Loadmaster Shell Plate Thumb Nut

[6Gears1Speed]

I've grown tired of having to re-torque the thumb nut that holds the shell pate down after it backs out so I went out and bought an assortment of washers and nuts to try and find something that stays put. So far what works best is a locking nut with the nylon insert and a nylon washer under it. I haven't used it long enough to know if it works long term but so far so good. I tried combinations of rubber washers, lock washers and flat washers but this works best.

For me this doesn't have to be a thumb nut. I usually leave one caliber on there for a while so spending an extra 15 seconds to wrench it off makes no difference to me. I spend way more time than that constantly messing with it as it backs out every so often. A new rubber O ring didn't help.

If this doesn't work long term I also bought some low profile jam nuts and will use one to hold down the other one similar to how the case collator base fastens to the carrier.

[Fyodor]

The self locking nut (nylon insert) should not come loose by its own. The nylon washer reduces friction, so this should be a very reliable setup!

Oh, and thanks for the picture! In the current www culture a large, well lit picture with the correct parts in crisp focus is not common! Thanks!

[6Gears1Speed]

I took this picture with my Samsung Galaxy S4 "phone". The damned thing takes better shots than my Canon digital camera!

[Steve]

That is a good picture. My daughter uses a smart phone that really takes good pictures too. I don't even use all the functions on my flip phone.

After reading this post I went to my press, tried wiggling the shell plate back and forth, it has very little movement but is not tight. The thumb nut is tight. I have 2 Loadmasters with a total of 6 shell plates. All fit the way I just described.

When I got the first Loadmaster I had the problem with the nut working loose like you have. I had 3 shell plates at that time. The nut came loose when using 1 of them. My conclusion was there is a difference in shell plate thickness.

What I did to cure the problem was to plane down the thickness on the offending shell plate. To do this I used a diamond knife sharpening stone to lap the shell plate down.

I had to do that to 2 of my 6 shell plates. I have had a total of 4 carriers on the presses, detected no difference in tightness with the different carriers.

So once again, shell plate not tight, case ejector and shell plate nut tight.