Lubricate powder measure ?

[chriske]

Lately I've been having trouble with my Hornady powder measure. The rotor seizes up, binds and generally doesn't revolve smoothly. It also makes dreadful shrieking noises.
I fear not being able to drop uniform powder charges any more.
Anyone here ever had similar problems?
Should I lubricate it ? How ? What with (not oil, certainly) ?

 

[1SOW]

Graphite might free it up and won't hurt anything.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

Disassemble it and spray all the metal parts generously with One Shot Cleaner and wipe it clean. I suggest wearing some type of latex or nitrile gloves when cleaning/reassembling. It will keep your finger oils from putting surface rust on the metal parts. Lube the drum assembly with graphite powder and grease the spring. That's what I'd do. It's worked fairly well for me so far

 

[chriske]

Thanks a lot, both . Graphite it is, then .

 

[cfullgraf]

I spray the drum with a "dry" lube in the open slot of the measure's body. Cycle the drum a few times then let it dry. Over time, I have needed to do that less and less as the graphite from the powder builds up in the measure.

 

[Walkalong]

A tiny drop of Tuf-Glide at the top of each side of my drum type measures when the measure gets to dragging a little. Work the drum several times, let dry several hours. This never happens with some powders, but some have tiny trash pieces that get in between the body and drum and crud things up.

 

[Master Blaster]

The powder you are using is coated with graphite, that is the only lube you need, any kind of other lube can cause worse problems. You need to dissasseble it and check all of the parts. If it is shrieking, there is something that is either out of spec, or too tight, lubing it will not help. It should be obvious what part is making the noise as metal on metal will cause rub marks. I suspect one of the screws in the linkage is the problem, or a burr on the rotor, or the measure housing. Have you checked to make sure the insert that adjusts the powder throw is in correctly? Some folks have accidentally put this part in backwards in the past.

 

[Drail]

Powder measures and presses both need to be cleaned regularly. Stuff builds up in places where there is no room for it. Anytime you feel resistance or hear a noise tear it down and look for crud. Lubricate the bearing surfaces on the press but don't use anything on the powder measure. It should be clean and dry.

 

[tcj]

+ on One-Shot and thoroughly dose the powder dispense and all pertaining parts and let them dry fully.

 

[carbine85]

Polish with 0000 steel wool and rub in 2 drops of oil from a paper towel. That keeps mine smooth.

 

[rcmodel]

It also makes dreadful shrieking noises.

Then you will have to take the drum out and clean all the ground-up & caked powder dust out of it and off the drum before any lube will do much good.

Black powdered graphite from a hardware store as used for locks will provide proper lube.
Don't use oil.

rc

 

[918v]

Powder measures are designed to run dry. Do not spray lube on it because it will attract and accumulate crud and will seize up again.

Better yet, get a high end measure such as the Redding 10x/BR30/LR1000 which have fitted drums with zero clearance that does not allow powder to get inbetween. I've been using them for over a decade and never had to clean them.

 

[lightman]

I would take it apart and clean it.While it is apart,I would inspect the moving parts for any burrs,or rough spots.A little rubbing with 1200 grit sand paper follow by 4/0 steel wool should fix it.Don't try to remove material,just polish what is there.I'm not familiar with the Hornady,but it should work better than that.A clean and polish should fix it. Lightman

 

[GP100man]

Clean it & a lite coat of spray graphite (auto parts store) then a dose of powdered graphite.

 

[jaguarxk120]

Use the powdered graphite, not the flake type and put on your rubber gloves so you can rub the graphite into/onto the surface of the moving parts.

It won't hurt to rub graphite on to the powder hopper to.

 

[chriske]

Problem solved

Following (some of) the combined advice you all so generously provided, I wanted to give some feedback :
Who knows, it just might be of some help to someone sometime.
I disassembled the whole thing as far as I could/dared & swabbed all surfaces thoroughly with isopropyl-alcohol.
(That's the stuff sometimes used to clean laser-lenses in CD/DVD players)
Let everything dry up for 1 hour.
Trickle some graphite powder on the drum & the surfaces in contact with it.
Carefully avoided to spill anything (alcohol or graphite) in the metering cavity itself .
Re-assembled everything.
Since then, all works fluently, evenly, consistantly & noiselessly.
Thanks all for your help !