lube heaters

[Beekeeper]

I remember a post somewhere here about using a pencil soldering iron as a lube heater.
Does anyone remember it or know where to find the post?
Tried search to no avail.
Apparintly I have zero search skills as I can never find anything I am looking for.
If I ever find it I will hard copy it and then will not lose it.


beekeeper

[fryboy]

found this post

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=606287&postcount=8

on this thread

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=57251&highlight=soldering+iron

there are a couple of other comments in there about it and it seems i recall (vaguely ) of another thread where they placed the tip somewhere on the sizer body ( but my search didnt pull one like that up [shrugz] )

[runfiverun]

i recall the use of heating elements from curling irons and such being inserted into a hollow cavity in a plate of aluminum to heat the base of a lubrisizer.

[LeadBrain]

I bought a Replacement solder iron heater off evilbay and mounted it to a screw in a block of aluminum with my Lubrisizer mounted to it. Works but I am in the process of replacing it with a cartridge type heater element due to the wasted heat from the solder iron element (which is nice in the winter!). If I did it with the solder heat method again I would have just bought a cheap solder Iron and drilled a hole for the tip and inserted it in the Aluminum block or better yet save yourself the trouble and Drill hole for a Cartridge heater and insert, no wasted heat.

[midnight]

Search ebay for a cartridge heater. You only need 25 watts. Mine was a cartridege from an oil pan heater. I use an aluminum plate 3/4 in thick and bore a hole the proper dia in the side for the cartridge. I use a sliding dimmer switch for heat control. I have a 1 in thick plate for the next one. Some one correct me if I'm wrong but a 220 volt heater run at 110 would give ¼ the rated wattage so don't pass up a 220 volt heater if its around 100 watts.

Bob

[LeadBrain]

If Memory serves me correct I believe 220v run at 110v would be half the rated wattage. If you have a 220v 150watt heater running at 110v it should put out 75watts. Volts divided by Resistance equals Amps. Cut voltage in half = half Power, Cut resistance in half = 2x the power.

[Shiloh]

Is the heat from a soldering pencil enough to get the job done?? It is a concentrated heat in a small area. I would think it would disipate as it attempts to travel around the Lubrisizer housing. Let me know how it works.

Shiloh

[C.F.Plinker]

Power is Volts times Amps (W=VI). Amps is Volts divided by resistance (A=V/R). Watts is V times V/R which equals Volts squared divided by Resistance (W=V^2/R). Since the resistance doesn't change if you double the voltage you get 4 times the heat or if you cut the voltage in half you get 1/4 of the heat.

In a previous life I wrote specifications for large motors which had heaters in them to prevent condensation. We would often specifiy that the motors be equipped with 240 volt heaters that were sized for operation at 120 volts. This way we got heaters sized to do the job but because we operated them at half voltage we never had to worry about them burning out.

[runfiverun]

you want it to migrate your super cold lube up at the spring isn't gonna help you much.
warming the body of the sizer is more what you need.

[Mooseman]

Living in Alaska, you have to know about different heaters, heat tapes , etc.
I use a 25w Kat's silicone pad heater to heat my lube now.They sell for 13.99 or less. It can be placed either under the luber sizer on an aluminum plate or it can be tie wrapped to the side of the casting where the lube is. It gets very warm very quickly.
We use the larger ones on our oil pans glued with clear silicone adhesive so your engine turns over easier for winter starting.
Here is a link with a picture.
http://www.amazon.com/Kats-24025-Watt-Universal-Heater/dp/B000I8XDBM

Rich

[LeadBrain]

Mooseman, That pad looks like a great way to heat the lube!

Midnight, C.F.Plinker- You both are correct it is a 1/4 of the Watts when going from 220 to 110v! I was thinking amps but that doesn't apply to Watts. Logic told me 1/2, Math says 1/4. oops![smilie=1:

[uaskme]

Does the cartridge heater wire to the switch or do you have to have a transformer or something.

[Exclr8]

I used the flat heating element from a $5 candle warmer. Gets my star to 98 degrees with the shop about 55 degrees. Made a little cutout area on the bench and drilled a hole for the cord.

http://img.tapatalk.com/625d58b8-01bc-d0c9.jpg

[LeadBrain]

Does the cartridge heater wire to the switch or do you have to have a transformer or something.

If you use a 110 volt Cartridge heater or a 220 volt (which will give a 1/4 of the rated wattage as was pointed out earlier in the posts) or any of the other excellent suggested methods that have been mentioned, you can just wire it to a plug ( I used a old extension cord my dog chewed up part of) with or without a switch (I would suggest some type of switch or control) and/ or wire it to a dimmer switch, or other controller such as a router control or PID (Like others have posted about, just search PID) for heat control. The PID is the Cats meow and I hope to go that route in the future. Set it and it will do all the work. Mine gets too hot some times if i don't pay attention and turn it off soon enough.