Star Sizer Issue(s)

[bjordan]

Howdy Folks.

I have had my Star sizer for a couple of years, along with the Lyman sizer I started with years ago. The Star has worked well with larger boolits, but I will be danged if I can get it to work with the Lyman 358242 mold in the 121 grain version. I have adjusted the flat, bottom punch in the press all the way down until it contacts the sizing die and then moved the punch further away from the die (turned the punch into the sizer). I am still getting a mess. The die has three rows of lube holes and I have plugged the bottom two with lead shot.

I am using a soft lube and no heater. The pic below shows my efforts - I am getting lube ahead of the lube grooves. What am I doing wrong? To much pressure? Too soft of a lube (I am not thrilled with the lube I am using to begin with)? Simple adjustment of the depth of the ram? I think I have two issues here and I am chasing my tail trying to make lubed boolits - too soft of a lube and adjustment. Harder lube and maybe a heater, then work on the adjustment?

All feedback is greatly appreciated before I throw this thing out the window. [smilie=1:

176680 Thanks for the help!

[bosterr]

When I get a new mold and start in new with a new die as well, I hold the die in my left hand and lay a boolit in my hand next to the die. I set the flat punch against the base of the boolit also next to the die. Since you don't want the threads of the punch to hit the top of the die, I adjust the boolit up or down to select which row of holes to use. I try for at least 1/8" gap between the threads of the punch and the top of the die. I can then pretty much eye-ball the space between the threads and the top of the die once I put both in the Star.

Lube on the nose is from too much pressure since you said you don't use a heater. No lube in the grooves, but lube on the nose says you're not lined up- holes matching grooves.

[Paper Puncher]

I have that mold in a 90 gr version I run those thru the sizer base first. My flat punch is a bit short so it wouldn't work nose first. (need some more punches :D) . Not much tolerance to hit the lube grooves. Keep playing with the adjustment until you start getting some lube in the grooves. To much pressure will give you a bunch of headaches trying to adjust things.

[bjordan]

When I get a new mold and start in new with a new die as well, I hold the die in my left hand and lay a boolit in my hand next to the die. I set the flat punch against the base of the boolit also next to the die. Since you don't want the threads of the punch to hit the top of the die, I adjust the boolit up or down to select which row of holes to use. I try for at least 1/8" gap between the threads of the punch and the top of the die. I can then pretty much eye-ball the space between the threads and the top of the die once I put both in the Star.

Lube on the nose is from too much pressure since you said you don't use a heater. No lube in the grooves, but lube on the nose says you're not lined up- holes matching grooves.

I kinda did the same thing - I took the die out of the sizer and took the punch out too. With the punch just touching the die, the bullet's lube groove near the base would line up with the top row of open lube holes in the die. I think the lube I am using is so soft that I can't "feel" the right amount of pressure when turning the handle. I think harder lube would help eliminate at least the lube on the nose of the bullet while then solving the issue of alignment?

[runfiverun]

the little tits of lube on the front drive band is from lube squeezing it's way out of the holes between boolits.
too much pressure on the screw could do that as well as the lube being too soft and runny.
I wouldn't worry too much about the lube tit's as long as the groove is filling up, as you go along you can back off the pressure a little at a time.

one more thing you can try is shortening the rod that passes through the press and actuates the lube plunger.
you might be hitting it on your way down giving the die a shot of lube with the short stem length on the punch.
instead of the size cam over lube stroke your just doing a size lube cam over stroke.

[bjordan]

An Update.

First, thanks for all the help so far.

I have learned that the Star sizer takes a MUCH lighter touch on the lube pressure than the Lyman sizer sitting next to it. I eased the pressure up until I was getting "tits" of lube on the nose of the bullets and then eased off the pressure. I ran the punch from just touching the die all the way up until it bottomed out in the sizer, all the while in small increments. I never got any lube in the grooves, either of them. Then I noticed that I was only getting one "ribbon" of lube squirting out of the die when I pushed back on the handle at the top of the stroke. A picture is below. You can see it is not filled out completely with lube, hence the only single ribbon of lube squirting through the die at the top of the handle stroke.

So, whats the next course of action? Like I said, I applied pressure until small amounts of lube were being deposited on the nose of the bullets and backed off, but even the die wasn't "flooded" completely with lube.

176714

[rockrat]

Run the boolit down in the die until you get a little lube oozing out around the base, then screw the top punch in about 1 turn and see what happens.

[runfiverun]

if yours has the set screw on the side open it up to flood the area with lube.
or just pump the handle a few times to purge the air out.
but since you got the sizer out just fill the open area of the die with lube and stick it back in there.
once it's full the plunger will keep it full with each squirt of lube you pump in there with the handle.

