Reloading press lighting systems

[Malamute]

I'm probably the last person in the western world to know about this, but somebody is making lighting systems for reloading presses. Id tried to figure out a way to do it so I could see in the charged case with a Dillon 550, but zip tying an LED flashlight on the press is a bit lame (if cheaper) than a system that's dedicated for the purpose. Really like the one for the 550, it sits right in the top center of the toolhead, illuminating the entire shell plate area. The extra strip light addition would probably also be nice.

http://inlinefabrication.com/collections/lighting

[GunnyMack]

That's pretty nifty!
I'm sure a handy guy could find led's online and rig something up for less then retail, of course Murphy would probably show up and cause all kinds of havoc like a wire breaking and a stray spark setting fire to powder! Might be worth the $35 !

[Griff]

Here's the Hornady strip light on my 550.


Pros:

• Electric powers
  No batteries
  Stays in place

Cons:

• Needs electricity
  hard wired
  STILL hard to see in bottle-necks

I have one mounted on both my 550s..

[earlmck]

A couple of months ago I discovered that they make LED tubes to replace fluorescent bulbs. My reloading area is lit by old fluorescent fixtures, and upon replacing with LEDs and a little wiggling of the old fixture I got a really nice bright LED almost directly over my progressive. I can now look down in and see the powder, even in a 22 cal bottleneck (if it has a reasonable fill percentage so powder is above half or so...).

Costco had some 4' LED fixtures with pigtail plug for $15 a few weeks ago. If I hadn't been able to get one of my old fixtures in position I would have used one of these to do the same overhead lighting job.

[Sixgun]

When I first read it I thought to myself, "Ah, I got enough pelosi". As I already have a strong overhead light I figured it to be worthless. Then I started thinking, "hey, with a progressive press little things are always going wrong. Dang! I'm gettin' me one of those. Thanks Malamute!-----6

[Old No7]

Here's the Hornady strip light on my 550.

I have that one too and have posted about it before; it works really well too.

But I'll admit I'd have gotten the top-dead-center mounted one if I'd seen that first.

Tight groups.

Old No7

[Malamute]

Griff, they make a battery one, in the Q&A they said it went for months of regular use.

I do like the center mounted one, it shines right down on top of everything. Yeah Six, Ive been thinking for a while on how to better see right down into cases on the plate and to be able to keep up with whats going on better.

I missed when Old No 7 posted before about the lights.

[Griff]

I have the center mounted, battery powered ones... but I like the strip better. I have the strip bent to it comes right to the edge of the toolhead... I can see into most everything, but like earlmck said, those 223 cases need to have a better than 50% fill.

[Malamute]

Ah, ok.

It may be a while before I get relao0ding stuff set up again. Looking forward to seeing how the lights work out though.

[Old No7]

For those interested in the Hornady LED Strip Light, here's how mine is mounted (not using any adhesive on the last 1" or so), and in this way the top can easily slide in and out as needed:

LED Press Light (4) (Small).jpg

And here you can see how well it illuminates the shell plate area and case with powder -- or maybe not!

LED Press Light (3) (Small).jpg

Great, we got some powder in this one!!!

LED Press Light (5) (Small).jpg

Tight groups.

Old No7

[M. M. Wright]

MMM me want!

[Sixgun]

I like the blue yew that the light gives out. Reminds me of the time when Griff took me out and introduced me to his favorite T-bar. ----6