It's so strange you're having these issues.  Staying on this thread to see how it works out.

I was still having issues with the wad height/stack height with the Remington STS hulls, Titewad powder, and the Claybuster 3/4 ounce wad….such that the crimps still looked like poop.  

So I took a closer look at the paper insert of reloading recipes that Claybuster includes inside the bag of wads.  
There was a recipe for Winchester AAHS hulls and Red Dot powder.  So I tried cranking out some of those with the pre-crimp die and the final crimp die still at the STS hull “settings”.  After about the 3rd buckled Winchester AAHS hull, I made some adjustments….loosened or raised the final crimp die….a bunch of 1/4 turns.  Then I tried cranking out a few more shells.  And now all the crimps had 1/8” holes in the middle.

Each shell went full on “salt shaker” as it rolled down the ramp and into the akro bin.

As a shotgun reloader, that is absolutely THEEE last sound you want to hear while making shells:  lead pellets hitting plastic and rolling around.  

So then I thought “Maybe my final crimp die is FUBAR’ed???"

I removed it which is no easy feat.  That die must  have 1” by 64 threads per inch.  I am not kidding.  A 12 point 7/8ths box end wrench wasn’t cutting it.  I removed the hull feeder’s clear plastic drop tube to give me more room.   It was taking way too long, so I started wondering if I had any ratchets handy.  I found a 7/8ths socket…1/2” drive.  The only ratchet I could find was like 18” long.  Trying to fit the ratchet and the socket on the final crimp die was a NO GO! because the shot dispenser’s bell crank assembly was in the way.  So I had to charge a hull with powder, then insert a wad, and bring the handle all the way down to lift the shot dispenser up.***.

Finally I was able to get the socket and ratchet onto the final crimp die.  After about one thousand quarter turns later, the die came out of the toolhead.  The toolhead has its own built in “ny-lock” for the dies, so there was absolutely NO turning dies by hand.

Here is what the final crimp die looks like:

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I referred back to this pic in the owner’s manual:

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So Ii set up the central crimp closer “punch” to those dimensions.  Then I used a silver paint marker to draw a line around the die at that 1.600” mark.  I used the stem end of my digital calipers to get that measurement.

Then I gingerly re-installed the die.  I say gingerly because with such fine threading, it would be really easy to cross thread it.  Then I would really be screwed.

So I got it threaded down to that silver painted line.  I tried cranking out some shells….well…dummies actually… no live primers yet.  It was back to buckling shells.  About 24 quarter turns counter clockwise it stopped buckling shells.  But, of course, the crimps were still over the place.

Because the wad height/stack height varied so much.

In fact this is the last shell I tried to crank out last night:

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There is no way in heck that crimp is ever going to close.

I think the general consensus that I have gathered from the Shotgun World Forum is that you need 0.400” from the top of the wad petal to the top of the hull to get a good crimp.

EDIT:  all those green STS hulls that you see in the background are the ones I caught by eye with their wads set too deep.  I just dumped the shot right back into the shot bucket.  At some later time, I’ll use needle nose pliers to pull the wads and then dump the powder.

From my previous post ^^^^

The **** means I learned something new last night.

Since everything is so cramped on the SL900….

AND….

the shot dispenser actually has to raise or lift up as the shot bar cycles….

The corner of the shot dispenser is right under the “cone” or “funnel” of the powder measure.

If you do NOT have a hull being charged with powder in station #2, the shot dispenser hits the powder measure.

The upward movement of the shot dispenser and thus the shot bar travel and thus the wad height placement is impeded by the powder measure.

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So the powder measure has to be getting raised up by charging a hull at the same time it is trying to “seat” a wad and drop shot.

EDIT:  I did remove the powder charging / hull belling die last night.  Again, 1” X about a gazillion threads to the inch.  At least this one I was able to twist out by hand… even with the built in “ny-lock”

Then I threaded the powder charging die back in about half way and tried charging some hulls.  That was just to double check that the powder bar was fully shuttling back and forth. I almost  ran out length on the powder fail safe rod I had to screw that blue plastic wingnut down so far.

I shoved a cardboard wedge into the shot dispenser to hold it in the up position.

It does now look like there is some clearance or a gap between the shot dispenser and the powder measure “funnel”..

EDIT #2:  the crimps were still looking bad with the grey Winchester AAHS hulls that I removed that smooth crimp and re-installed the 8 point crimp starter.  That helped.  A little.

I PM’ed/IM’ed a dude on another forum who was having the exact same TOWG issue.

I normally don’t do this, but he replied back with this:

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Well….that’s the thing.  I don’t have to save up any pennies.  And I will just leave it at that.

I have been researching this issue with the Dillon for the past month or two.

I guess you make about person #11 that I know about in these past two months who have ditched the Dillon and bought a Spolar.

You know “aircooledracer” from the BE forums?

He always starts his posts with “Hello: ….  “. And ends them with “….  Eric” .

A’yup, ditched the Dillon,  Bought a Spolar.  

In fact, he must have had the same issue to end up with two swing arms:

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I am reminded of the quote by Ruskin on price:

There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey. It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot — it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”

And then Ruskin has another quote on quality:

Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives, the cumulative experience of many masters of craftsmanship. Quality also marks the search for an ideal after necessity has been satisfied and mere usefulness achieved.

For the past few years now, the Spolar booth has been empty st the Grand.

I think I first saw one in operation there back about 2010.  It was a hydraulically powered unit.  And the blonde operating it had her hands freed up so she could insert hulls and wads as she used her feet to work the pedals.

It was like magic…. Hearing the clunk of the shells fall through the table top and into the drawer below.

It would be nice if they would return to the Grand this year.

All of economics is based on what a reasonable person or a rational person would do.  Which I think is a polite way of saying 90% of people are cheap bastards who are going to pick the least expensive option.  

So the least expensive option for me, for now is to buy a 3/4 ounce bar for my Mec 9000 and see if it can crank out some good looking  3/4 ounce loads with either the metallic green STS’s and Titewad and/or grey Winchester AAHS’s with Red Dot.

And then resetting the Dillon SL900 back to 9/8ths trap loads with the red Winchester AAHS’s and what remaining Clays powder I have.  I guess I could start shooting doubles trap.

Seconded, however though I’ll humbly submit that there’s a whole boatload of good gouge out there past the aforementioned.  

Queried DF a while back (thx for the gouge DF) and it was my first book. Am close to having (and read) everything out there I could possible find. Am putting up great product(s) these days.  Am looking to give back -

Pls DM w/any immediate questions.

Don’t post too often but here soon I’ll drop a thread to what I’m messin’ with.   (Lead and steel only thus far).

Cheers Gents

My brother from another mother.

(Will stay on topic!)