[RedHawk357Mag]

Man do I ever feel your pain. Been there done that. What worked for me first was expectation management. I resolved to learn this machines language. I first approached with zero expectations of getting a single use able bullet. Next I placed a thick tick mark down the length of the punch to keep me straight on how much I was adjusting. Then I imagined that the press had eight corresponding tick marks, one each at 12, 3, 6, and 9. That's four. Then I imagined a tick mark in between each of the above clock positions. That gives me eight possible settings per rotation of the punch. Probably about 25 expendable bullets and figure out what the machine is telling you. I use the center row of holes in my lube die. My smallest bullet so far is the Lee 125 grn RNFP. So it's possible your bullet is needing the first row, I am not sure. I do sometimes lube a 358495 wad cutter and I am capable of placing lube in the bottom two lube grooves with out much mess or fuss. Although it is a very narrow setting to keep this a neat seating. With single lube grooves I look for a slightly different shade of lube at either the top or bottom edge of the lube groove. This difference in color tells me which way to adjust. When the lighter color disappears I am in the center. My lube is dark green or red so it shows as a white ish streak. Not sure what yours is gonna do but I would believe that some color change would result. I screwed it up and set it again. Once you learn it's language it's fairly easy to get it going. I will also say I darn near sent it down the road before I got it figured out. If someone broke into my shop and stole it tonight, it would be the second thing I would buy back, first being a meaner dog. It's a great machine stick with it. Randy Rat and White Label lubes rock when you want to go in different lube directions.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[bjordan]

Man do I ever feel your pain. Been there done that. What worked for me first was expectation management. I resolved to learn this machines language. I first approached with zero expectations of getting a single use able bullet. Next I placed a thick tick mark down the length of the punch to keep me straight on how much I was adjusting. Then I imagined that the press had eight corresponding tick marks, one each at 12, 3, 6, and 9. That's four. Then I imagined a tick mark in between each of the above clock positions. That gives me eight possible settings per rotation of the punch. Probably about 25 expendable bullets and figure out what the machine is telling you. I use the center row of holes in my lube die. My smallest bullet so far is the Lee 125 grn RNFP. So it's possible your bullet is needing the first row, I am not sure. I do sometimes lube a 358495 wad cutter and I am capable of placing lube in the bottom two lube grooves with out much mess or fuss. Although it is a very narrow setting to keep this a neat seating. With single lube grooves I look for a slightly different shade of lube at either the top or bottom edge of the lube groove. This difference in color tells me which way to adjust. When the lighter color disappears I am in the center. My lube is dark green or red so it shows as a white ish streak. Not sure what yours is gonna do but I would believe that some color change would result. I screwed it up and set it again. Once you learn it's language it's fairly easy to get it going. I will also say I darn near sent it down the road before I got it figured out. If someone broke into my shop and stole it tonight, it would be the second thing I would buy back, first being a meaner dog. It's a great machine stick with it. Randy Rat and White Label lubes rock when you want to go in different lube directions.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Thanks, these are good suggestions!

[runfiverun]

the other thing I done was to buy some locking set screw nuts from Lathesmith and set my depths and then lock the ring in place.
when I change calibers I just screw the new punch in and it's set to the right height every time.

[bjordan]

So, after all the fantastic feedback, I think my next course of action is to lengthen the punch (after loading the die with lube all the way around it). Currently, if I bottom the punch all the way down until it contacts the die, I do not get lube squirting on to the base of the bullet. The top row of lube holes are the only ones open (the other two are plugged). My goal would be to get lube squirting on to the base of the bullet and then adjust the punch up (into the sizer) in small increments. I can either order a slightly longer punch, or I may chuck it into my lathe and turn it myself (I am still new to metal lathes, but this seems pretty straight forward). If I screw it up, I can order another punch.

Thoughts?

[bjordan]

the other thing I done was to buy some locking set screw nuts from Lathesmith and set my depths and then lock the ring in place.
when I change calibers I just screw the new punch in and it's set to the right height every time.
Oh, believe me, I have them from LS :)

[bjordan]

I think we have success! I turned the punch down about an 1/8" on my lathe and I started getting lube squirting past the base of the bullet after turning it down. Then, in small increments, I turned the punch into the sizer and fiddled with the lube pressure until I am finally getting full lube groove fill-out and no lube blow by on to the nose of the bullet. The Lyman 358242 has two tiny lube grooves. I only need the bottom one. I have to seat these boolits pretty far out to get them to feed through my Uberti '73 correctly and that tiny lube groove is a really small landing strip for lube to land in. :)

Thanks for all the help!!