Star/Magma Lubesizer NOT Plug and Play:)

[RedHawk357Mag]

Holy Kow!!! This thing is kicking my keyster all over the garage!! What I got: New Magma Star Lube-sizer, Magma lube heater(heater seems set correctly; not too stiff or too runny) LatheSmith die .431 with matching punch, Carnuba Red Lube, sizing Accurate Molds #43-240T.
Melted lube from stick in old four cup coffee maker poured into reservoir. Plug extra holes in die, (still plugged) and adjusted the punch and locked the lock ring on punch to correct depth with bullet nose first to line up lube grove with remaining open lube holes sized a previous sized bullet to lube die. Got couple partial fills re ran them through die. Ran 25 bullets through trying to figure out if there was point where it would settled down. Got partial fills, got fills with ogive covered in lube, got crimp groove filled with lube. I pulled die out to check and see if the plug holes came unplugged, When I pulled the die I had alot of lube come out which led me to believe too much pressure? Summed up I have got a mess reviled only to tumble lubing with uncut mule snot. Surprised there isn't a sticky already of troubleshooting procedures on these crazy things. I can't tell if I got too much pressure or not enough. I am pretty sure I got the depth right, but lubed crimp groove and ogive kind of suggests otherwise. The included instructions lol

[btroj]

I feel your pain. I went thru the same ordeal a couple years ago when I got mine.
A couple things that I found helped.

Small , like quarter turn, changes in punch depth can make huge differences. Go small if getting lube in crimp groove. You are close.
Increase pressure before adding more heat. Pressure will fix the partial fill outs. Adding heat will only cause misery once you go past what you need.
Lube on the ogive may not be due to punch adjustment issues. You might have too much heat and lube is oozing out as you push down handle to size next bullet. It comes out in front of next bu
Let and gets on nose. Been there, done that. This is my sign to back off heat. A lot.
You also can get lube on nose by having bullet too deep in die, not too shallow. If too deep it comes out behind bullet waiting for nose of next one to clear it out.
I also find that poor lube fill out can be due to short stroking handle. You need to pill handle down all the way every time. The bottom of stroke is when the lune is actually injected. This is vert easy to do.
Keep at it. It took me hours to get it figured out. This over a week or two. And I still fight it at times. I made an adjustment for my heater from a dimmer switch. And you need a lot less heat than you think. Warm is what you want, not hot. I bet mine doesn't need to be over 85 degrees. The lube nerds to flow,not run, under pressure.
And don't add too much lube when refilling the reservoir. If you do, you ain't getting the spring and plunger back in far enough to get the top on. Trust me, I know.

If you have other questions feel free to send a pm. Once you get it figured out you will wonder why you waited so long to get one. They are amazing sizers, just not friendly to first time users.

Brad

[dragonrider]

I don't know if you went from a lyman to a star but if so a star does not work the same way and there is a learning curve. Pressure from the lube cylinder does not lube the die, it feed the lube pump so one needs only enough pressure to get lube into the pump. This varies with the lube, hard, soft, warm, cold. Do not dispair, one day you be happily lubing boolits and wondering why you thought it was difficult.

[RedHawk357Mag]

Figured it out. Depth was incorrect I ASSUMED that lock nut butted against the die for adjustment. It does not. It's working now with just a smidge of lube in crimp grove . Really close to good setting now . Cleaning the 25 bullets of excessive lube I should be ok now lol. Thanks both of you you were pretty much spot on.

[btroj]

I don't even mess with the locknut. I don't seem to have any trouble with things moving and it eliminates another thing to mess with.

These things are great bit the learning curve can be a killer. Glad you got it figured out.

[Down South]

Looks like you figured out to back the pressure off before removing a die too. It can get messy quick.

[AbitNutz]

I have enough grief with mine that I'm thinking of adding the air pressure rig. That will either make it more consistent or complicate it beyond mortal understanding.

[btroj]

I too am thinking about the air pressure rig. Just haven't decided I want to spend the money for it. Also don't really want an air tank to get in the way. Too much **** in loading area already.

I also have found that heat is much more critical than pressure. Too much heat is almost as bad as too little.

[HATCH]

It isn't as bad as you think.
I was up and running in a hour without reading the manual.

Getting the boolit in the correct spot in the die is the hardest thing.
Without any boolits in the die, pull the handle all the way down and see if you can pump lube into the die. If there is no lube coming into the die then there is no point on trying to lube a boolit.

Once you got lube going into the die, put a boolit in.
Look at the boolit, there isn't a huge amount of area to get lined up with the unplugged holes.
The longest amount of time in setting up is getting the boolit in the sweet spot.

[Dennis Eugene]

But once ya figger it out the first time, the next time gets easier and so on and so on. Dennis P.S. write down your measurments of the depth settings, makes it much easier when you change from one bullet to another.

