I got profoundly sick and tired of the awful O-ring style LEE locknuts that keep migrating. I couldn't be bothered to cough up the money for a bunch of locking ones, so I decided that I might as well learn to use the 3D printer that I have.

These locknuts come in three basic forms: Plain (non-locking), Single-screw, and Double-screw. The thread size, nut height, and other feature sizes are adjustable as desired. I'm including various example SCAD files preconfigured for 7/8-14, 1-1/4-12, and 3/4-16, as well as some pre-rendered STLs (see below).

The 2-hole version should offer better strength, more suited to the weaker material. I prefer this pattern generally, though you may find that the extra width makes the dies harder to fit in certain boxes.

The thicker variants like the 2-hole pattern may be most beneficial on a resizing die, or anywhere that extraction (downward) force is significant. On seating/crimping/expanding dies, the nut is never really loaded, so the standard thickness versions are probably fine.

For the standard 7/8" size, these should be compatible with any LEE style wrenches, though I don't see the point of using wrenches on pinch-style locknuts anyway.

I printed mine in old, expired generic clear SLA resin, and despite the material properties, it seems adequate. I needed to add extra clearance on the threads to compensate for the printer's inaccuracy, but that's expected. I tapped mine for M3x16mm socket head cap screws, though you can tailor the dimensions for whatever screws you want.

The included STL file is intended only for the web-preview. It's likely that the printer compensation (+2% on thread diameter) will be inappropriate for your process. I'm including prerendered STL files for the 7/8x14 models, in three different thread clearances. The nonstandard 1-1/4" and 3/4" models are only provided as preconfigured SCAD.

I'm also including my LEE style wrench. It could be adjusted to work with any custom-size nuts you make, but I haven't bothered because I don't think the wrench is ever necessary.

This uses the current version of Dan's threads.scad library (included), not the dead branch that appears to be abandoned here on Thingiverse. https://dkprojects.net/openscad-threads/

Category: Other

Printables Tags: thingiverse; reloading; reloadingdies; reloadingtools