes without some kind of hiccup and only works with certain brand primers, I'll stick with a flip tray.
If my only option is a 3-$400 model, then I'll pass altogether unless I get something that'll crank out 1000 rds an hour automated.
The biggest I can see myself going for handgun is a 750.

Like anything brandy-new, I'll give it a couple of months and see what the pros/cons are before buying one.
 
With a Pal Filler, yesterday it took me 6 minutes to load up 5 tubes with 100 CCI large pistol primers each without a hiccup. So far, the only downside to the Pal filler is that the area to dump the primers is too small to fit the Federal primer package, so I just dump them into a large measuring cup first, then pour them into the tray to flip. Works great.
 
Anyone have ID and OD on primer tubes?

I'm stuck in my house until the 4th so I have some time to play around.
I will save you the trouble of looking for the needed tubing. You can get a 6 foot length of aluminum tubing at Zoro. I made some tubes years ago to use with my FA vibreprime. I just used little hitch clips at each end like the ones that come on Dillon tubes. I guess I lucked out with my vibreprime. It works great with cci, s&b, federal. Winchesters, not so much.
Here is link for SPP tubing.
 
I had a couple of the FA ones and they were shit. I bought the Dillon and it's worth every nickel. You don't have to do anything. Just dump the primers in and walk away.

I used to fill 10-20 primer tubes at the start of a reloading session (which takes a ton of time). With the Dillon filler, I spend no time loading primer tubes. You don't have to flip the primers. Just dump them in and keep loading. By the time you need to refill the primers, the machine is long done. If you've never seen one in person and you're near my shop in Littleton, stop in and I'll demo it for you.
 
To all the entrepreneurs out there,

Here is something that will make you money.

Come up with a way so that you don't even use primer fill tubes. You simply dump the primers into a vibratory feeder at the top of the primer tube on the press. Let it do its thing, replace the rod and continue.

THAT would be revolutionary.
 
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