What exactly is a lubesizer heater ?(stupid I know)

[Patrick L]

What I really mean is, how exactly do they work ? I've never owned or even seen one in person, just catalog pictures that don't really show what they do.
I'm thinking I may want to get one for the Ideal #45 I picked up used last month since these old jobs aren't the sturdiest things.

Near as I can figure from the pics, they(the heaters) appear to be just a large piece of aluminum that the sizer sits on top of. I assume there is some sort of heating element that warms the plate and that heat transfers to the sizer ?

Is there a way a cheapskate like myself can cob something together ? I've used the 100 watt lightbulb resting on the sizer for an hour before you want to size trick, but the problem is the unit starts cooling as soon as you reomve the lightbulb, and leaving it there and on while I size is blinding. I seem to remember reading a thread about a home made heater, but I can't find it.

Any suggestions ?

[carpetman]

Patrick L---Use lubes that don't require a heater. Make up a batch of FWFBL.

[David R]

I read here to use a piece of plate aluminum and put an iron on it. The iron has a thermostat for consistant temp.

I use lube that does not need heat. In the winter months I warm up my lube sizer with a propane torch. It seems to hold the heat long enough for me to get tired of sizing.

A heater to me would be a luxury. I can get by with out it.

To answer your question, it bolts between the bench and the sizer. Plugs into the wall and keeps the luber warm. If the lube is too stiff, It won't work properly in the winter anyhow. If you have winter.

David

[fecmech]

Patrick--I use an old garage sale iron on a piece of aluminum about 1/8" thick by 4x10". The plate is on the bench, the sizer is clamped to the bench with the plate under it and extending out behind it. I place the iron on the plate and turn it on low, mine works best just under the permanant press setting. After about 15-20 minutes it's up to temp and ready to go. If I'm in a hurry I warm the sizer with my propane torch keeping it moving all over the sizer. I think a piece of steel would work as well but this should give you an idea. Nick

[fatnhappy]

I read here to use a piece of plate aluminum and put an iron on it. The iron has a thermostat for consistant temp.

I use lube that does not need heat. In the winter months I warm up my lube sizer with a propane torch. It seems to hold the heat long enough for me to get tired of sizing.

A heater to me would be a luxury. I can get by with out it.

To answer your question, it bolts between the bench and the sizer. Plugs into the wall and keeps the luber warm. If the lube is too stiff, It won't work properly in the winter anyhow. If you have winter.

David

Just for perspective, his "winter" sizing takes place near Buffalo, which ain't exactly the tropics.

To my discredit, I can't remember who to rightly honor for passing along the clothing iron tip but it is the cat's meow. I'm using a portable sizing/reloading setup that consists of 1/2" boiler plate welded on a stand. I just put the iron on the boiler plate and the lube flows like beer at a football game.

Go Bills!

Dean

[454PB]

My loading room is usually unheated, so I've resorted to using one of my wife's discarded hair blow dryers to warm the sizer up to a temperature that allows it's use without damaging the pressure reservoir threads. I never thought of using the iron as described. Good idea!

[David R]

Fatnhappy,

I dind't see the "upstate NY" thing. That makes 3 of us :)
We need to hold a Cast boolit match.

David

[Buckshot]

............Naw I don't think it's a dumb question. If ya don't know, ya don't know. It's all in the name though and basicly anything to heat the lube-sizer is a lube-sizer heater. For quite some time I used a hair dryer blower thingie. Then I figured one of those cheap shielded light deals would work. It did to but your eyeballs could get a bit dazzeled.

The clothes iron on a plate is a good one and it has a T-stat, so after ya figure it out it's a set and forget thing?

Crazy Mark had a good idea, and I hastily glommed onto it. He has/had the capsule heater numbers from McMaster-Carr so I ordered up a couple.

http://www.fototime.com/7E6FBF2009554DB/standard.jpg

Just a piece of 1/2" aluminum sandwiched between the press and bench. You can see the heater capsule in the side. There's no T-stat, so you have to turn it off and back on. Once up to heat and working well, I'll turn it off for maybe 10 minutes then flick it back on. You'll know when to turn it off and on.

Any other of the mentioned ideas will get you where you want to be.

............Buckshot

[Tigger]

Fatnhappy,

I dind't see the "upstate NY" thing. That makes 3 of us :)
We need to hold a Cast boolit match.

David


I'm down here in Allegany county. If you guys do line something up for a shoot let me know, I'd be interested.

[fatnhappy]

I'm down here in Allegany county. If you guys do line something up for a shoot let me know, I'd be interested.

Tigger,
How do you like the new rifle zone changes? All the more reason to tinker with milsurp?
Most the guys at work are rather hostile to the idea of changing the shotgun only areas, for whatever reason.


A shoot would be a tough proposition for me. Not because I wouldn't enjoy it, but I work a strange schedule. I work 3 days a week, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I put in 12 hours each day and get paid a 40 hour week for the effort. Between Monday and Thursday I'm a stay at home Dad.
I enjoy my schedule. I spend all week with my son, take him fishing or to the zoo anytime I want. He hangs treestands with me and loves to be in the woods. The only downside to my schedule is that I miss out on weekend stuff.
Chicken BBQ's, shoots, Church picnics and local festivals are impossible. Getting out of the BS inlaw stuff though falls into the asset side of the ledger though. ;)

I've been doing this for 4 years now, ever since my son was born. It has saved my family a small fortune in daycare too, BTW.

