Air Feed on Star Looses Air Pressure

In less than half an hour the pressure drops way down, this is not the Magma factory air system, it is an aftermarket kit a guy (on this forum I think) makes.

I have the plastic strip and radiator clamp over air bleed hole on back, have teflon tape on fittings, O-ring inside the knurled cap, and the air tank with gauge I use does not leak at all. I am going to go over the connectors with another layer of the tape, but in the meantime perhaps someone has some suggestions?

Only thing out of the ordinary is the .356" die bearing surface is .749" dia, and oozes a bit of lube out from under top of die, (was .751" diameter, too tight, my friend with lathe took too much off) all my other dies are very close to .750", I had a Star with all the extras which performed perfectly that I sold some years ago, (yeah, dumb move), so I am reasonably familiar with them,

I would use a strip of inner tube over the bleed hole, since it will give a better seal than plastic will. You can also use a couple of wraps of Teflon plumber's tape around the top of your sizing die when you install it. I've done that and it's stopped lube from leaking around the top of the die in the past.

Hope this helps.

Fred

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Originally Posted by ReloaderFred

I would use a strip of inner tube over the bleed hole, since it will give a better seal than plastic will. You can also use a couple of wraps of Teflon plumber's tape around the top of your sizing die when you install it. I've done that and it's stopped lube from leaking around the top of the die in the past.

Hope this helps.

Fred

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Thanks Fred, but does not the teflon tape slide up to the top of the die against the flange, it is a close fit between the die and frame, if so, perhaps a thin o-ring would be better?

I don't know nothing about these, but if I was looking for an air leak I'd fill a squirt bottle with soap an water and spray it down. doesn't take much to show an air leak Good luck

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Originally Posted by Idahoan

Thanks Fred, but does not the teflon tape slide up to the top of the die against the flange, it is a close fit between the die and frame, if so, perhaps a thin o-ring would be better?

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I put a couple of wraps of Teflon tape so it just covers the flange, with most of it under the flange. When the die is fully seated, some of the tape will get pushed up, but enough is left to usually seal it enough to stop the leakage. I just trim off the excess above the flange with a razor blade.

I've tried to get a thin O-ring in there, but without much luck. The tape has worked better for me on my machines.

Hope this helps.

Fred

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Originally Posted by Brassduck

I don't know nothing about these, but if I was looking for an air leak I'd fill a squirt bottle with soap an water and spray it down. doesn't take much to show an air leak Good luck

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That was going to be the next step, did not think about soap tho', I assume that is to make the mix stick better?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ReloaderFred

I put a couple of wraps of Teflon tape so it just covers the flange, with most of it under the flange. When the die is fully seated, some of the tape will get pushed up, but enough is left to usually seal it enough to stop the leakage. I just trim off the excess above the flange with a razor blade.

I've tried to get a thin O-ring in there, but without much luck. The tape has worked better for me on my machines.

Hope this helps.

Fred

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I will try the tape first Fred, thanks, I did go to Ace Hardware and get a couple of o-rings that look promising, they are 11/16ths ID and small enough so they do not extend past flange of die, but they are .062" thick so would need to back off the top punch that much,

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Originally Posted by Idahoan

That was going to be the next step, did not think about soap tho', I assume that is to make the mix stick better?

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Soap is for making bubbles, easily to see the air leak, even a slow leak...that's an old tire repair shop trick.

Well, the struggle continues, life kinda' got in the way for a couple of weeks, but I tried to get the Star going earlier. One thing I noticed was that my air tank went from 51 PSI to 45 PSI in 2 weeks or so, used to keep it's pressure for years so something is out of wack there. I fought it for an hour or so to trying to get the bullets to lube right, (not completely filling groove) and tank was down to 40 PSI, so probably still have a leak in the system somewhere also,

Star/Magma says a minimum of 60 PSI, so I will put more air in the tank tomorrow and see if it is pressure being too low that is causing the groove to not fill properly,

I use a lot less air pressure than 60 lbs. The air pressure needs to be balanced with the lube softness.

Did a session yesterday and today with more air, went from 80PSI to 65PSI in an hour or so altho' most of time was spent making minor adjustments to top punch depth and auto bullet feeder. Air tank today was down to 51PSI, then down to 38PSI after lubing a few hundred, so will try the soapy water method to find leaks,

Oh, the groove is filling OK now, part of problem was that I filled the new (to me) press with Magma hard green lube but there was some of the previous lube left and the filled groove did not look quite "right", (old weak eyes) the bullet I was sizing was a Lee 125 gr RN 9MM, narrow and shallow groove compared to the 45's I am used to, and everything had to right on, I found,

Thanks for the help folks,

PSI 51 down to 38 in a few hundred bullets is definitely not normal.There has got to be an air loss somewhere in the system.The soapy water test is probably the tool that'll help you make the right diagnosis here.
About the ''bizarre''groove fill,I've observed that when I add a lube tube and if it has an air pocket in it or between the 2 tubes of lube(I make my own lube;that's how I've learned that a perfectly square base and top of lube tube is important)it will leave a portion of the groove unfilled.This situation will last as long as the air pocket is not exhausted.Normally,when this happens,you'll hear a small ''pop'' while the handle is pushed downward for the lubricating part of the operation.When the ''pop''is not heard anymore,the air pocket has escaped. Good luck!