I lied, it took 3 minutes to draw the star die

[triggerguard1]

Just thought I'd share with you guys what I'd come up with so far, but the last drawing I saw didn't have the details on the cross-drilled hole pattern, as far as diameter of each and the depth of the larger hole.

I've got a blank shown here

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/triggerguard1/starsizingdieblank.jpg


Below is a couple of different views of a .410 sizer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/triggerguard1/410sizer1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/triggerguard1/410sizer2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/triggerguard1/410sizer3.jpg


I could spit these off my CNC lathe in two operations from a barfeed and make them look like a piece of jewelry if the interest was there.

As I mentioned in an earlier thread; I'm more than willing to trade my talents for casting equipment and assitance.

[HeavyMetal]

Suggest you PM both Lathesmith and Buckshot.

I'm glad you did the research, any idea basic cost of a blank? I do realize that volume will affect cost I'm just looking for a "ball park" figure.

The other side is Lathsmith's version with the snap ring has been working well! What needs to be decided is which method is easier / faster? Snap ring or prepared blank.

[triggerguard1]

To me, with the equipment that I have, It would be much easier to just machine a shoulder, rather than messing with a snap ring.

I've got one operation that I can feed from the barfeeder and part it off into a parts catcher. After that I'll flip it around and finish the back side counterbore.

I've heard a lot of materials mentioned as to what would work or work better, but I'd think that just using 1018 or the equivalent would be plenty adequate for longevity, though the idea of a 304 SS might be nice for zero rust properties.

I've been pretty busy all night running my mills, so I haven't taken the time to get my head into this very far, but pretty soon I'll crunch some numbers for cost and see what my material suppliers can do for me.

[xpshooter]

That's exactly what I was thinking. Not to knock anyone on this thread who does not like/need/want the shoulder, I did not think it would be hard at all with the proper equipement. Both design's seem to work which is good because we have more choices.

I would be interested in a 5 or 6 of these.

[Trez Hensley]

Keep us posted

[targetshootr]

How much for a 12" 45 cal straight octagon barrel blank?

[triggerguard1]

How much for a 12" 45 cal straight octagon barrel blank?

My CNC lathe isn't set up for items quite that long.........sorry

[triggerguard1]

I'll try this again, since the server killed my last post.

Is there any reason that the hole patterns would have to be staggered, or can they be aligned with one another 90deg. apart?

Are there different hole patterns for different types or calibers of bullets that work better than others?


The turning of the dies is the easy part, so that's why I'm trying to get some more info on the hole patterns, as it will require a seperate operation, but is still very easy to do with the equipment that I have.

[454PB]

For the guy cranking them out CNC, you would just about have to drill the two diameter holes so the customer could plug those not needed. In my opinion, they can certainly be in line and at 90 degrees.

The reason for the two diameter holes is to allow the customer to align his particular boolit (or boolits) lube grooves with the lube holes. The star sizer injects the lube at the "stop point", so the boolit has to be aligned with the holes when that happens.

[Buckshot]

..................triggerguard1, stainless shouldn't be necessary as the dies are usually given a pretty good coat of preservative while in use:-) Will you just be making blank die bodies or the completed items?

...............Buckshot

[triggerguard1]

Well, I just got off the phone with 45nut and he's dropping off some dies to my shop tomorrow.

I think between the two of us, Cast Boolits may just have their own line of dies and top punches.

I was skimming through Midway and looking at the various manufacturers of top punches and dies........The workmanship on what I could see made me really wish I hadn't enlarged the picture...................grin

I didn't realize you guys were getting bent over as bad as you are. More to come, but I think we're going to be on to something here.

Ken has extended the gracious invitation for me to come up to his place and take me through the process of casting and sizing, so I'm returning the favor in getting some dies made up he's needed. I think if we can work together on this, we might just have your guy's headaches cured for less money, with a far superior product.

Bottom line is, I need bullets and the know-how to cast them myself. You guys need some good equipment at a better price, with higher quality. I see the two happening very soon.

[triggerguard1]

Turned a blank out today that I'm gonna leave 45nut to pick up when he drops off his other dies.

The OD is .0005 under the .749, but everything else seems to be looking pretty basic. I made the first one out of some 304 I had and made the last one from ebony.
My barfeeder is on the fritz right now, so I'm having to cut and load by hand, but I'll have that problem resolved pretty quickly I think.

