I purchased an "as new" Dillon Precision case trimmer RT 1200 off ebay. The first time I used it there was a flash and bang and I lost power in the room. Examining the machine I found the green wire connected to the ground pin of the power plug and the mounting screw of the rectifier. The green wire of the motor cable was connected to the rectifier mounting screw as well. This green wire should have been connected to the center conductor of the motor connector but was instead exchanged with the white wire. This caused the motor to be powered by half wave current and applied half wave current to the motor case. This is presumably why the previous owner sold it on ebay. After an hour and a half of investigating and repairs the trimmer now functions correctly. Unfortunately, the receptacle is still dead. There is evidently a GFCI somewhere, I know not where, maybe in the garage behind some shelves. The receptacle is dead and I have already spent a couple of hours trying to find the problem with dimming hopes of correcting it. This loss of power in my reloading room is a serious inconvenience to say the least. Anyway I just wanted to say "Way to go Dillon!" Assemble an electrical device wrong and dangerously so, don't test the ground continuity which could have been done in 5 seconds with a multimeter and sent it out to some unsuspecting sucker i.e. me. The good news is I wasn't electrocuted, I suppose I should be thankful of that. Now wouldn't that be ironic. Me, an electrical utility worker, adept at working equipment making and carrying hundreds megaWatts at hundreds of kiloVolts killed in my underwear in my reloading room on Saturday morning by a motor some idiot miswired and didn't bother to test. Thanks again Dillon!

You GFCI could be in the kitchen, bathroom, outdoors or in the garage.

Did it come from some place in Arizona?

Hope you don't have a freezer that's thawing at the moment on the same GFCI.....

Cheers,

Dan

Tim, I can only hope that you are not being down on Dillon products.I have had 100%from this company.Products + service after the sales,etc.Anyone can make a mistake,(not me of course as I was out walking on water). Seriously, Ground fault breakers can fail
(thank God),someone in assembly might yawn at the wrong time but I think not. BTW,have you contacted Dillon? They have always been concerned with customer satisfaction,100%.and no matter for what. In the (for what it's worth dept.) have an electrician check your service. Only a friendly suggestion.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Tim, I can only hope that you are not being down on Dillon products......

I am down on Dillon. I had excellent results for decades form an RL550. Then I got an RL650. It was a nightmare. It took months to get the bugs worked out and to get it to work reliably. I had some problems recently reloading 308. I waited on the phone forever, got bad advice, had to spend unnecessary money, two weeks later called back waited another forever, finally got the correct advice I should have gotten weeks ago. So Norman, if I have an electrician check my service that will cost another $100. Who is going to pay that? Dillon? Dillon is way, way over-rated. They only look good because the competition is poor.

Sorry to hear of your problems.
I use Little Crow Gun Works.
Mine is the first version. They now make a version with changeable trim chambers.

This little trimmer cranks out the cases!.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
Sorry to hear of your problems.......

Thanks for the link Rusty. I'm making 300 AAC cases from 5.56mm and you have to trim off about 3/8 of an inch. The Dillon trimmer is really the only one available that is capable of that kind of reduction with reasonable production rates. I called Little Crow and they agreed their trimmer was not ideal for that kind of application. In light of my experience with the Dillon trimmer I am pretty sure a Little Crow or another trimmer is in my future. The Dillon trimmer is so large you can only run one other die on the tool head with it on a 650 press.

I'm not bellyaching about Dillon for my own benefit or to be vindictive. I hope they will listen and improve their QC and correct some design flaws in their equipment. It may be a forlorn hope but Ruger wised up and improved their QC. If Ruger can do it then anyone can!

Tim,
I have made hundreds of cases for my 300 Whisper/300BLK simply by taking a mini-tubing cutter and spinning it around the shoulder of the 5.56.
It gets you just about there and then you can use any of the case trimmers to knock off the last few thousands.

Hope this helps.

Gary

just to stir the pot a little: You bought the item used, right? So how are you sure that the mis-wiring was done at the factory?

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
just to stir the pot a little: You bought the item used, right? So how are you sure that the mis-wiring was done at the factory?

Yeah, I'm sure. The motor connector is a type where you crimp the terminal onto the wire then insert the terminal into the connector body. The terminal locks and is not removable without damaging the connector body. There is no evidence the connector has been tampered with.

quote:

Tim, I have made hundreds of cases for my 300 Whisper/300BLK simply by taking a mini-tubing cutter and spinning it around the shoulder of the 5.56.....Gary

I'll try that Gary, thanks.

Tim,sorry you feel that way as every company wants a happy customer.I personally have had excellant service from Dillon +service after the sale on my 650.Sure I've had some bugs,but they were easy to work out + their service staff were helpful when needed.Please don't condemn the entire company for one possible infraction. Speaking solely for myself that I am old enough now to admit that operator error can occur. NEVER when I was young.