Am I overthinking this? (momemade heater for 450 and 45 sizers)

[rtracy2001]

I have 2 Lyman 45s and one Lyman 450 waiting to get set up on the bench. I plan on using Carnuba Red in the 450 for my 8mm & 30 cal, and BAC in the 45s for my 40 S&W and .357. The BAC will work without a heater on the warm days, but not in the winter when I have time to use it. The CR needs a heater.

Reading through the posts it seems a popular solution is to mount the sizer on an oversized steel or aluminum plate and place an old iron behind the sizer on the plate. Simple enough, until I get to thinking about it.

First, heat does not rise. Heated air does rise because it is less dense than the cooler air around it, but heat itself is just energy and it will go up down or sideways, whichever has the least resistance. It is a lot like electricity in that respect.

Second, the heater plate will always be warmer than the the item it is heating.

Third, my bench is made of wood. Wood is a pretty good thermal insulator, but it is also combustible. If I have a brain fart and leave the iron on for extended periods, the wood under the heater plate will get hot and possibly combust = Really bad day.

So thinking about the above three items of trivia, do I need to add another noncombustible insulating layer between the bench and the heating plate? No one has really mentioned it (that I have come across). I was thinking a 12x12x.25 ceramic tile might do the trick, but they are hard to drill and easy to crack/break.

Thoughts or comments?

[swheeler]

If you are worried about it, use cement board under the metal plate, non combustible and easy to cut and drill. If you know a tile setter he can get you a scrap to use.

[1hole]

Heat rises in air, it doesn't rise in metal.

Put about 1/4" to 1/2" spacers - doubled nuts, a stack of washers, etc - under your metal base plate's retainers so air can circulate under it and all will be well.

[midnight]

I glue sheet cork on the bottom of the aluminum plate but I'm only using 25 watt cartridge heaters. A dimmer switch in the line controls the voltage so it just gets warm, not hot.

Bob

[Kraschenbirn]

You don't want too apply too much heat...trust me on this...'cause those Lyman resizers WILL bleed completely melted lube like you would not believe. I use a small travel iron, set on the lowest "delicates" setting to keep the lubes in my (2) Lyman 450s just soft enough to flow under pressure. According to my infrared thermometer, that setting maintains my baseplate at around 110 deg. (F) and the body of my sizer(s) at 102-104 deg. (F).

Bill

[OuchHot!]

Depending on your room temp. it might be possible to use a clip on lamp with the soon to be banned incandescent lamp/environmental heating units. That has sufficed for most of my stiffer lubes and I can't walk away without turning off the light. Lo-tech but pretty easily adjusted. My lyman 450 does bleed and so that is what I use for it...my saeco is on a Al block with cartridge heaters. I can't tell the hi-tech works better than the lamp.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I located a large enough Aluminum plate 5/8" thick. Using an round nose end mill, 3/8", I made a series of "S" turns in the plate. I provided an entrance and exit cut on 1 side. I placed a scavanged slow cooker heat coil and placed it in the "S" cut with the ends at the in/out cuts. I attached 12/3 wire with a light dimmer switch to control the amount of heat. A room type on/off switch in a box provide a way to turn it on/off. Lastly an outlet plug for 110 current. I made 3 of these units for myself and other casters. I insulated underneath the heater with concrete board and a piece of thin aluminum on top of the heater, cut outs on the sides of the aluminum block allow it to be bolted with the sizer to a bench.Robert

[jsizemore]

Way overthinking a nonexistent problem. My CR is applied when the temp is 89-91*F way below the ignition temp of wood. Heat flows from warmer to cooler without any meaningful effect from gravity. If your subject to senior moments then put it on a timer.

[Springfield]

I use an iron on top of an aluminum plate on top of a piece of wood. The plate never needs to get warmer than I can touch, so no way it will ignite the wood. And it gets the sizer plenty warm enough to soften the lube. Small travel irons work best, full size have too many watts.