RCBS ChargeMaster.. Anyone ever mess with the programming?

[Dee]

I have been reading about the ability to re-program the default speed values on the RCBS ChargeMaster and was wondering if anyone ever gave it a go? Seems straight forward enough. When dialed in for your rough weigh throw needed people are saying it doubles the number of fills per minute that is measures. I can get 2 maybe 3 max right now with the defaults but 5-6 would be nicer. I'll end up doing the changes and see how it goes. Found a thread on another forum that has the values to adjust and the defaults to set it back to should things go bad. Overclocking the powder measure seems wrong but as long as it maintains accuracy I'll take it!

Anyone have any words of advice or previous experience with this to share? Please do..

Dee

[Jason]

Have one but haven't heard of changing the programming on it. Let me know the results you get. I'd be up for it. I've overclocked every other processor/computer that I've ever owned, I think. I was expecting to have to open it up and start experimenting on my own. If there are others out there who have already done the work to get me to results quicker, I'd definitely be interested in a link to that info.

[Trent]

I'm going to post a couple of articles that I used to reprogram mine. It does speed it up.

[Trent]

RCBS needs 3 mods to be accurate:
1) insert a drinking straw,big one) into the trickle tube - stops the granules clumping up and over charging.
2) Tilt it back a bit by putting something under the front feet about 15mm - 20mm high.
3) Reprogramme the electronic setting as follows,exerpt from another forum):
For anyone using the RCBS Chargemaster, I have modified mine recently and I am very pleased with the results. Some time ago I posted a thread about sleeving the trickler tube to improve the accuracy and eliminate overcharges. This worked, but it slowed the unit down and I found myself waiting for the charge to finish after seating the bullet on the previous charge.

I decided to revisit the programmable parameters on the unit and see if I couldn't get some of the speed back. Well it worked, ... really well. If you press the Edit and Enter keys at the same time you enter the programming mode for the unit. The first three parameters that come up are:

HSP_A1 15.68
HSP_B1 3.42
HSP_C1 1.08

There are many more parameters after these that can be accessed by repeatedly pressing the Enter key. I attempted changes to some of these other parameters, but they did not behave as I expected them to, so I ended up leaving them alone. After the last parameter is passed, the unit resets and starts again with the changed values. As I understand it, these three values determine the shift points below the desired charge, in grains, for slowing down the trickler. To change these values you wait until the existing number is visible and then enter the new number and press Enter.

I noticed that the trickler was spending too much time at the slower speeds, so I decided to move the shift points closer to the desired charge. I also changed the sleeve in the trickler tube to a thin-walled smooth metal tube, instead of using the tube from my manual trickler as I had been doing. The purpose of the sleeve is to cover the threads in the trickler tube. The trickler tube is inclined slightly,as opposed to hand tricklers which are typically level) and the unit seems to have problems with powder clumping due the threads. A soda straw of the right size would work also, I think, but I thought metal would have less problems with static electricity. I change the parameters to these settings:

HSP_A1 6.00
HSP_B1 2.00
HSP_C1 0.50

These values are optimized for 24.5g of RL-15. Other weights or types of powders might not work as well. With these settings, my Chargemaster throws 24.5g of RL-15 in 10 seconds, without overcharges. It runs at high speed for about 5 seconds which gets the charge up to about 22g. It then slows down for a couple of seconds and then finally finishes with a couple of "bumps" which usually only drop a couple of grains of powder. If you wait for the unit to stabilize, show the count, and then return to the weight display, it takes about 15 seconds most of the time. Occasionally it takes 20 seconds if the powder doesn't cooperate during the final slow trickle.

Before these changes, it was taking about 45 seconds to get a charge, and I was spending too much time waiting. Without the changes to the programming, the only trade-off I could make was sleeve diameter. Bigger was faster, but also less accurate. This way I get the accuracy AND the speed. You can fiddle with the parameters as much as you want if you are not satisfied with the performance. You can always set them back to the defaults.

Good luck, and happy programming.

p.s. - I meant to mention the fact that the default values from RCBS are, by necessity, a compromise that has to satisfy everyone from the 40 S&W reloader up to the 375 H&H reloader with all brands powder. I only reload one caliber using one powder with the Chargemaster, so it only makes sense for me to optimize the unit for my situation. Too bad RCBS doesn't see it this way, and make the reprogramming information more available.


Thanks for the parameters! I'd tried getting RCBS tech support to send me the information, but they basically refused to tell me anything unless I was sitting in front of the machine at the time - apparently they don't want this sort of info getting out. I had bought my Chargemaster after reading the test reports on 6mmBR.com and seeing reports of 8-12 seconds for 42gr of 4064 - I though "Heck ya!". Reality was in the 30-45 second range, which meant a lot of thumb twiddling waiting on the dispenser, usually because of the early slowdown. For .223, it was just ridiculous.

