Little Dandy users please read.....

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Bailey Boat

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I finally got my patent paperwork in hand last week so I’m ready to rock and roll with my latest invention, The Little Dandy Adjustable Rotor®……..

The LDAR® is a quality made unit produced right here in North Carolina, it’s never seen China or Japan so it’s truly MADE IN THE USA!!!! Machined from Stainless Steel to exacting tolerances it eliminates the need for the costly fixed rotors of the past. It is infinitely adjustable for all popular types of powders and produces exacting accuracy of powder drops. It is a snap to install, adjust and use. It in no way alters the original design of the Little Dandy powder measure.

The LDAR® comes complete with everything you need to use it immediately which is only the adjustment wrench which fits into any screwdriver handle that accepts ¼” removable bits which we all have a dozen of. As with any powder measure a scale to weigh the charge and make adjustments to the final load is required.

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The “normal” lead time for the LDAR® is 3 to 4 weeks but I have about 15 or so on hand at this time at 45.00 plus 4.00 shipping, first come first served. Once these 15 are gone the wait time will be 3 to 4 weeks based on work load. USPS Money Orders only at this time please. Once payment is received on the in stock units it will ship the next day via USPS.

As you can see from my post counts I’m not a stranger on any of the forums so rest assured I’m not a spammer or crook. When you’re ready to order just PM me and I can tell you what the in hand stock or shipping times will be as well as give you an address to mail payment.
 
I think you have made a great product! If there's no interest here, I'll bet that is because your product turned the original tool in to something MUCH more useful.

The fact that the original tool is much less useful without your addition is, IMO, the big reason that you don't have a lot of interest here. I think most of the folks who frequent this place have more flexible tools than the Little Dandy. That doesn't discount what you've done, but maybe it offers a reason why there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest?

Perhaps an even bigger reason that nobody here has shown interest is because some decent and interesting threads OFTEN get pushed down quickly by worthless postings about where primers are available. (nothing personal to folks who start those threads...) But that's the truth. Pointless and unhelpful threads in large numbers push other threads down by the hour. It would be much better for the forum and the folks who use the forum to keep similar thread topics all in one single thread so there is more signal and less noise.

This is why I wouldn't be a good moderator. I would spend a lot of time arranging things in a manner that would be best for the forum... and that might not follow the moderating guidelines we use here.

Oh well... nice product, good luck with it.
 
Bailey, I think it's a great idea!! I'd buy 1 but I already have rotors #2 through #26. Where were you 5yrs ago when I was buying 24 rotors @ $7 ea?!! :p

On second thought...... I think I will buy 1 from you & will be sending you a PM shortly. ;)
 
SR, I'm sure you have noticed by now that the "published" throw weight and the "actual" throw weight aren't always the same. I got aggrivated with mine because I couldn't get the exact charge I wanted, I was forced to make do with what the rotor gave me...... I stopped using mine for years because of that..... Another thing that griped me was the cost of the rotors :eek: When I first bought rotors they were 5.95 and now sell for 13.00.
PM me when you get ready for one......
 
The product looks good to me. I'm assuming this is an adjustable cylinder inside a cylinder like the uniflow? If so, what diameter is the cylinder? Will it bottom out to zero capacity? I'm asking because I want sub 1 grn loads with consistancy.
 
Having owned a Little Dandy for over 20 years and having 14 cylinders. I used it and grew to hate it and its set in its box now for over 17 years since I purchased a good “Adjustable” powder measurer.
I agree with Sevens, the original product was so inflexible it lost interest to most reloaders. If you had a favorite load that matched, then it was a good tool, but still not great.
To me it was a very expensive copy of the Lee power measuring spoons, which was easily one of the worst additions to a reloader’s kit,,,, and yes I have one of those too.
In fact I took one of my cylinders and had a machinist cut it out so that I came up with my favorite load for Herco and the 44 special. It took a total of 6 tries with two different cylinders.
What I didn’t like about it was that it still didn’t make reliable loads. When your loading 5 grains of powder and you can’t keep the load accuracy within 5% I am not impressed.
Your idea might be great, and I congratulate you on your accomplishment in contributing to the gun industry.
But I also think you need to describe and explain your product in much more detail. In my case I am not going to add expense to a product that I already DON’T like without a lot more information or proof of concept.
Good luck to you, wish I could say I had a patent.
 
