Star Sizer - FRUSTRATED as all Hellllllll.......

[No_1]

With a 1 - 10 knob of the Star heater the heat produced is related to the surrounding temperature. On hot days it will be hotter and on cooler days it will be not as hot. The PID allows you to pick a temperature then maintain it (within the limits of the heater) when the surrounding temperatures change.

[enfieldphile]

Ah! That makes sense. Thank you sir.

[btroj]

My star drove me nuts for weeks. I then learned to balance heat and pressure to make it work.

Now that I have it figured out it runs like a champ. Star was fine, I wasn't.

[6bg6ga]

I can give you my experience. I purchase sizing dies specific for the bullet. If I have a bullet with 2 lube grooves I get a die made for that bullet. So I have two that I use with the .452 bullets for my 45's. First thing is to have the lube groove aligned 100% with the holes in the die and don't play with this setting. Second is to get the lube pliable enough to move but not to the liquid state. Third is to increase the pressure until the lube is flowing evenly into the groove. The setting on my star is generally 70 degrees and 30-35psi for the 50/50 lube I use. When I use a harder lube my temp will run around 100 degrees and the pressure will be at 80 psi.

I don't worry about having too much air pressure on the cylinder because it is rated at 250psi. The Star/Magma will not under go any problems with air pressure in this region. I believe that both Ballisti-cast and Magma say not to go over 60psi.

Also, the size of the heating element and the coverage of the element do effect the operation of the sizer. Mine has a plate roughly 14" X 14" with a 300 watt element heating it. With an IR thermometer it reads plus or minus about 5 -6 degrees over the entire plate.

[6bg6ga]

With a 1 - 10 knob of the Star heater the heat produced is related to the surrounding temperature. On hot days it will be hotter and on cooler days it will be not as hot. The PID allows you to pick a temperature then maintain it (within the limits of the heater) when the surrounding temperatures change.

What No_1 has said usually goes by the wayside because people don't realize that the Star heater uses a bi-metalic spring type switch and temp is what causes it to open and close therefore an ambient temp of say 100 degrees will cause you to make an adjustment in orderto maintain the temperature you had when you were casting at say 80 degrees. The PID uses a temperature probe which sends an electrical signal back to the PID. Since the PID is programed to turn on off at a specific temperature the temp that is input is the temp you will always get. Having an ambient temp of say 100 degrees as opposed to 80 means the unit will simply obtain its set temp sooner because its that much closer to it.

[MT Chambers]

I have and use 3 Stars including a rare "Tallboy", all have air cyl. and heating, and I have lubed tens of thousands of bullets on this equipment, and I turn on the heat for a bit, make sure the punch has the right amount of holes plugged/unplugged, and then I run a bullet through and I can tell what adj. to make just by where the lube is going on the bullet. If it is only going in the crimp groove: that tells me which way to adj. the punch, if lube is only going in the small ring above the GC; that calls for a diff. direction of adj. so for all the new guys, enjoy the learning experience!!

[6bg6ga]

All it really takes is for a person new at using the Star/Magma is to read the Star section of the forum. There are a number of threads there that repeat what has been said here. There are threads on setting the depth that go into detail as well as threads on setting the correct temperature and pressure.