Heated Lubrisizer for hard Lubes?

[loose noose]

Am I the only one that uses the Lyman Lubrisizer with a Midway heating pad? I use mostly a hard lube "Red Angel", "Blue Angel", "Orange Magic", etc. for cast bullets in modern semi-autos, and rifles.

I have 2 Lubrisizers, the other I use Alox, and a Black Powder lube, "SPG" in my 45 Colts, and my 45-70s.

Anyway I see all these home remedies for lube which I would surmise will leak out of most Lubrisizers, I know when it get's really hot out here in the summer I have to take and completely clean out the innards of the one that I use the soft lubes.

 

[rcmodel]

I just use a heat gun or heat lamp on mine to get it warmed up and going in cold weather.

But I generally use Alox, which doesn't get that stiff to start with.

rc

 

[John3921]

I bought a cartridge heating element off of ebay for like $12.00 and set it into a 1" block of aluminum. Added a dimmer switch and walla - lube heater.

Something like this: Cartridge heating element

 

[243winxb]

Bullet Lube

I just started using 50/50 alox/bees wax from http://www.lsstuff.com/ , now i need a heater. My Lyman 450 never needed a heater with other NRA type 50/50. Chart from Midwayusa

 

[John3921]

I think the Lyman and the RCBS heaters are 25w or 35w and there is no temp control.

Look for a 110 v 100 watt cartridge heating element on ebay, there are 100's of them. Find a block of aluminum at a metals store. I used a 4" x 5" x 1" block I got out of a scrap bin. I drilled a hole in it the 5" direction almost all the way through it the diameter of the heating cartridge. Slip fit is fine, you just don't want it too loose. Then I drilled 2 holes in it to match the mounting holes on my Lyman 450. I spliced the leads to a short length of extension cord and covered the splice joint with heat shrink tubing and ran those leads to a dimmer switch. I mounted the ground wire from the cord directly to the al. block. Then I wired a 3-prong plug on a few feet of the same cord and wired that into the dimmer switch. I put a 4" x 5" piece of 1/8" tile backer board under to insulate my loading bench from the heat (I have a formica top on my bench)

I probably have less than $20 into it- and I have temp control.

 

[MichaelK]

I've got the midway heater on mine. I used to use Blue Angel, but found an homemade recipe I'm very happy with. It's 50:50 beeswax and moly lithium grease. Heat the grease in a pot with a tightly fitting lid, so you can extingush the flames when it ignites. Heat a weighed amount of grease till it melts, and drop in the same amount of beeswax. Turn off the flame and keep stirring till the wax has all melted. Let cool somewhat, then pour into 1" molds. Makes a very cool looking black lube. Needs mild heat to flow in the lubesizer during the winter months.

 

[Elkins45]

I have my Lyman 45 sizer mounted on one of the Lee wooden bench plates. I bought a 3/8" by 1.5" 120v 50 watt cartridge heater on eBay and thought I would just strap/ tape or wedge it onto my sizer, but after a little thinking I decided I would try a different approach. I unbolted the sizer from the base plate and broke out the wood carving tools. I made a cavity that just barely holds the cartridge so the top edge is even with the surface of the wood.



I then bolted the sizer back into place, wired in a plug and plugged it into my dimmer control. Oh yeah, I don't count the dimmer box in the price because I made it 25 years ago to control the bulb in my photo enlarger. Remember darkrooms?



Sorry my bench is so messy. One thing I learned: 50 watts is WAY too much for this application. Even with the dimmer turned all the way down I only need to turn it on for 20-30 seconds every 5-10 minutes to keep a carnauba-heavy lube flowing well. But it works great and I like the fact the apparatus is contained so I don't have to bolt an extra device like an iron or a floodlight to my bench.

If I were to do it again I would try to find a lower wattage heater, or find a 240V version and run it at 120v to reduce the output.

 

[41 Mag]

Seeing of late I usually don't have as much free time as I used to have I purchased one of the Lyman universal heaters and just mounted it to the table under my sizer. Taking it one step further I also mounted a 1/4-20 threaded thermocouple to the base in one of the extra holes. I did have to use a allen headed screw to give it something to snug up. Then attached it to my PID controller I use when I pour bullets. I set the temp to 85 for 357 sized bullets with the small lube grooves and them up to 95 for the 45 caliber ones with the larger grooves. Using Carnube Red it works out great and I only have to unplug the thermocouple and move the PID when I go back to casting. Takes about 2 minutes to reset the temps on the PID from lube to casting.

I started off with the lamp behind it, but I hated the added light and shadows it created, not to mention the room it took up as well. My sizing table just isn't much bigger than the end of a piece of plywood I had sitting around I clamped to a workmate.

 

[Magnum Shooter]

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I use a Lyman with the heater built in and a RCBS with the Midway heater.

 

[10 Spot Terminator]

I went really low rent and bought a piece of 1/4 inch thick aluminum strap at a metal recyclers for $2.00 and then a small travel clothes iron at a thrift store for $5.00 to make my temp controlled heater . I ran the aluminum plate under the 450 lubesizer leaving a section about 6 inches long laying out behind the press to rest the iron on . Works very well as it gets quite cool here in the winter and the temp control adjusts very nicely . I also use a hair dryer gun to speed things up when getting started and let the iron do its thing to maintain the heat .

10 Spot

 

[loose noose]

My Midway heater that mounts under my sizer has a screw on the upper right corner that adjusts the heat, when using the Red Angel It has to be just about all the way up here in the winter time.

243 thanks for the info on heating temperatures on the different lubes.

 

[243winxb]

White Label Lube Temperatures

Room temp is 70 as a standard. Melt Temperatures- White Label lube http://www.lsstuff.com/frequently-asked-questions

Lube working temp melt temp

50/50 room temp 162F

BAC room temp 162F

2500 room temp 162F

Carnauba Red 100F 162F

Commercial 160 105-130F 165F

Commercial 190 130-155F 190F

 

[buckbrush]

Here in Alberta in basements, BAC requires heat even in Summer.

 

[THe Dove]

My house stat is set at 70 in the winter and 67 in the summer. I have never used a heater or heat source while sizing and lubing in my RCBS Lube-A-Matic II........ Never needed it. I make my own lube (45-beeswax, 45-parafin, 10-vasoline ----percentage by weight).

The Dove

 

[USSR]

I use White Label's BAC for everything in my Lyman 450, and "I just use a ... heat lamp on mine to get it warmed up and going in cold weather".

Don