At any rate, I tweaked the first three parameters above on mine... think I'm at 7.5, 2.5, and 1, but I might need to adjust that some more,running for 40-50gr charges for .308, 6.5-284, etc.) as the high speed doesn't quite cut out in time - but it's a heck of an improvement and its nice to have the ability to control this stuff for myself finally.

BTW, a 1" section of McDonalds drinking and a thin strip of duct tape to hold it in place works just fine - no static issues whatsoever, and I've loaded hundreds and hundreds of rounds like that. Looks a little redneck, but it works. Over charges still occur but *very* rarely, as the powder doesn't 'clump' near as much with no threads in the tube,straw) for that last inch. Even if it does... my thumb n forefinger are pretty well calibrated to where I can lift the pan, pinch off 0.1-0.2gr and throw it back in the hopper, put the pan back on the scale... just right.

[Trent]

-----------UPDATE-----------

I talked to RCBS today and got a little bit more information that I have read so far about programming the Chargemaster.

We have all seen this and mostly change the first 3 settings:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HSB_A1 (15.68) Grains under target weight to go from full to high speed for low weight
HSB_B1 (3.42) Grains under target weight to go from high to slow speed low weight
BSP_C1 (1.08) Grains under target weight to go from slow to final trickle speed low weight

MSP_A2 (39.20) Grains under target weight to go from full to high speed for medium weight
MSP_B2 (8.55) Grains under target weight to go from high to slow speed medium weight
MSP_C2 (2.25) Grains under target weight to go from slow to final trickle speed medium weight

SSP_A3 (196.00) Grains under target weight to go from full to high speed for heavy weight

SSP_B3 (42.75) Grains under target weight to go from high to slow speed heavy weight
SSP_C3 (11.32) Grains under target weight to go from slow to final trickle speed heavy weight

SEL (065) ???
F_A (050) Grains for a Heavy Charge
M_A (035) Grains for a Medium charge
S_A (006) Grains for a slow charge
W_F (200) Rotation for Full speed
W_M (100) Rotation for Medium speed
W_S (036) Rotation for slowest speed

S_F (012) Scale sensitivity timeout time in m/s fast speed
S_M (024) Scale sensitivity timeout time in m/s medium speed
S_S (128) Scale sensitivity timeout time in m/s slow speed.

FR1 (040) ?
FS1 (016) ?
FR2 (080) ?
SR1 (032) ?
SS1 (008) ?
SR2 (040) ?
DEC (000) ?
AT (000) ?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And we know that the first 3 settings are the most important ones. But I got a little bit more today than I already knew or have read anywhere. Sorry if this is already posted somewhere but I couldnt find it. It seems the Chargemaster has 4 speeds full, high, low and trickle. The following 3 settings concern what speed the Chargemaster will use when starting to dispense a charge.


These 3 settings are useful when throwing smaller charges.
I tested all 3 and the first 2 worked great, the third setting I had mixed results with. I think another setting, possibly the BSP_C1 or another setting overrides it. At the very least you need to set BSP_C1 to a low number. I guess this would help for pistol charges.

W_F (200) Rotation for Full speed Means any weight over 20.0 grains will start in Full speed
W_M (100) Rotation for Medium speed Means any weight over 10.0 grains will start in High speed (they call it medium here)
W_S (036) Rotation for slowest speed Means any weight over 3.6 grains will start in Slow speed

I was able to set W_F to 250 (for 25.0 grains) and now when I throw a 24.5 grain charge it starts in High speed instead of Full Speed. Problem solved.



Just for added info I was told that these settings are the old speed settings and no longer do anything. I didnt try to change them to find out.
F_A (050) Grains for a Heavy Charge
M_A (035) Grains for a Medium charge
S_A (006) Grains for a slow charge

Also I was told that these settings are the milisecond settings that the Chargemaster goes from one speed to the next slowest. Which I think if this is true might also override the W_S setting (when going from slow to trickle)
S_F (012) Scale sensitivity timeout time in m/s fast speed
S_M (024) Scale sensitivity timeout time in m/s medium speed
S_S (128) Scale sensitivity timeout time in m/s slow speed.

[Dee]

That looks like the same place I was reading about the re-programming Trent. It appears you only need to adjust the one parameter to try and get the max speed to run until it is as close to the desired weight as possible before slowing down to a trickle speed to finish the load accurately at the last second. Since most of my loads are between 35 and 39gr I would think I could run it full speed up to around 30 and then slow it down with the two slower steps for 3gr then 1-2gr final trickle. The default cuts the full speed back well before that weight right now.

Just make sure you note all your default settings before you change as they mention there is not master a reset to default settings switch or jumper.

Dee

[DanDeMan]

Dee,

I've been using the ChargeMaster 1500 for about 8 years. If you want to get down with a faster interval between pouring powder, the following should help.

