Newbie wants a Star sizer - needs some support for understanding!

[6bg6ga]

I found this

http://www.magmaengineering.com/comp...ners/click/14/


and clicking on the price list I come up with the same list Fred has

[chloe123]

Not trying to be argumentative here , but, it's not 275$


it may have been and likely was if that was published;however, it's currently 338$. Of course, there's a reliable way to verify pricing.

[6bg6ga]

If you click on my link it shows $325.00 and if you do some reading it says the price could change without notice. So I wouldn't be surprised if it was $338.00

[jayjay1]

Just paid 338$ five days ago, so...

[pjh421]

6bg6ga,
I noticed in an old post that you were developing an improved feed mechanism for the Star lubrisizer. Is that still in progress?

Paul

[6bg6ga]

6bg6ga,
I noticed in an old post that you were developing an improved feed mechanism for the Star lubrisizer. Is that still in progress?

Paul

Paul,

I haven't had time to work on it lately but probably will this winter and will update then.

[jayjay1]

Got my sizer, waiting for the dies from lathesmith and a heated plate from a buddy over here.

I played a little around with the star and found this huge brass screw, on the left side at the bottom.

What is this for?

[6bg6ga]

Got my sizer, waiting for the dies from lathesmith and a heated plate from a buddy over here.

I played a little around with the star and found this huge brass screw, on the left side at the bottom.

What is this for?

Leave it alone... the Magma will self destruct if you touch it.

Its just a clean out and you'll never need it unless you plan on putting your sizer on the shelf for 30 years and the lube hardens. If that happens its just easier to put a fresh stick in and cycle the machine with no sizing die installed. I bought a 50 year old Star that someone hadn't used for 35 years and it had some kind of home made lube in it that no heater would loosen up or melt. I finally ran 1.5 sticks of lube thru it with the clean out plugs removed and it pushed all the old stuff out.

[jayjay1]

Oh, dissapointing, such a nice *Bling-Bling* screw...

[jayjay1]

Hello again!

Star sizer is here and worked pretty well with Lathesmith´s lubecalibrating dies.

Have lubesized with a pretty weak lube, without any problems.
But that stuff was very smoky, so I´ve switched over today to a harder lube (Vaseline, Parafin, Beeswax, each 1/3rd).

So I had to turn up the pressure a little bit and gave ´em some heat (85° F).

The lube came out of the upper side of the die, while I was lubesizing.
Taking down pressure or heat didn´t fill the lube grooves nicely, the lube got a white and dull "ring" on the upper side of the groove.

The O-rings have been damaged a bit because of changing the dies for three calibers.
Is it just to put in the new O-rings, or is there more what can be done?

Have I to change the O-rings every time I change the die?
And where should I set them, on the die or into the sizer´s bumphole?

Sharing your experiences and knowledge would make me a happier man.

[6bg6ga]

Hello again!

Star sizer is here and worked pretty well with Lathesmith´s lubecalibrating dies.

Have lubesized with a pretty weak lube, without any problems.
But that stuff was very smoky, so I´ve switched over today to a harder lube (Vaseline, Parafin, Beeswax, each 1/3rd).

So I had to turn up the pressure a little bit and gave ´em some heat (85° F).

The lube came out of the upper side of the die, while I was lubesizing.
Taking down pressure or heat didn´t fill the lube grooves nicely, the lube got a white and dull "ring" on the upper side of the groove.

The O-rings have been damaged a bit because of changing the dies for three calibers.
Is it just to put in the new O-rings, or is there more what can be done?

Have I to change the O-rings every time I change the die?
And where should I set them, on the die or into the sizer´s bumphole?

Sharing your experiences and knowledge would make me a happier man.

I gave up on the o-rings and don't use them anymore and it doesn't leak either. Results may vary with machines.

Slowly turn up the pressure and see if it makes a difference. Do one thing at a time. Try increasing pressure and see if there is a change and if not return the pressure to its original setting and turn up the heat a few degrees and try it.

On mine when I an showing a whitish groove fill I turn up the pressure and it fills with a nice color. There are no absolutes unfortunately and experience may be the only teacher.

[jayjay1]

Experience is always the best teacher, but it comes slowly.
Thank you for the infos.

Well, normally I don´t want to be a know-it-all, but the phrase "experience may be the only teacher" brought me to an old chinese saying.

"The idiot never learns it,
the clever one learns through experience,
but the wise man,
he learns through the experiences others have made before him."

My goal is not to be an idiot as often as I can.


Cheers,
Jay

[Lead Fred]

Oldie dont need no fancy machine to do what a $2 cake pan has been doin for decades

[HATCH]

I use a oversize o-ring. I cut a piece out of it so when I put the ends together its the right size.
It allows me to insert and remove dies easily.
It prevents 99% of the leaks. I am one of the unlucky ones that without the o-ring my star will leak lube regardless of the maker of the die itself (Chris or Magma)

[jayjay1]

Oldie dont need no fancy machine to do what a $2 cake pan has been doin for decades

If the Oldie is fancy sizelubing 2.000 bullets an hour this way, he is probably righty-right.

But me nooby doesn´t have the time to swing the pan...

[jayjay1]

I use a oversize o-ring. I cut a piece out of it so when I put the ends together its the right size.
It allows me to insert and remove dies easily.
It prevents 99% of the leaks. I am one of the unlucky ones that without the o-ring my star will leak lube regardless of the maker of the die itself (Chris or Magma)

Where do you set this rings and how do you fix them, so that they don´t fall of wenn seating the die?

[HATCH]

On my sizer there is a groove in the base of the star

[jayjay1]

At mine too, two grooves, one on the top and one on the bottom.

So you set it into the star´s groove, but how do you fix it?

I mean it should come out when setting the die, not?

[HATCH]

I do the top groove. It doesn't come out when I remove the die or it hasn't the past 5 times.
I do everything is batches.
If I am casting I do two coffee cans.
When I am sizing, I size two coffee cans.
This means for some I have a 6 months supply and for others a year.
The setup time for the Master Caster and the star is the same to do 100 boolits or 10000 boolits.
So I try to do large batches so the setup time is worth while.

Its kinda like if the wife sends me to the store for a gallon of milk, I don't just come home with one gallon.

[jayjay1]

Of course I normally do too.

But having the sizer new and got three different new dies, I tried a little bit back and forth, also to check out the size of the dies, etc..

Wth!
Two coffee cans casting, that´s a lot!
How long do you need for this?