New luber mount with heater

[Apple Man]

I just picked up another Lyman 450 luber and don't like how they over hang the edge of the bench. Plus I switched to White Label BAC lube which requires some heat to flow better. (my loading room is cool)

So I made a new mount that can be screwed anywhere on the bench and have a 100 watt light bulb fixture that fits inside to heat it.

[Bill M]

Good idea!
Before I got a base heater, I would set a drop light next to the sizer to warm it up, of course nowadays bulbs are LED, no heat! I'm running low on incandescent bulbs that heat the pressure switch for our water pump, found out there is a heater with a screw base. Would work well for your setup also!

[John Wayne]

Very nice solution!

[Apple Man]

Quite some time ago I bought a bunch of incandescent bulbs and looked at them wondering why did I do that. Now I am glad I did.

[Apple Man]

Very nice solution!

Thanks. I was using a clamp on light with a metal shade but it heated from the top down. This will heat from the base up and get the reservoir also.

A 100 watt bulb puts out a surprising amount of heat.

I am moving this luber to a different bench and now the luber won't interfere with the drawers opening.

[Winger Ed.]

Good idea.

It might take a little digging to find them, but if ya need one,
I think the old school, red, heat lamp bulbs are still out there.

[Apple Man]

Good idea.

It might take a little digging to find them, but if ya need one,
I think the old school, red, heat lamp bulbs are still out there.

Yeah, I think I saw one at Menard's the other day.

The old clamp on light had it ready to go in 20 min., 30 was almost too much. This with the heat below the luber I think is going to work better.

I have $11 in this build.

[45_Colt]

Nice setup. Bulb below should work a treat. If it gets too hot an inexpensive simple light dimmer will do the trick.

45_Colt

[country gent]

Different wattage bulbs may be the answer also. 100 watt puts out more heat than a 40 watt. The old soup vending machines used a 100 watt bulb to heat the soup cans in them. I think most true heat bulbs would be to much in that enclosed area. With the mass of the enclosure and sizers base once up to temp it may maintain for quite a while on its own. A timer to cycle the light on and off every 20-30 mins may regulate / maintain temp as good as anything.

[Apple Man]

Different wattage bulbs may be the answer also. 100 watt puts out more heat than a 40 watt. The old soup vending machines used a 100 watt bulb to heat the soup cans in them. I think most true heat bulbs would be to much in that enclosed area. With the mass of the enclosure and sizers base once up to temp it may maintain for quite a while on its own. A timer to cycle the light on and off every 20-30 mins may regulate / maintain temp as good as anything.

Pretty much what I was thinking. If it is too much, I'll drop to a 60 watt. The stand has a fair amount of steel in it so it should hold temp for a while even if switched off. Plus a small plate of steel could just be leaned against the back to completely enclose and hold heat in with a small notch cut out for the cord.

I normally don't lube more than 300 at a time. Before with the clamp on light lube flowed well for 200 or so and got stiffer for the last 100 but was satisfactory.

A simple inexpensive dimmer switch would also work with an incandescent bulb, but I don't think it is going to be necessary.

[ulav8r]

A dimmer would allow for full heat til the lube gets to desired temp, then reduce wattage to maintain temp. Would be more user friendly for long lubing sessions and might require a lot of trial and error to find the best settings.
An on and off timer might require less trial. A thermometer at some location on the base or luber and an on/off switch could probably work as well. On the first run determine the temperature at which the lube flows well, turn the light off till the lube gets stiff and note that temperature. From that just note the temp occasionally to know when to turn the light on or off.

PS: For those that aren't capable of paying attention to several things at once, you could add a PID controller to the light/heat source.

[Apple Man]

A dimmer would allow for full heat til the lube gets to desired temp, then reduce wattage to maintain temp. Would be more user friendly for long lubing sessions and might require a lot of trial and error to find the best settings.
An on and off timer might require less trial. A thermometer at some location on the base or luber and an on/off switch could probably work as well. On the first run determine the temperature at which the lube flows well, turn the light off till the lube gets stiff and note that temperature. From that just note the temp occasionally to know when to turn the light on or off.

PS: For those that aren't capable of paying attention to several things at once, you could add a PID controller to the light/heat source.

Gotta say you made me laugh. I don't have enough attention span to endure lubing more than 300 boolits at a pop anyway.