Star lube leak

[Iowa Fox]

My Star has a minute lube leak from the bottom side of the base right in the center. Using a Loupe I can see a casting pit as the origin. Has anyone else encountered this and how did you dry it up. Gasket? Blind set screw? Dot of tig?

[6bg6ga]

can you clean it up and put a dab of epoxy on it?

[Iowa Fox]

Thought about some epoxy but the spot is so small I'm not sure if I can get any pushed into it. Kind of thinking about cleaning it up and trying to run some good super glue into it as first try.

[cbrick]

My Star has a minute lube leak from the bottom side of the base right in the center. Using a Loupe I can see a casting pit as the origin. Has anyone else encountered this and how did you dry it up. Gasket? Blind set screw? Dot of tig?

Is this a new unit? If it is I would be calling Magma and asking . . . What the hay! Nicely of course.

If it's an older unit either of your suggestions would work, the set screw or a spot weld.

Rick

[6bg6ga]

A picture would help and that way one would know if you were drilling into a spot where you shouldn't.

[6bg6ga]

Is it a Star or Magma?

[6bg6ga]

98120

Picture of my Magma base

Not too much leakage around the die considering that I don't use the "O"-Rings.

[Iowa Fox]

This is a San Diego Star. I really hate to see this as other than the decal peeling it looks almost like new. It takes a loupe to see the spot. When they broached the base their must have been a void in the aluminum casting that finally opened.

[6bg6ga]

Ok, how much lube are you getting? The simplest solution is to take a dremel with a stone and rough up the area around the pin hole. Then clean it really good and put some epoxy in the area that you prepared. It doesn't take a whole lot of epoxy and the hole doesn't need to be stuffed full.

[Iowa Fox]

After I finished sizing maybe 500 bullets I took the sizer off the heater and noticed a circle about 3/8 of an inch in diameter circle between the heater and the base of the sizer. It isn't leaking much but lube is migrating through that pin hole.

[rodsvet]

What Joe said!

[enfieldphile]

If you are willing to disassemble, clean & epoxy, the fix 6bg6ga suggests would be the most permanent.

However, a simpler fix would be to clean the bottom of the Star and the top of the heater w/ spray brake cleaner. Get some thin (but not super thin) single-thickness (not cork) gasket paper and a small tube of head gasket sealer from an auto place like NAPA, etc. Cut the gasket full-size for the bottom of the Star. Only a spot of sealer, (about 1 inch) on bottom of the Star surrounding the pin hole is needed. Bolt the Star down and wait a hour before trying it out. If it doesn't work (though it should), a razor blade & spray brake cleaner will remove the sealer.


After I finished sizing maybe 500 bullets I took the sizer off the heater and noticed a circle about 3/8 of an inch in diameter circle between the heater and the base of the sizer. It isn't leaking much but lube is migrating through that pin hole.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I'm not sure this is the right answer, you be the judge.
Years ago, I bought a Homemade woodsplitter, it had a 4 cylinder gasoline tractor engine on it. The Hydraulic Pump was mounted directly to the engine shaft/PTO. This Pump was made of aluminum, and had a aluminum pipe fitting welded on the output. There were pin holes in that welding and Hydraulic fluid would seep out.
ANYWAY,
the solution to that was, I used a hammer and flat nose punch to peen the weld and seal the pin holes. It'd be good to know how thick the aluminum is, where it's leaking at, before you Hammer on it ;)

[6bg6ga]

I'm not sure this is the right answer, you be the judge.
Years ago, I bought a Homemade woodsplitter, it had a 4 cylinder gasoline tractor engine on it. The Hydraulic Pump was mounted directly to the engine shaft/PTO. This Pump was made of aluminum, and had a aluminum pipe fitting welded on the output. There were pin holes in that welding and Hydraulic fluid would seep out.
ANYWAY,
the solution to that was, I used a hammer and flat nose punch to peen the weld and seal the pin holes. It'd be good to know how thick the aluminum is, where it's leaking at, before you Hammer on it ;)

Beating on a large casting might be ok but I wouldn't suggest beating on the base of the sizer.

[KYCaster]

I'm not sure this is the right answer, you be the judge.
Years ago, I bought a Homemade woodsplitter, it had a 4 cylinder gasoline tractor engine on it. The Hydraulic Pump was mounted directly to the engine shaft/PTO. This Pump was made of aluminum, and had a aluminum pipe fitting welded on the output. There were pin holes in that welding and Hydraulic fluid would seep out.
ANYWAY,
the solution to that was, I used a hammer and flat nose punch to peen the weld and seal the pin holes. It'd be good to know how thick the aluminum is, where it's leaking at, before you Hammer on it ;)



That was my first thought......prick punch or sharp center punch at four points around the hole. If it doesn't work, you haven't lost anything but time.

Jerry

[skeettx]

Or a set of jumper cables, a 12 volt car battery and a piece of aluminum wire. :)