GioaJack
10-29-2010, 14:35
As many of you know, I love toys! Don't misunderstand me, I don't just like toys... I LOVE TOYS! That being said there was no way I couldn't try this thing out.
It's electric, it's got buttons, lights, buzzers, a litany of directions, reminders, warnings and to add icing to the cake it just flat looks cool sitting on the bench. How could I not have tried. The best part of the whole deal, it can't divorce you and take half your stuff!
I ordered it about a month or so ago when Alank2, (a forum member) posted a thread about his product. I've already posted the pre-purchase service I received as well as the quick shipping and shall not bore you by repeating it other than to say I couldn't have been more pleased. Although cursed with a shy and retiring nature should I find that this excellent service was an aberration and not his normal mode of business I will find some way of letting you know. I doubt very seriously that this will be the case however.
The Press Monitor is designed primarily to be a back-up of all the things that you should already be doing during your normal loading routine but takes into account human fallacy and jolts you awake when something goes awry. That by itself is enough to consider this as an addition to your loading bench but it adds seemingly innocuous but welcome information such as total number of rounds to be loaded, number of rounds left to load, (also acts as a low primer warning), rounds loaded per hour, total time of loading session, number of rounds left until scheduled machine maintenance, low powder in hopper warning, amount of powder used, average weight of each powder charge loaded and a host of other things that I can't even remember plus the simple things that you would expect it to do; tell you each and every position your press is in at any moment.
Mess something up without realizing it and it will tell you... in several different. Short stroke the handle, forget to rotate the shell plate on a manual progressive, forget to push forward to prime or screw up any other way and an alarm sounds, (either constant or pulsing, your choice), the back-lit monitor flashes and the supplied light that mounts on the press for powder checking flashes and the text display tells you what you did wrong... all simultaneously. If any, or all of those warnings don't get your attention you need to quit loading and take up curling where you can't hurt yourself or anyone else.
Will the Press Monitor work on your machine? Probably. It's programed to support eleven different presses both progressive and turret with the ability to custom program two additional progressives. I'll include a few photos here to give you an idea of how you know which press you're setting it up for.
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss114/GioaJack/IMG_4328.jpg?1288380888
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss114/GioaJack/IMG_4354.jpg?1288383012
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss114/GioaJack/IMG_4355.jpg?1288383076
There's no sense in posting more pictures but suffice it to say there's a pretty good chance it'll work on your press, or multiple presses. The monitor is almost instantly transferred from one press to another by simply unplugging the telephone type cord from one press and plugging the display into an already wired separate press. That's pretty much it. I have my 550, Square Deal and both Hornady LNL's prewired with the necessary microswitches and harnesses that are available as options for $9 each, (you read it right, nine bucks). I really don't think you can buy the separate components for that.
Installation is actually pretty simple, especially for a normal bodied person. Because of my arthritic hands I had a bit of a problem stripping the tiny wires and securing them to the microswitches but this is not a reflection on the unit itself. (For a manual progressive such as a 550 there are three switches, for auto indexing presses there are two switches and for the 1050 only one is needed. Since I got my 1050 after the Press Monitor I need to order a harness for that.)
The microswitches, which are just that, micro, are secured to the press with supplied 3M double stick tape. The instructions recommend applying the switches and then letting the tape set up for a couple of hours. Who's kidding who, I don't even buy green bananas, I ain't waitin' around for something to dry, I could keel over before the. This was a great opportunity to try out that package of 'As seen on TV, UGLU'. Turns out those little double sided squares really, really work... you could stick a battleship to your living room wall with this stuff.
It takes about 15 minutes or so to wire each machine, it's really not very difficult, just follow the directions. I imagine it's easier if you have fingers that work but if I can do it pretty much anyone can.
Continued on next post.
It's electric, it's got buttons, lights, buzzers, a litany of directions, reminders, warnings and to add icing to the cake it just flat looks cool sitting on the bench. How could I not have tried. The best part of the whole deal, it can't divorce you and take half your stuff!
I ordered it about a month or so ago when Alank2, (a forum member) posted a thread about his product. I've already posted the pre-purchase service I received as well as the quick shipping and shall not bore you by repeating it other than to say I couldn't have been more pleased. Although cursed with a shy and retiring nature should I find that this excellent service was an aberration and not his normal mode of business I will find some way of letting you know. I doubt very seriously that this will be the case however.
The Press Monitor is designed primarily to be a back-up of all the things that you should already be doing during your normal loading routine but takes into account human fallacy and jolts you awake when something goes awry. That by itself is enough to consider this as an addition to your loading bench but it adds seemingly innocuous but welcome information such as total number of rounds to be loaded, number of rounds left to load, (also acts as a low primer warning), rounds loaded per hour, total time of loading session, number of rounds left until scheduled machine maintenance, low powder in hopper warning, amount of powder used, average weight of each powder charge loaded and a host of other things that I can't even remember plus the simple things that you would expect it to do; tell you each and every position your press is in at any moment.
Mess something up without realizing it and it will tell you... in several different. Short stroke the handle, forget to rotate the shell plate on a manual progressive, forget to push forward to prime or screw up any other way and an alarm sounds, (either constant or pulsing, your choice), the back-lit monitor flashes and the supplied light that mounts on the press for powder checking flashes and the text display tells you what you did wrong... all simultaneously. If any, or all of those warnings don't get your attention you need to quit loading and take up curling where you can't hurt yourself or anyone else.
Will the Press Monitor work on your machine? Probably. It's programed to support eleven different presses both progressive and turret with the ability to custom program two additional progressives. I'll include a few photos here to give you an idea of how you know which press you're setting it up for.
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss114/GioaJack/IMG_4328.jpg?1288380888
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss114/GioaJack/IMG_4354.jpg?1288383012
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss114/GioaJack/IMG_4355.jpg?1288383076
There's no sense in posting more pictures but suffice it to say there's a pretty good chance it'll work on your press, or multiple presses. The monitor is almost instantly transferred from one press to another by simply unplugging the telephone type cord from one press and plugging the display into an already wired separate press. That's pretty much it. I have my 550, Square Deal and both Hornady LNL's prewired with the necessary microswitches and harnesses that are available as options for $9 each, (you read it right, nine bucks). I really don't think you can buy the separate components for that.
Installation is actually pretty simple, especially for a normal bodied person. Because of my arthritic hands I had a bit of a problem stripping the tiny wires and securing them to the microswitches but this is not a reflection on the unit itself. (For a manual progressive such as a 550 there are three switches, for auto indexing presses there are two switches and for the 1050 only one is needed. Since I got my 1050 after the Press Monitor I need to order a harness for that.)
The microswitches, which are just that, micro, are secured to the press with supplied 3M double stick tape. The instructions recommend applying the switches and then letting the tape set up for a couple of hours. Who's kidding who, I don't even buy green bananas, I ain't waitin' around for something to dry, I could keel over before the. This was a great opportunity to try out that package of 'As seen on TV, UGLU'. Turns out those little double sided squares really, really work... you could stick a battleship to your living room wall with this stuff.
It takes about 15 minutes or so to wire each machine, it's really not very difficult, just follow the directions. I imagine it's easier if you have fingers that work but if I can do it pretty much anyone can.
Continued on next post.