[Patrick L]

Hey, Upstate is anywhere above Dutchess County, as far as I'm concerned. I'm just outside of Albany, and nowhere NEAR Buffalo.

Thanks for all the ideas. Darn ! I just got a new iron and threw away the old one about six months ago. Oh well, I'll see what my mother or mother-in-law has lying around.

[Tigger]

Tigger,
How do you like the new rifle zone changes? All the more reason to tinker with milsurp?
Most the guys at work are rather hostile to the idea of changing the shotgun only areas, for whatever reason.


Well, as far as hunting it really does not affect me. I have hunted with hand guns for 16 years and plan on still using them. Long guns don't excite me.

I guess it's OK that the Stste has let some zones become rifle, my area included. The only thing that scares me is that they didn't limit the guns to single shots and bolt action. Every year you hear some guy over on a side hill shoot 5 times one right after another. The first shot has the deer on the run and the rest are just wasted trying to catch the fleeing deer. With a shotgun the slugs don't travel that far, but I shudder to think where the bullets would go from a BAR or Rem 7400 in 308 Win.

I guess you are all tied up on the weekends, but it sounds like it is working for you.

[Tigger]

Hey, Upstate is anywhere above Dutchess County, as far as I'm concerned. I'm just outside of Albany, and nowhere NEAR Buffalo.



Yup you are right! Hey you ever get to a little gun shop in Valatie called Shooters?? Neat little shop with alot of stuff.

[Patrick L]

Yes, I've been to Shooters once or twice. I had a sort of bad experience with a staff member there so I don't go out of my way to get there. Probably haven't been there in about two years. They do have a lot of stuff. The owner, Joe, used to do pheasant shoots on his farm. I went on a few. I don't know if he still does. Ironically, I used to live in Valatie for about two years in the early 90s. That was before Shooters was there but there was another shop called R&I Sports. It was the picture definition of the small town gunshop. The owner had more stuff stashed away than anyone I know. I only regret that I wasn't into the rifle stuff when I used to frequent there. Lord only knows what I glanced over but "wasn't interested in" at the time.

[fatnhappy]

I guess it's OK that the Stste has let some zones become rifle, my area included. The only thing that scares me is that they didn't limit the guns to single shots and bolt action. Every year you hear some guy over on a side hill shoot 5 times one right after another. The first shot has the deer on the run and the rest are just wasted trying to catch the fleeing deer. With a shotgun the slugs don't travel that far, but I shudder to think where the bullets would go from a BAR or Rem 7400 in 308 Win.

I guess you are all tied up on the weekends, but it sounds like it is working for you.

That was more or less the same scenario that had everyone up in arms that I've talked to. The zone changes won't affect me much either. I make it down to Andover or Bolivar every couple seasons, but my family is from St. Lawrence county. I head up north every year, and let me say, the five round symphony is just as common up there. I've been guilty myself once or twice.


My arrangement at work pleases me to no end.

[Ken O]

I recently bought the Lyman heater for the Lyman 45. I've always used the softer lubes, but I'm thinking these heaters are probably going to be discontinued because the new Lyman lubsizer has different setup for heating. So I have the option to use the harder lubes without having to buy the whole new lubesizer. I did get some Thompson Blue Angle with it to try when my 50/50 runs out.
Back to your question... the heater bolts to your bench, and the sizer bolts to the heater. Some lubes require different tempetures to flow. If you use the 50/50 (alox/beeswax) you dont need heat unless your doing it in an unheated building in the winter. As others have said you could heat it with a hair drier, etc... to get it to flow.

[Texasflyboy]

I'm one of the Shop light users for heating semi hard and hard wax based lubes. I live near Houston, and Alox 50/50 and GAR reloadings other Alox mix (slightly higher melt temp) used to work for me about two months out of the year. I always had sticky lube everywhere due to the heat. So I switched to a harder lube and used a mechanics light just resting against my Star Luber. I wrap a large bath towel around the whole rig and set a kitchen timer for 20 mins. Timer rings, I unwrap, and lube for about 35 mins. By then I need to change sticks (reload) and wrap again if I want to continue lubing. I have a KAT brand block heater for a car that you Yankees might be familiar with. I hear when it gets cold you slap this rig against the block and it heats up the engine when its cold. The only time I used it, I left it on the aluminum plate that the Star is bolted to and came back in 20 mins to find a puddle of blue lube on the garage floor and the star smokin'. Never used it again. Went back to the shop light rig.

It's cheap, it works, and I am used to the pace. I did use the iron thing once or twice but a frying pan hit my head one day and I immediately remembered that using the wife's 80$ iron to heat up my Star causes my head to hurt. So I don't use the iron thing anymore.... :p

[Rob Helms]

I use a lamp with an alumminum reflector on it and a 5 inch Infrared bulb. I put the lamp right next to, and pointed at the lube resevoir on my lyman sizer and it heats up within a few minutes. If I want to change lubes I can heat the sizer hot enough to liquify the lube in it with this lamp. I have an unheated garage and the lamp helps keep the area aroud the sizer warm in the winter also.

[KCSO]

I have used a light bulb from a scrapped lamp for years. I just set the bulb next to the sizer and go to work. I use so little hard lube that about the only time I do this anymore is when the shop is really cold.