Quote from Reloader on October 25, 2018, 4:58 pm

Lack of lubrication on the primer disc pin, stock# 13862 is a common cause for the primer index arm to bend. Use grease to lube this pin.
Eccentric primers, that fail to fully drop into the primer disc, are the other cause. It helps to push a small cloth patch, wet with alcohol, through the magazine tube periodically to clean it. We recommend this every 3-5,000 primers.

Quote from Reloader on October 25, 2018, 6:25 pm

My problem was switching directions when the arm was not all the way up the cam for some reason. On the way down it would come out of the primer hole and when going back up would either get bent or bend the spring. Kind of hard to explain. Just don't switch directions when the indexing arm is part way up the cam. I had to share. Might not be your problem.

Quote from Reloader on December 8, 2018, 1:17 am

I've had intermittent problems with the Primer Index Arm advancing. Today I broke two Primer Index Arms. The problem in my case was that the Primer Punch Assembly was out of spec and causing primers to not seating properly (this should have been my first clue, but I was clueless), and the Indexing Arm to not rotate the disc properly and everntually led to breaking two indexing arms today.

Needless to say this was very frustrating. After calling Dillon and ordering new parts, I decided to completely take the XL650 apart, re-clean it and lubricate all parts using the XL 650 Parts exploded views; https://www.dillonprecision.com/xl650-parts_8_45.html It should be noted that some of the drawings are wrong and to date, Dillon has not put any notes on their website to tell you what is wrong or posted a correct drawing. Specifically on the Primer System Parts (650 primer systems) ((https://www.dillonprecision.com/docs/650_Pg_53.pdf)) #5 the Index Arm Bowed Washer as shown needs to be reversed. Yes I know, your Prime System was probably assembled incorrectly. I know that both the large and small Primer System Assembly I have were. But I digress.

Let's back up one moment and I will explain what I thought was the problem and the symptons. The problem appeared to be that the primers were binding on the rotary Primer Disc preventing the disc from rotating and indexing properly. Upon more closer inspection, the Primer Indexing Arm was also binding on the Primer Cam (https://www.dillonprecision.com/xl650-machine-assembly_8_45_25383.html). Calling Dillion Tech Support, they said the problem was that the Prime Cam needed to lubricated.... Okay. Not really but I will from now on, but that was not actually the problem.

The problem was the in the Primer Punch Assembly (https://www.dillonprecision.com/xl650-primer-punch-assembly_8_45_25385.html) I found a comment from 2016 (https://www.dillonprecision.com/primer-indexing-arm_350_11_3611.htm) the basically called out that the problem is that the Primer Punch Seater Assembly over time can block the Primer Disc from rotating. Once I backed out the Punch and reset it so that it seated the primers properly all was well. Well it will be well once I have my spare parts kit replenished.

For Dillion, I called Tech Support twice today. The second person who helped me was awesome but did not introduce himself when I called. While he did not solve the problem, talking with him helped me better understand what to look for as we went through the exploded parts diagrams which ultimately helped me solve the problem. I appreciate his help. So if the call logs show who that was tell him thanks.

Quote from Reloader on August 7, 2019, 6:03 am

I’m having the exact same problem I would love to talk more my no. 208-659-6936 I text
Gary

Quote from Reloader on November 25, 2019, 5:33 pm

In response to Dukes Defense...
I understand what your going through... I actually had those same issues and got the same responses. The lubing of my primer disc pin did help. The lubing of my primer cam did help... The adjustment/backing off of my primer seating assembly punch did help... I probably have the washer upside down too?

Ultimately I still have 2 problems, the same ones plaquing me for over 2 years.
1: occasionally I'll get sideways primers in the priming disk that jamb up and cause the whole assembly to be mistimed. I then take it apart, relube everything, including the disk and cam pin, tighten it down snug, not ultra tight, and it'll get back to work.

2: I still get bent springs and indexing arms every 500-1000 rounds and the upcoming primers from the tube/disk do not line up with my casing in the priming station. I have to manually click the primer index arm slightly to get it to go the last 1/4" it needs to line up. I've gone through probably 10 springs and 5-6 arms altogether. (half of those in the last year.) Sometimes even a new spring/arm will not fix the problem. see below.

I even went out and bought an entire new $100 priming assembly. It worked fine for about 1000 rounds and now I'm back at square one. It must be something to do with the alignment of the machine and the priming system. Because a new priming system should have eliminated all doubt with my old priming system and its springs/cam pins/disk, etc... (I use a strong mount and my bench does not move at all during use, so I can't say it's not the machine shifting position over time)

The way I was able to solve these issues last weekend, albeit temporarily, was to add spacers to the backside of the primer cam and the primer cam screw. Doing his allowed me to push out the entire primer cam about a 1/4"... which is then putting that much more force/travel distance to the primer indexing arm, allowing it to line up the primers properly.

This might sound like an easy fix... "oh just replace the primer cam, you've worn down the delrin/plastic"....
Well, I replaced the cam and everything else on the machine multiple times by now. Yes, even had a blue iron 650 link arm break on me. https://www.dillonprecision.com/docs/650_Pg_48.pdf (#19)

any tips to aligning the machine to the primer system are appreciated. (I only hand tight the primer system mounting bolts because I've cranked them down in the past, thinking that will help with sideways primers, and that just caused a lot of friction and problems)

Quote from Reloader on November 26, 2019, 7:35 pm

One thing I do before a reloading session is begun is index the primer disk manually. Following that I manually index the shell holder disk just to make sure nothing is binding and both feel as they should. During reloading if I notice the slightest additional force needed to complete a stroke, I immediately stop and investigate. This can save having to replace parts.

Quote from Reloader on November 28, 2019, 1:48 pm

Some great info here guys. Thanks heaps. As it turns out I broke my first indexing arm tonight. The cause was the primer punch not retracting fully and dragging and catching on the primer plate. Then of course I gave it a bit of effort to damage the arm. I’ve had this machine for about 9 years now and probably load 10,000 rounds a year on it and it’s the first time this has happened to me.
Have emailed Dillon and hopefully they can help me out with some parts.
Cheers.