Question.My 3 dots

Trying the carnauba Blue in the new Star. I'm getting the 3 dots shown in the picture. I've tried with little to no heat and they still show up. The Star has the pressure tube and I've tried at different pressures from 20-80. 20-50 does not get complete lube groove fill out..Above that I get good fill out but the dots show up.

Not sure it's that big of an issue but the seater die I use references of that shoulder where the dots are.

Look forward to any and all suggestions. I'm even thinking of a different lube if need be.

Attachment 203965

I'm thinking you need to adjust your punch down a little bit. 1/8th of a turn maybe.

Could try a flat nose seater punch that wouldn't reference the shoulder. Not that the dots are a big issue. I would just live with it. I get more stray lube on my bullets, while they are in a mayonnaise jar, in storage.

Winelover

There's nothing at all wrong with your lube. I get the dots when too warm and/or too much pressure. If the lube holes aren't lined up well enough with the lube groove in your boolit, then you must crank in more pressure, hence the dots. Again, lay the die in your hand and a boolit beside it with the holes lined up with the groove and make a gauge out of paper between the threads on the punch and the top of the die. Re-install both in your machine and use the gauge to get that same space as when laying in your hand. When I get the dots, I back off the pressure screw on the reservoir a couple of turns, but it still takes a while and sizing more boolits for the column of lube to relax, so to speak. When I get it too warm because I forgot to unplug my heater after 10 minutes, I just walk away for a little while and let it cool.

That could be the issue. I never turn off the heater. I'll try 10 min then off

I keep my Midway heater turned on max all the time, that's why I unplug after 10 minutes. I have no way to check what the temp of the machine actually is, but it's just nicely warm. I've read here that Carnuba Blue doesn't really need heat, but my Carnuba Red needs a little, but it still all depends on the actual temperature in your room. Don't worry, you'll get there!

Just yesterday, I was lubing some 405gr boolits with another members flavor of Felix.
it was a warm day, the room was near 80º...but I still turned on the heater, but just long enough to warm the mounting plate and the base of the lubesizer. My mounting plate is kind of large, which enables me to preheat the boolits on the mounting plate before sizing/lubing....which aids in lube adhesion. I manually monitor the heater as it's not on a thermostat, mostly I turn it on for 10 minutes then off for about 30 to 45 minutes. (it's an old magnetic auto engine block heater, 200 Watts).

I'd don't know how long it took you to setup the die, but that boolit looks clean. There was a time I'd sell them to locals and I'd keep a rag handy. It was always near the nose that would get a little. But this was for a professional look. Otherwise, I felt it was good enough. By the way, unless your cranking out an all day operation with a commercial caster(that you bought on the cheap), it ain't remotely close to being worth it.

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Originally Posted by chloe123

I'd don't know how long it took you to setup the die, but that boolit looks clean. There was a time I'd sell them to locals and I'd keep a rag handy. It was always near the nose that would get a little. But this was for a professional look. Otherwise, I felt it was good enough. By the way, unless your cranking out an all day operation with a commercial caster(that you bought on the cheap), it ain't remotely close to being worth it.

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Die is set up per the book. If to say it looks clean than I'm happy with that. When I get home I'm not even going to turn on the heat at all and crank up the pressure and see what I get


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You might check the inside of your sizing die and make sure that the lead shot that plugs the unused holes are not protruding to the inside of the die. Just a thought....

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Originally Posted by Devon

You might check the inside of your sizing die and make sure that the lead shot that plugs the unused holes are not protruding to the inside of the die. Just a thought....

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LOL, checked twice.

regarding lube from magma. In the past I always noticed that I had to lower the heat with the green . You wouldn't think color would have any bearing on the temp point but I noticed the lube urn to goo must times after going red to green .

Just something to keep in mind if you try to standardize air pressure and heat setting

Just got home and tried NO heat and 90 PSI...No go at all. I guess it's cooler than I thought in my shop/garage. The lube plunger would not even return to the start position. So that tells me I need heat with Carnauba Blue...

Another question, I have to turn the dial quite a ways before the light even comes on for the heat. I assume no light on no heat. I just turned it slowly until the light just came on so we will see what that does.

Wish I wasn't so OCD...LOL. :???:

After 10 minutes with my heater on, the base of the luber is warm to the touch, far from hot. It could be that even Blue needs heat in a cold garage.

If wanting clean and dot free boolits makes you OCD, then I'm OCD too.

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Originally Posted by bosterr

After 10 minutes with my heater on, the base of the luber is warm to the touch, far from hot. It could be that even Blue needs heat in a cold garage.

If wanting clean and dot free boolits makes you OCD, then I'm OCD too.

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Yea, with a little heat and after sizing a few boolits I get the last one out and look inside the die. I can see a tiny tiny bit of lube coming out of the holes..And I mean tiny. I bet if I sit and lubed up a few hundred at speed the dots would go away...Now, to find a way to remove lube from all my boolits and try some more...LOL

And yes, OCD can be a curse

BTW, I did drop the push a tiny bit and still dots. I guess I could keep dropping it but I'm 99.9% sure I'm right on the money

I'm still a newb with my Star. I decided to remove a variable by using my PID to control the base temp. I figure once I get it right I'll be able to repeat it.