Based on what it took to run, a blank that is turned and drilled to .250 ID would run $8.35 the way I'm running now, but I can bring that down with a some numbers and upgrade my drilling operation a little.

Making these for each diameter of bullet and adding the cross-drilled holes, will probably raise the price into the 17-19 dollar range.

Gotta couple of things to discuss with Ken and see what we can do about getting some decent numbers together to make it feasible for everybody, but for now it looks like a winner.

My wife has my camera right now, or I'd post a pic on here of it.

Maybe 45nut will do me the honors and stick a pick up later today of it.

[HeavyMetal]

45nut will get you taken care of with the casting experence.

I think a ton of guys, who aren't on the site, would also benifit from a second "commercial" source for Star dies. If you look at Magma's web site you'll see why!

However I do think, eventually, you'll need to consider heat treat for expanded sales.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[GabbyM]

I can't say how hard the Magma Star dies are. But I lapped .0004" out of one yesterday in short order. Using bullets impregnated with compound. So they are not heat treated.

From the looks and size of the stepped holes. I'd say it's a #1 center drill followed with a smaller drill bit.

When you order a die from Magma they ask you how many lube groves and how far apart the groves are. No need to drill six columns of holes for someone using a single lube grove bullet.

[runfiverun]

they used to just do a standard spacing.
and i really donot see why 90* hole spacing wouldn't work.
especially if they were all lined up. in a row of four spaced about .120 or so apart.

[jim smith]

I really like the idea of buying a handfull of blanks and fabricating my own custom dies.There are probably a lot of star owners like me, who have a home shop drill/lathe capability................jim smith

[Murphy]

triggerguard1,

I've owned a Star sizer for over 20 years now. I'm with the rest of the crew here, we could sure use a man of your talent at making dies for our Stars.

Murphy

[85gl1200@gmail.com]

Wish I had found this site two weeks ago. Would have saved me the price of the Lyman I bought.
Does any one install gas checks with a Star? How?
Thanks

[scb]

triggerguard1, as far as staggering the holes goes I think it has a lot to do with the caliber. The center to center distance of the lube grooves on a 22 is a lot closer than say a 45. One would have to stagger the holes on these small bullets so that they don't overlap. My Star dies ARE heat treated. Good luck with your endeavor.

[jleneave]

Keep everyone posted, I could use a few dies myself and I am sure there are several more people on here that feel the same way.

Jody

[475/480]

Yes it is as easy as the Lyman setup.
All you do is place the GC on the bullet and ram the bullet thru the star sizer,basically the same as a Lyman,only difference is the bullet is base up on the Star.

Sean


Wish I had found this site two weeks ago. Would have saved me the price of the Lyman I bought.
Does any one install gas checks with a Star? How?
Thanks

[MtGun44]

Wow. Ask and ye shall receive.

I'd recommend a higher carbon steel alloy like 1050 or 1040 so you could
heat treat them easily. 304SS is pretty soft unless work hardened, but does
not heat harden. Depending on the cost of the material, O-1 would not be
a bad choice, which is what lathesmith made mine out of. Lathesmith's experience
with O-1 is that it grows about .001" when heat treated, but gets very
hard relatively simply.

We need to get a group buy of blanks up for this. I'd buy at least 5 if
the price was about $10 or so, but I have no idea if that is even remotely
reasonable.

Bill

[Nrut]

Wish I had found this site two weeks ago. Would have saved me the price of the Lyman I bought.
Does any one install gas checks with a Star? How?
Thanks

85gl1200...you just snap on the gas check, put the boolit into your sizer die nose first then push it on thru with your punch...

Ha!... didn't see Seans reply....

[zipdog]

Triggerguard, what's the status on your being able to furnish Star dies for our comsumption?

[Willbird]

What about making them from 4140 pre heat treat (28-32 rockwell c) ??

Or even A2 or D2 ?? A2 or D2 would be nice because we could all get together and make a batch of them then send them off to be bright heat treated (this process leaves them a light straw color with NO heat treat scale), I would leave a little stock to lap them after heat treat.

My biggest issue with Magma-Star I have is that G-D O-ring "improvement" they did, the darn things "roll" when you pull the die out and make it a royal PITA.

Bill