Demagnetized

[monadnock#5]

A couple of weeks ago I tried loading 9mm ammo using a Lyman 55 powder measure. Although I've used the 55 with satisfaction in the past, on that evening I was completely frustrated. I tried rapping the handle and the clacker at the top and bottom of the throw. I took it apart and looked inside. Nothing I tried could make it work. Finally I put it away before getting the mechanics hammer out.

After some reflection on the matter, I brought the measure to work with me this past week. After clearing it with my supervisor, I ran my measure twice, over an industrial strength demagnetizer.

I'm here to tell you that demagnetized, the Lyman 55 is easily, easily capable of every grandiose claim Lyman ever made for it. 3.5 grains of Win 231 was made in five linear adjustments, and every charge I weighed thereafter (~40 out of 100) was well within tolerance. Visual inspection of all 100 charges revealed no problems.

After this experience, I would tell anyone who was having problems with their measure, that the very first solution they should try would be to get their unit demagnetized.

Anyone out there got plans for a simple, homemade demag?

[Phil]

We use them at work to demagnetize watch parts. Just a small unit but I imagine a bigger one could be built cheaply. Its just a coil wound around a circular form and wired to plug into the wall. When you push the on switch with the watch movement inside the coil and then pull the movement straight out for about two feet, its demagnetized. If you put a screwdriver (for instance) in the coil and push the on button, leave it on for a few moments, then shut it off and pull the screwdriver out, its magnetized.

Someone with more electrical knowledge than I have will surely know how to build one very cheaply.

You can remove static charges from your case tumbler, powder measure reservoir, etc, with a sheet of clothes dryer fabric softener.

Cheers,

Phil

[454PB]

I don't know if they still make them, but Radio Shack used to sell demagnetizers for tape players. They are low power, but might work for a powder measure. I use fabric softener sheets to demagnetize powder funnels and measures.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Years ago, I had to replace the plastic hopper of my RCBS Uniflow measure. Powder stuck to the inside of the hopper until I ran my hand down the outside of it from top to bottom. Eventually, the powder sticking quit, about the time the hopper got well coated inside with graphite.

[kodiak1]

Really dumb question here but I am old and senile, are these throws not aluminum and plastic? Would it not be static electricity instead of magnetism?
Try wiping the inside of your throw or plastic tube with an antistatic sheet for inside the dryer, would that not also work.

Sorry but from what i remember from school O so long ago was aluminum could not be magnetized, I was also taught to belive that stainless steel couldn't be either.
Thanks for the lesson Ken.

[Phil]

Hi Kodiak,

There are both iron and aluminum powder measures. You're right in that aluminum can't be magnetized. Some stainless steels can be magnetized and some can't. The commonly used barrel stainless (400 series) can be magnetized. The dairy and food use stainless (as in bulk milk tanks and tankers) is 300 series as I recall. It can't be magnetized, for sanitary reasons.

I took a tour of the Coors plant many years ago and all the machinery used to fill bottles and cans could only be lubed with Pam. Again for sanitary reasons. Man do those plants bottle beer in a hurry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers,

Phil

[monadnock#5]

Beyond a basic, entry level understanding of how some things work, there are forces at work in the universe that defy explanation in any way that the layman can relate to. Explanations of hurricanes/tornadoes, lightning, big E's Unified Theory of Relativity, why the Sphinx looks at the night sky where the constellation Leo used to be 10K years before the Pharaohs came along...

I see in my catalogs that BP cartridge shooters need a measure that won't spark. Does that mean that a BP powder measure isn't susceptible to static buildup, or just that it won't generate a spark?

Is static the same as magnetism? I'm sure it isn't. I do know that a demag will do a fine job of curing either condition in powder measures, and would still be my first cure for a measure throwing funky charges.

[Lee]

Yep static electricity is not magnetism.
But for the sake of argument think about this;
Aluminum and steel are conductive.
Plastic(depending on filler and surface treatment) can be conductive.
Graphite is conductive.
Powder might be(???) conductive.

Now, when you use an AC demagnetizer you will set up eddy currents in most all the above mentioned materials(maybe all!)

And just maybe those flowing currents reduce or eliminate(cancel out) the static electricity??

As an aside look at magnetic damped scales. Lee scale for example. A thin sheet of aluminum moves freely between two small magnets. Eddy currents induced in the aluminum oppose the magnetic force of the magnet, slowing down the beam. Can't use a steel vane, it would drag and stop the beam all over the place.
.....................................Lee:wink:

[fourarmed]

Another thing about the Lyman 55 that I learned here years ago: Open the large slider and clean it out carefully before using the smaller ones. A few powder grains can prevent the large one from closing fully. When that happens, powder will get in the gap and some but not all will drop every time. It will drive you crazy trying to get consistent small charges.

[monadnock#5]

There is a high tech., ultrasonic wash system that uses deionized water and a special detergent close by the demag at work. I didn't use it however as I wanted to see what the demag would do for me as a stand alone treatment. For purposes of this experiment, it was the demag treatment alone that made the difference between a paperweight, and a precision piece of equipment.

[monadnock#5]

I loaded 9mm cartridges again this past weekend with Unique. 4.8 grains for 120 grn boolits, and 3.5 grains for 147 grn boolits.

Unique definitely doesn't meter as well as Win 231, and I needed the whole range of tolerance (+/- 0.1) and maybe a little more. However, to my mind that's the trade off one accepts when using a measure, as opposed to weighing every charge.

Since I demagnetized my measure, I have been putting dryer sheets in the reservoir between uses, and I thank those who made the suggestion.

[Lloyd Smale]

i use dryer sheets too. They seem to do the job.