With no boolit in the die there's nothing to keep lube from oozing out from residual pressure in the reservoir. That's normal. I keep that last boolit in there unless I need to remove it to change to a different caliber.

Last night I shut off the heat and called it a night. Went back out an hour later and tried without heat. I think I found the answer that was also mentioned here. Heat it up. Shut it down. Then lube


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Personally after using a PID with my old Midway heater I wouldn't be without it again. Once you figure out the temperature you need for that particular lube the guesswork is history.

it's the heat.
just run about 200 boolits through the press, it will cool down and the dot's will go away.

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Originally Posted by runfiverun

it's the heat.
just run about 200 boolits through the press, it will cool down and the dot's will go away.

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Hey run, do you advocate turning the heat on, then turning it off? I wish I had a PID or something to see how warm it's getting. My problem is I'm trying to find the perfect temp and pressure and I'm chasing my tail so to say.

I'd be interested in your process with the Star as well as what lube you use in it.

Your input is very valuable to me.

thank you Sir

Joe

I run a poor man's PID on my Star.....power to heater controlled by a rheostat fan switch. Monitor temperature of heater by placing a "meat" thermometer on the heating plate.

Winelover

Build a pid. You'll love it. 'Should be able to put one together for $60 bucks or so.

OBIII sells em complete, if you want to get it going fast.

Is that his user name? I may go that route. I barley have time to think let alone have another project to build


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I always have "barley time".

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Originally Posted by MT Chambers

I always have "barley time".

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Bwahahahahahahaaaaa...Opppsss

After weeks of use I still get the dots. Very frustrating but they are almost all gone. I just can't eliminate them totally. I'm thinking of trying base first sizing as getting the dots of the base will be easier as I load. Even wit no air pressure I get them so thought it was lube temp. Carnauba Red at temp probe shows 95 deg and still little dots! aghhhhhhhh. I do love the sizer however, pretty fast. I've yet to really use the auto feed. It's still on my bench.

Reduce your pressure and increase your pump stroke length.

After reading all the replies, all are quite good, using the Star can be a whole new ball game on lube/sizing. We have used Stars for around 10 years or so and the only lube/sizer. What we finally came up with and have stayed with it after much hair pulling is
1. Nose up or down there is a sweet spot for the lube holes.
2. Using air pressure only enough to 'push' the lube. Seems the crank system can be way to much or not enough.
3. Our heat source is a Magma, no PID, adjust the heat 'JUST' enough to fill lube groves, we leave the heater turned on through out the setting. We use only Magma blue.
Do believe the dots can come from to much heat and maybe to much pressure, again, the sweet spot is your best bet.
Also when changing lube dies, we just eyeball the bullet lube grove to match the lube squirt holes, look in bottom of die to see how much space is there when bullet is matched up 'close' for lube holes, will take a few bullets to find out where your punch needs to be, adjust punch up or down in small increments.
Just don't rush it, it'll all come in time. Just my 'two'.
Gottcha confused now ???

This may or may not help, as you may have already tried it but here goes:

The Star needs to have the punch set so it positions your boolit lube groove just above the size die lube hole, you are using just one set of lube holes right?, just as the handle linkage hits the punch for the lube pump.

As you push the handle down and activate the lube pump the linkage pushes the boolit that last bit of distance to center the lube groove with the set of holes your using in the size die. No excess lube on boolits. any holes not used in the die can be shut of with lead shot I think 8 or 9 is the shot size to use.

I have a 45-70 Lyman HP mold with Three lube grooves I had Lathesmith make me a custom size die with my center to center measurements off the lube grooves in the mold.

Set up was about 4 minutes and I get all three grooves filled on every pass, never have to repeat and don't get excess lube unless I run to much heat, that Star still runs Carnauba Red and has a heater.

Out of curiosity what boolit are you lubing?

HM

Hey HM, it's a 190 gr SWC 45 acp bullet. I'll take another look but honestly the 3 dots are very faint. I think I may have it figured out. When I have the budget I will give the lath smith dies a try.

Really appreciate the help

Joe

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Originally Posted by HeavyMetal

This may or may not help, as you may have already tried it but here goes:

The Star needs to have the punch set so it positions your boolit lube groove just above the size die lube hole, you are using just one set of lube holes right?, just as the handle linkage hits the punch for the lube pump.

As you push the handle down and activate the lube pump the linkage pushes the boolit that last bit of distance to center the lube groove with the set of holes your using in the size die. No excess lube on boolits. any holes not used in the die can be shut of with lead shot I think 8 or 9 is the shot size to use.

I have a 45-70 Lyman HP mold with Three lube grooves I had Lathesmith make me a custom size die with my center to center measurements off the lube grooves in the mold.

Set up was about 4 minutes and I get all three grooves filled on every pass, never have to repeat and don't get excess lube unless I run to much heat, that Star still runs Carnauba Red and has a heater.

Out of curiosity what boolit are you lubing?

HM

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