24 degrees here this morning.

[Ben]

I know that sounds like a heat wave compared to what some of you are dealing with right now.
But........in my basement, ( about 58 degrees ) my lube-sizer is a bit sluggish in cold temps like we are experiencing now. Time to break out the heater. A tubular 40 watt incandescent bulb. Works GREAT ! ! !

Ben

 

[oscarflytyer]

wimpy wimpy wimpy! JK! temps for HERE suck! I planned to hunt this week. But to the "why do we do this to oursleves' post - just no! Not worth freezing my A off!

 

[fiver]

our weather has been nuts this year.
we got 8's of snow over Christmas weekend, after a storm that had the wind switching from north to south and back again all day.
that storm blew off and temps dropped to negative 10-12 for a few days.
the Christmas storm left and the temps have been creeping up the last few days.
I think we were near 35 today, if the lake wasn't froze over I would have probably put a jacket on and went fishing.

 

[RicinYakima]

Ben, When my son passed the BAR exam 20 years ago, I got an 8 X 10 room in the house. With HEAT and AC! Moved my presses and lube and sizers inside and have never looked back. So much better than trying to reload at -10 in the winter, or lube bullets at +110 in the summer in my shop. Even at 20+ you can bend Ideal 311284's trying to seat gas checks and lube. Ric

 

[Ben]

Ric :

Very true.
My basement temp was about 58 degrees. Not unreasonable to reload in but makes my lube sizer a bit sluggish. My " lube heater " is a game changer.

Ben

 

[KHornet]

Your lube heater is a winner Ben. I use thrift store hair driers
to get lube warmed, and then have a small intense light on the
back of the luber after that.

Paul

 

[USSR]

I used a heat generating poultry light bulb designed to warm chicks for many years. Finally got around to getting Lyman's lubrisizer heater, and now am wondering why I waited so long. Note: the Lyman heater has no temperature adjustment switch and generates full heat when plugged in, so you will be unplugging it when it gets too hot and plugging it back in when it gets too cold. Real PITA. So, I had a electrician friend at my church create an electrical box with a dimmer switch that allows me regulate the heater plate's temperature and maintain a perfect lube temperature. Ah, all is well now.

Don

 

[358156 hp]

Don,
If you have a PID, you can use it to regulate temps with your Lyman heater. I have two heaters myself. I keep one as a spare, having bought it in the olden days when I was running two Lyman 450s instead of the single Star I have these days. You can get a thermocouple from Auber that has a ring eye end, and can be simply screwed to the sizer anywhere that's convenient. I keep meaning to order parts to build another PID, the more I use mine, the more uses I come up with for it.

 

[Ian]

The earth would have to shift on its axis before it ever got near 24 in my reloading room.

 

[smokeywolf]

I too use a Lyman heater under the #45 lube sizer. With the moderate temps here, it supplies a bit too much heat. I was thinking of just machining an aluminum spacer with holes or cutouts in it that would reduce the area of heater to lube/sizer contact. Not as energy efficient nor adjustable as a PID, but doable with what's on hand.

 

[Ian]

Hey Ben, what's that little bar in the photo that looks like it can be flipped around for a gas check seater? Never seen one of those before on a 45.

 

[Ben]

Ian,

Come to the head of the class ! ! Very good.
You just described what it is there for.
On occasion I'll run into a g/c that wants to be tight going onto the shank.
You flip the bar around, put the bullet into the top punch, and seat the g/c.

Ben

 

[Ben]

Here is another photo of the " bar ".

 

[fiver]

I keep one of these next to the star for the same thing.

 

[Ian]

I use a 3/4" knock-out "coin" from an electrical box, had them laying everywhere when I was wiring the house. Good idea, Ben.

 

[USSR]

Don,
If you have a PID, you can use it to regulate temps with your Lyman heater. I have two heaters myself. I keep one as a spare, having bought it in the olden days when I was running two Lyman 450s instead of the single Star I have these days. You can get a thermocouple from Auber that has a ring eye end, and can be simply screwed to the sizer anywhere that's convenient. I keep meaning to order parts to build another PID, the more I use mine, the more uses I come up with for it.

Have no idea what a "PID" is. In any case, the dimmer switch outlet box works like a champ.

Don

 

[waco]

I also confiscated one of my kids bedrooms when they moved out. Much nicer reloading in a climate controlled room as opposed to the up-and-down temperatures of the garage/shop. I have not seen midway Offer these lube heaters for years now. I bought this one 15+ years ago on clearance for something like $12. It works great when I use it which is not much these days.

 

[Rick]

I've got two of those Midway heaters, one under each Star and yep, they work great. No idea why they quite making/selling them, seems like they would be a good seller.

 

[waco]

No idea why they quite making/selling them, seems like they would be a good seller.

My thoughts exactly. I love mine. Like I said, the lube I use these days does not require heat. I have a reloading room in the house.
I do have a few sticks of Carnuba Red that would need it if I decide to use it...

 

[Brad]

I have a Lyman. I made up a junction box with a cord, outlet, and dimmer switch. I rarely use the dimmer, I get the sizer warm enough to get lube flowing then unplug the heater. After that I find pressure alone keeps it flowing.

Much depends on lube used. Some lubes flow well at lower temps, some almost always need heat.