An official member of the club now!

[novalty]

Well last Wednesday I placed an order for a new Magma Star Lube Sizer. Amazingly they had some in stock and shipped the same day. Received this beauty in the mail on Friday. Now just waiting on my order from Lathesmith for sizing dies, top punches, lock nuts w/set screws, and roller L-handle. Just have to figure out how I am going to mount it to my bench.

[hermans]

Welcome to the Star club! Once have got it setup and running, you will never look back. Just read the instructions/tips posted here by many great casters, and you will get her up and running in no time.
Enjoy your new Star!

[lathesmith]

That Star looks beautiful Paul! Your stuff is on its way, you should have it in a few days.

lathesmith

[novalty]

Thanks Chris! Was expecting your items to arrive well ahead of the sizer, as I had read Magma Engineering had a couple week lead time. Was extremely shocked when I ordered and they said that they would have it out that day.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to set it up on my bench. Really like the raised shelf with pullout catch bin underneath.

[cajun shooter]

A good way that I've used and still do when not using the Star heater base is to purchase a 1/2 inch thick piece of aluminum that is about 4 x 10 or 12. Just sit the Star on the aluminum and then use 4 in. c clamps to hold both pieces to your loading bench. The big plus for this type of mounting is that it does not have to stay mounted to your bench when not being used and leaves your bench open for other task.
I do this with all of my extra components like extra powder measures, trimmers, powder measures and so on. the only thing that is a permanent mount is my press. The pieces of aluminum of different sizes are easy to purchase off of Fleabay for about $10 and up. I paid $14 for the piece that one of my Stars is on at this time. It's 12 inches in length and allows me to use a small travel iron on for heat control if I'm using a lube that requires it. No holes in the bench and I'm able to mount my tools anywhere I need them and not forced to use just one position on the bench all the time. Later David

[ReloaderFred]

All 6 of my Star machines are mounted on 10" x 10" 1 1/4" thick plywood. When not in use, they're sitting on shelves, and when needed they're clamped to my bench. I added Akro Bin hangers that I made out of steel to the front edge of my bench, and the bullets drop into the bin that hangs under it. It makes the bench much more versatile that way and I can change the machines around at will.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Big Boomer]

All good ideas mentioned. I took a little different line because of minimal space in my "locker." When we built this house, the basement walls were poured 10' high and I had a room with a footer all around on the front wall of the house that has poured and reinforced walls with a steel door and is under the front porch. Concrete all around, above and below. I built a bench across one end with shelves above and shelves at the other end. The safe sits in the middle facing the door. Having limited bench space, all my presses, including the Star sizer, are all mounted on pieces of 2"X10" of varying length and use "C" clamps at either end for stable mounting. The Star is mounted on a piece of aluminum about 3/8" thick by 1'X1' on top of a piece of 2"X10." It can be removed simply by loosening two "C" clamps. My Dillon XL 650 is similarly mounted as well as a Hornady ProJector and a Lyman Spar-T turret press. They can all be taken off the bench and set outside the "locker" if needed. Very handy and works well for me. Big Boomer

[bessemer20]

I too just joined the club by buying one off of s&s here. Been looking and was going to order a new one this week.

[blikseme300]

Welcome to the club. Here is the way I mount my Star's.

http://www.bliksemdonder.com/hobbies...s/star-heater/

[novalty]

Thanks for the suggestions, and thanks for the link blikseme300.

[Artful]

First a congratulations on getting a Star Lubsizer! Careful it will spoil ya.

One of these days I'm going to follow Duke Nukem's example to mount my Lubesizer
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...unting-Fixture



Lubed bullet storeage to go with

[novalty]

Received my shipment from Lathesmith today
Thanks Chris!

[novalty]

Well it is nowhere as classy as Duke Nukem's, but it's mounted to my bench.

[MT Chambers]

The Star is to be mounted on your aluminum heater, either Lyman or Star.

[novalty]

The Star is to be mounted on your aluminum heater, either Lyman or Star.

I expect to be adding one in the near future.

[FISH4BUGS]

Be sure to get some tranquilizers. You will get so frustrated at times that you wonder why you bought the darn thing! If you get to that point, walk away and take a Prozac.
But once you figure it out you will be wondering why you didn't buy one sooner. I struggled with mine for over a YEAR only to find out an internal part was broken. Magma rebuilt it no charge and since then it has been casting and sizing heaven.
I use a Midway heater on mine. There are only three things: depth of punch to line up with lube holes, lube pressure and lube temperature. Balance those three and get ready to size and lube 1000 an hour.

[Djones]

I am currently saving to also join the ranks. Thank you for sharing the mounting ideas.

David

[novalty]

Be sure to get some tranquilizers. You will get so frustrated at times that you wonder why you bought the darn thing! If you get to that point, walk away and take a Prozac.
But once you figure it out you will be wondering why you didn't buy one sooner. I struggled with mine for over a YEAR only to find out an internal part was broken. Magma rebuilt it no charge and since then it has been casting and sizing heaven.
I use a Midway heater on mine. There are only three things: depth of punch to line up with lube holes, lube pressure and lube temperature. Balance those three and get ready to size and lube 1000 an hour.

Thanks for the tip! Last night got that way when I went to size my first bullets with the Star. I heated up the sizer with a hair dryer, put some lube on a couple bullets to put through the sizer, and still managed to get some stuck--later to find I had slightly "modified" my new roller handle. I think the first place I am going to have to start on making things easier is a heated base. The issues I had were lube spots on top of the front driving bands, and fill out. I removed the sizing die, and back the pressure off and saw the lube was coming out still when activated. So I retried with the pressure backed off and it eliminated the lube in front of the top driving band, but then I wasn't getting complete fill on the lube grooves--which may have something to do with the temperature and hollow-sticks of TAC1 that I am using. The dies from Lathesmith did a wonderful job, and the bullets were sized nice and smooth at .452".

[novalty]

Check one more project off the list. Added the Magma Heater Base to my sizer, and re-mounted. Have some learning curve to do with the heat- but with just the heat on and no air pressure it was sizing a lot easier--now I know why the people on YouTube videos are able to go so fast.


Have to get casting some more bullets to try it out.

[FISH4BUGS]

Check one more project off the list. Added the Magma Heater Base to my sizer, and re-mounted. Have some learning curve to do with the heat- but with just the heat on and no air pressure it was sizing a lot easier--now I know why the people on YouTube videos are able to go so fast.


Have to get casting some more bullets to try it out.

The heat is very touchy. if you make a change to the heat setting, you need to let it set for about 15-20 minutes to let the heat change (up or down) take effect.
Messing with the heat is a sure way to need that Prozac. Too much heat = runny lube. Too little heat = no lube. You don't have a lot of room to wiggle. That's why I finally settled on one lube and use it for everything. I got the heat thing down with that one lube. I just need to bump it up just a touch in the winter when it starts from cold.
Don't mess with multiple settings at a time. Do one change then see if it works. Then do another.
You will get the hang of it.