My New Old Star Lubesizer

[texasmac]

Bruce,

Thanks for the Phelps Engineering history. Interesting reading.

Wayne

[texasmac]

Bruce,

Do you know when Magma Engr. purchased the rights to manufacture & sell the Star Lubesizers? Thanks.

Wayne

[rbwillnj]

Star closed their doors sometime in 1997. That's when Magma Engineering bought the Lubesizer business and Bill Cunningham bought the reloader business. I bought the reloader business from Bill in 2014.

I'm not sure, but I think Magma might have had an arrangement with Star where they were selling Star Lubesizers and dies before 1997.

[ReloaderFred]

Among my collection of Star Sizers, there is a tall "commercial" version marked Magma. The tall one holds three sticks of lube in the reservoir, and mine is the only one I've seen, though I know there are others out there, but usually marked Star. On mine, the collet the handle goes through had been drilled slightly off and when the handle was in the lowest position, my knuckles hit the base. The previous owner had bent the handle up to save his knuckles, but I wanted to use a roller handle on mine, since I find them so much easier to use, especially for long sessions.

I called Magma and they told me it must have been built by Star, since they didn't sell any, but when I told them is was stamped Magma, they told me it must have been one of the first ones they made when they took over the product line. He did tell me they still had a couple of the longer reservoirs in the back from the original parts they received from Star. I did send my machine back, and they installed a new collet with the proper angle for the roller handle.

I also have another one that I though may have been a prototype, since the castings are slightly different, especially the carrier casting. It hadn't been drilled for a handle, but instead had a 1/2" bolt head, and the previous owner had used a 1/2" wrench for a handle. Magma installed the proper collet for use with a roller handle, and they told me they believed someone had made a copy of either a Star, or a Magma machine, rather than a prototype. I'll have to work on getting some pictures of these two machines and see if I can post them.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[rbwillnj]

Reloader Fred,

You mean something like this?

[ReloaderFred]

Yep, that's the tall one. Mine is Magma stamped on the base and requires the O-ring on the die, or it will leak. Once the O-ring is in place, it doesn't leak at all.

For some of my Star sizers, I use teflon plumber's tape around the top of the sizing die, and that takes care of most of the seeping of lube around the die. There's no telling how many thousands of bullets have been through my machines, but they were all used when I purchased them. Some had been used hard, and a couple had hardly been used at all.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[texasmac]

Since starting this thread I've received several dies, a couple of punches and accessories from Chris Smith (lathesmith). I've lubed several hundred bullets so far with no lube leakage around the top of the dies but I am getting a little lube leakage around the bottom of the dies.

Also, I asked the question earlier about the need for the die set screw & no one responded. My Phelps does not have one and I fail to see the benefit. If there is a reason for the screw I could easily drill and tap for it. Any comments?

BTW, Chris Smith (lathesmith) makes some very nice dies and accessories for the Star. I'm very pleased with his pricing and service.

Wayne

[rbwillnj]

The set screw is meant to hold the die in place. It's possible, but extremely rare that lube pressure could push the die up. If that's not a problem for you, then don't worry about the set screw. The set screw is often a source of lube leakage...but a minor problem.

[texasmac]

The set screw is meant to hold the die in place. It's possible, but extremely rare that lube pressure could push the die up. If that's not a problem for you, then don't worry about the set screw. The set screw is often a source of lube leakage...but a minor problem.

Thanks Bruce. Since it has not been a problem so far I'd never considered the lube pushing the die up.

Wayne

[ReloaderFred]

Bruce,

Here's a photo of my tall Star, next to my Star copy:



Notice on the copy how the carrier casting was made, and on the base, the screw hole positions are just off enough that it won't fit on a heater base. Whoever made it, used a 1/2" wrench for a handle, but Magma installed the regular bushing on it and it now sports a regular handle.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[gnappi]

I'd go so far to say you had a GR8 sizer before you spent the time. Thanks, now I know what's under all of the stuff on mine.