[Roundnoser]

But once ya figger it out the first time, the next time gets easier and so on and so on. Dennis P.S. write down your measurments of the depth settings, makes it much easier when you change from one bullet to another.

I don't want to get too far off topic here, but a friend of mine gave me a great idea for keeping adjustments really easy when switching between bullet designs on the Star... A neat trick!

Once your top punch is set, and bullet are lubing just right, take a paper clip and pull one end of it out so its at a 90 degree angle. put the single wire-end of the paper clip into the die until it touches the base of the bullet. Where the paper clip wire meets the top of the sizing die, make a mark with a Sharpie pen. On the remaining part of the paperclip, make a little tag with scotch tape and write down the caliber and bullet design. Thats it! So, when you switch to a different bullet type, just keep lowering a test bullet into the die , and checking with the paper clip guage until the Sharpie mark lines up with the top of the die. It makes it ReALLY easy-- Or you can spend the money and have LatheSmith send you a top punch and locking jam nut for each bullet you size!

[Dennis Eugene]

Great idea, I'll try it 'cause I hate spending money. That's why I got married so I'd have somebody to spend my money for me. Dennis

[btroj]

I just use a trial and error method of adjustment. Maybe this is why I like to cast hundreds of one bullet then size em all. Fewer adjustments and it is volume that I got the Star for anyway.

It really is a lot easier once you get the hang of things.

[BD]

I keep my dies in old plastic 35mm film cans, (not so easy to come buy anymore). Once I have the punch adjusted just right for any given bullet I measure the distance from the tip of the punch to the bottom edge of the threaded part that the punch screws into with my caliper and write that dimension with the bullet type on a piece of tape around the film can for the die. When I change dies I just set the punch to the dimension and have at it.
BD

[RedHawk357Mag]

If your on the fence about getting one of these hummers; it's well worth it. I did the Alox thing, that was a drag. Did the pan lube thing, that was somewhat better but time consuming. Was torn about getting a Lyman 4500 or Magma. Ordered the Lyman from Midway because i just couldn't see the 250.00. The box arrived from Midway and I continued to debate the 250.00. A week later I paid the postage back to Midway and bought the Magma. This AM was the first day I messed with it. That first two hours made a cold sweat roll down my back. After I figured the depth of the bullet punch out it was smooth sailing. I lubed ALOT of bullets today. I get it that 250.00 for the press is a lot but it lubes like Katy Stanton goes through saloons. Very happy with it overall. My tip: If you get excess lube back the pressure off until it stops lubing bullets then start reapplying pressure. The paper clip sounds like a winner as well. Thanks folks.

[Tmaloy]

I too am thinking about the air pressure rig. Just haven't decided I want to spend the money for it. Also don't really want an air tank to get in the way. Too much **** in loading area already.

I also have found that heat is much more critical than pressure. Too much heat is almost as bad as too little.

Well, you could do what we are doing in this thread.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=99330

I keep my dies in old plastic 35mm film cans, (not so easy to come buy anymore). Once I have the punch adjusted just right for any given bullet I measure the distance from the tip of the punch to the bottom edge of the threaded part that the punch screws into with my caliper and write that dimension with the bullet type on a piece of tape around the film can for the die. When I change dies I just set the punch to the dimension and have at it.
BD

I use old prescription pill bottles from the pharmacy, fits a die, top punch with a locknut on it. I label them with the die sizes and keep in a little plastic container for storage.

Troy

[casterofboolits]

Using a Star Lube Sizer with a heater is a balancing act between temperature, pressure and the lube you are using. Except for some wadcutter boolits, I only lube single grease groove boolits. I only use Magma Lube

If I change from a 38/357 to a 9mm boolit, I put the 38 and 9mm boolits on a flat surface and use Eyeball Mk 1 to note the difference from the base of the boolit to the grease groove and adjust the top punch up or down accordingly. I have put a couple million boolits (had a cast boolit business for over twenty years) thru Star size dies and can change dies and calibers in under five minutes.

Make sure the unused holes in the size dies are completly closed off as you can get lube bleed off on the nose of the boolit. This can also occur if the temp is too high and too much pressure is applied.

Once you get past the learning curve, You'll be happy with the Star. I put the boolit feeder and a collator on one of my Stars and actually lubed 2,000 nines in one hour, but had to take an hour break to recover.

[bobthenailer]

ive used perhaps 8 different hard /comercial lubes over the years in my star with a old c & h heater with a adjustiable thermostat, the temps run from 90* to 98* for all lubes ive used. i like warm lube and light pressure . but every lube & bullet has a sweet spot, you just have to find it ! and once found write it down for reference. i drilled a hole in the base plate and use a automotive a/c thermoter with a stem , insert it in the hole and you can moniter temp of lube.
i have also found to let the heater / lube warm up from 20 to 30 minuets before operation.

bob