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billcarey: sub 1 grain loads????? I don't know of any measure that will do that and please tell me what you're loading that requires such an offbeat charge???? To answer the question, in the table that is attached to the thread it shows the minimum as well as the maximum charges that I obtained with the powders I had on hand at that time. The minimum was achieved by backing the adjustment screw as far "out" as it would go without rubbing the interior walls of the bore that it fits into. So the min listed would be absolute.

Ozzieman: The concept is really pretty simple once you hold it in your hand. The exterior of the rotor is almost identical to the original rotors but the fit is slightly better to reduce the tendency of powder to migrate between the rotor and the bore. The charge cavity was increased to the max allowable diameter by the drop hole in the bottom of the casting. When boring the charge cavity the max depth was achieved and then it was bottom threaded and a hex "plug screw" was fitted. In order to maintain pressure on the plug screw (to insure no movement in setting) there is a conical spring inside the charge cavity that bears on the bottom of the cavity and the bottom of the plug screw. As the charge is increased and the screw approcahes the bottom of the cavity the conical spring collapses into itself to achieve max capicity.

Whew.... That took almost as long as making it did!!!!! Like you, I've had my LD for years but only used it once in a great moon because of the inflexibility of the rotors. As best as I recall I had one 38 spec load that I had a rotor for that gave good results... Maybe this can change things on that front. If you go to the S&W forum and find the same thread you'll see several unsolicited reviews of the product from people that have already purchased and used the product......

If you have additional questions please feel free to post, PM or email...... give me a phone # and we'll discuss it if it's easier.......
 
I don't see a chart showing charges attached anywhere in this thread. The charges I want are 1.5 - 2 grns of accurate #2 ball powder. Sub 1 grn is my target because the 1.5 will need some space to keep from crunching the larger balls. As mentioned in my earlier post...32 S&W long. My rcbs throws 1.5 of accurate #2 but crunches it badly. At 2 grns it doesn't crunch. If the cyl was a smaller diameter it would not crunch the powder...thats why I asked for the cyl diameter on your product. So if you can't say what the diameter of the adjustable cyl is then what is the smallest consistant charge it will do with accurate #2?
 
billcarey: Oops...my bad, I thought I had attached the charges in the OP, sorry about that..... Here's what I came up with from the powders I had on hand......

Powder............ minimum......... maximum
Bullseye........... 2.1................ 11.0
Unique............. 1.7................ 9.5
HP 38.............. 2.6................ 13.0
Power Pistol...... 2.5................ 13.6
Green Dot......... 1.3................ 8.2

I've never used Accurate #2 so I can't speak to it but maybe it relates to one of the above????? The diameter of the rotor itself is .805 and the diameter of the charge cavity is .501, hope that helps.... if not let me know.

flashhole: compare it to the individual rotors @ $13.00 EACH and it isn't that "pricey" at all....... Remember, it will throw about 75 to 80% of all charges listed in the charge tables of the individual rotors.....
 
Just FYI, I have this adjustable rotor & like it a lot. It's the same one but I bought it second hand off a guy. It's very well made. I also agree some of the micro-adjustable measures can cover what the LD does.
 
Suicide*Ride said:
Bailey, I think it's a great idea!! I'd buy 1 but I already have rotors #2 through #26. Where were you 5yrs ago when I was buying 24 rotors @ $7 ea?!!
Click to expand...

DITTO, LOL!
I've managed to put together TWO complete sets over the years from #00 to #26, plus a few spares and a home made one to throw as large a charge as possible for BP 56-50 loads. The one in the top block and the spare at the bottom with the pins sticking out the ends were made to trip a bale counter I rigged up on one of my 550's every time the rotor was turned, so when I got done if the counter read 250 and there were 250 in the bin, it was a pretty fair bet that I remembered to trip the measure every time. It's easier to swap out rotors when experimenting with different powders & weights than spend the time calibrating the Dillon powder measure every time.

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flashole, it's at max capicity as produced. Check the charge tables I posted and think about dumping twice..... I don't have your powder so I can't say for sure......
 
Would this fit or could you reproduce an adjustable rotor that would fit a Lyman Pistol Accumeasure?

I picked up one as new old stock for a song, it came with three rotors that didn't fit anything I loaded, and a call to Lyman confirmed you can't get the rotors anymore. (Note to self - research before you purchase)
 
I don't know anything about the Lyman measure but if you could give me some measurements I'll compare it to the LDAR and let you know how it comes out. It seems to me I recall someone saying that they rotors were interchangeable but I don't recall where I saw that post.
Pm me the numbers and I'll let you know.....
 
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