Chargemaster 1500 Speed Adjustment

Turn the unit on. When 0.0gn is on the display, press BOTH the ENTER and the EDIT MEM keys on the dispenser at the same time. Hold for a second and then release. If done properly ADJUST PARAMETER should scroll across the display followed by HSP 00015.68 (This number represents the number of grains away from your entered charge when the tube will shift from fast speed to medium speed. That is at 15.68 gn from your target charge the dispenser will shift from fast to medium speed.) To speed up the unit, this number needs to be decreased and to slow down the unit, this number needs to be increased. (On a slow unit, I would change this number to11.00 gn this is done by pressing the following keys: 1 1 0 0 ENTER (pressing the enter key sets that value and moves to next setting in program in this case, to medium speed to slow speed setting)
HSP 00003.42 should scroll across the display now. This number represents where the unit will shift from medium to slow speed. Using the same process as before in # 2. For a slow unit I would change this number to 2.50 gn this is done by pressing the following keys: 2 5 0 ENTER (pressing the enter key sets that value and moves to next setting in program in this case, to slow speed to trickle speed setting) HSP 00001.08 should now scroll across the screen. This number represents where the unit will shift from slow speed to trickle. Using the same process as before in # 2. For a slow unit I would change this number to .90 gn this is done by pressing the following keys: 9 0 ENTER. This is all the adjustment that needs to be done to the unit. You need to press the ENTER key to cycle through the rest of the program. (approx. 22 times) The unit will start its normal initial countdown process when this is done. You need to test out the dispenser now. Enter your target charge and dispense. I usually disregard the first charge. Throw a few charges at these settings to see if they will work for you. If they don’t, return to step # 2 and repeat the process. NOTE due to powder variations you may have to adjust the unit for each powder. "

[rcgill]

What Dan said plus....
put a 1" length of a drinking straw (McDonalds) inside the the dispensing tube.
and
remove the clear powder reservior. With a 1" piece of electrical tape secure a 30 cal flat base bullet in the opening of the dispensing tube leaving an opening of 1/8".

The straw allows the powder to run smoothly along the bottom of the dispensing tube and the decreased opening will keep from over filling the tube with powder.

Bob

[Trent]

I realized that I copied the same thing into my two posts above so I just edited the first one with the correct article. I forget where I gathered that information but it's posted around the net in several places.

[Dee]

Thanks for the personal detailed info on your setup Dan. I will be tinkering with it before the next round of reloading. 2 a minute is just a tad bit to slow for me.

Dee

[DanDeMan]

Dee,

I ran some quick tests with my supercharged ChargeMaster to better understand performance; accuracy and speed. I did something like Bob suggested only I used 5/16th's brass tubing purchased from the local ACE Hardware. It is thin-wall, hobby tubing which actually measures at 0.3130" in diameter on the outside. It is nominally 0.014" thick. The tube is a snug, sliding fit in the threaded, dispensing tube. A 4.0" length was cut using a miter box and hacksaw. After cutting, the ends were first chamfered to a knife edge followed by deburring. The objective is to remove the step caused by the tubing thickness so the powder will flow from the reservoir to the end of the dispensing tube smoothly.

The brass tube was removed so a test could be run to determine speed and accuracy. Twenty pours were timed. Charges of VarGet weighing 35.0 grains were used for the testing. The time range was 12 sec to 22 sec with 6 over-pours without the brass tube inserted. The average time for the 20 pours was 16 sec. When the brass tube was inserted there were zero over-pours, a slightly tighter time range and average pour-time of 17 seconds.The stopwatch was started as soon as the pan hit the scale and stopped at the beep. You should be able to increase you loaded ammo output by about 50% to 3 per minute.

In summation, no speed advantage was gained by inserting the tube, but accuracy was substantially improved. Here are a few pics to feast your eyes on. Happy SuperCharging.




Oh, a short, powder funnel is used to funnel the powder into the case.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/974498 ... 45-caliber

Current Process:

1. Pick funnel up with left hand and place over case mouth.
2. When beep is heard pick up pan and pour powder into funnel.
3. Immediately replace pan on scale.
4. Place funnel on workbench to left of ChargeMaster.
5. Pick up charged case in left hand.
6. Pick up bullet in right hand and seat with press.
7. Place round in ammo box.
8. A new charge should already be in the pan.
9. Repeat

Couldn't help myself...too many years writing engineering process specifications.

[Trent]

Instead of a funnel AND a pan you should pick up one of the Lyman "funnel pans". Eliminates a step from your process. Works great on my CM1500 reloading.

[Dee]

I'll have to measure the ID of this unit and see about getting a piece of tubing. I can easily turn and chamfer the inside edge to make a nice and smooth flow across the transition. 16 second tosses would be fantastic so long as it is pretty accurate in doing so.

I use one of those tray/funnels Trent and it does make things simple. I have noticed that a little powder can stick to it and not make it all the way into the funnel mouth without a little tap to make sure it all goes.

Wish I had time to mess with it right now but it will have to wait till next week at least.

Dee

[DanDeMan]

Trent,

Thanks for the tip about the Lyman funnel pan. That is slick...off to Midway USA to put one in my shopping cart for the next order....

[Bob259]

Good info Trent, Dan and Dee... Now to get brave enough to mess with it