Drying Rack for Ben's Liquid Lube

[Ben]

Sometimes you'll find yourself willing to help a friend with a project but you won't take the time to do the same for yourself.

I figured that it was time to allocate some time to the building of a rack for my own use. I wanted a drying rack that would hold 200 or more .35 cal. cast bullets.

Recently, I helped a friend get started casting and lubing 38 Spec. Wadcutters.
He had seen Ben's Liquid Lube used and wanted to use that for his lubrication method.

I told him that he wouldn't gain much by sitting each bullet on its base on wax paper. It would be better to pour them out onto a screen so that air could move all around the cast bullets and speed up the drying process.

I built him a drying rack to hold his wad-cutter bullets. It has worked 101%.

Today, I went back to the hardware store and bought more 1/4 " X 1/4 " galvanized mesh hardware cloth. Perfect for the job. ( I don't shoot many cast bullets smaller in dia. than .258" ) .

I built the rack with air nails and wood glue. I made 3" high legs to facilitate air movement and drying. I stapled the hardware cloth onto the rack and already have some Lee 93 gr. , .311 " dia. bullets rolled in BLL on the rack drying.

Thought you might like to see photos.

Thanks,
Ben





Here is a hand for size comparison :

 

[Brad]

Now if you put a small fan blowing up at an angle from one side it might speed things up even more?

I plan to make something similar but might use a smaller mesh screen to let me coat some smaller bullets too.

The idea is very sound, it sure can't hurt the drying process. Well done Ben.

 

[yodogsandman]

Ben, your drying rack, without the legs, looks a lot like my range lead strainer. I'm going to use that strainer the next time I lube with BLL, thanks for the idea! I'm sure I picked up a few small fans to use from yard sales this year, too!

 

[Ben]

There are many options in making something like this.
Everyone's mileage will vary a bit.

Brad, you're right a fan would probably speed up the drying time 2X or 3X .
Find a computer repair shop that had a few of these laying around in the shop.
Use 1 or 2 of these with the drying rack and it would put the drying
process into hyper -drive:




Ben

 

[JWFilips]

Ben,
When I was much younger and involved in Fine art photography (1970's) I made similar style racks to lay processed fiber base B&W art prints on to dry.
The only thing different was i used fiberglass mesh because it was gentler on the soft wet emulsion of the print face. (They were dried face down on the screen.)
Possibly Fiberglass mesh cloth may be gentler on the soft lead? Just an observation.
Jim

 

[Ben]

Could be ? ?

I try to be pretty gentle rolling out the cast bullets onto the wire.
I have a friend that has been doing this with the same set up for a long time, it works well for him.

Ben

 

[smokeywolf]

a fan would probably 2X or 3X the drying time.

Ben, I was under the impression a fan would cut drying time by a certain percentage, not double or triple it.

 

[JWFilips]

smokeywolf:
Uh Oh ! That was funny ..didn't notice that one!

 

[Ben]

Ben, I was under the impression a fan would cut drying time by a certain percentage, not double or triple it.

It is obvious I was not clear..........It is my opinion that a fan would speed up the drying time 2 X or 3 X. I hope that is clearer.

Ben

 

[Brad]

It is obvious I was not clear..........It is my opinion that a fan would speed up the drying time 2 X or 3 X. I hope that is clearer.

Ben

And now we know why Ben didn't teach math or a hard science.

Those little fans would work well. I was thinking of any small fan you could pick up at the local chinamart. Now a fan/heater, that would be gilding the lily. Or would it?

 

[Ben]

I talked with one of my friends last night about the computer fan idea.
He said....." I have one NIB that I'm not using, I'll give it to you."

A friend comes to my rescue.

Ben

 

[Brad]

Free is always a good price.

 

[Dale53]

Ben;
I just lubed about 800 9mm (Lee 120 gr TC) and laid them on waxed paper. I LIKE your drying rack. I have a couple of thousand .32's to lube and dry and I think I'll take a little trip to the Big Box Store tomorrow.

Thank you for the Ben's LL and now for the rack! My father taught me to share what I knew with others and you would have his highest approval!

Dale53

 

[Ben]

Dale53,

What a nice thing to say Dale. THANK YOU ! !

I made a last minute modification to my design.
I put in " bed slats " under the wire.
I was afraid that with 150 or so 405 gr. , 45/70 cast bullets that the wire mesh would sag. NOT NOW ! !

I'm still probably going to add a computer cooling fan.
That will be the icing on this cake.

Ben

 

[Pistolero]

And use it for recovering them after firing. Scoop the dirt in and shake.

Bill

 

[Ben]

UUuuummm, I don't think there will be any dirt put in this one.
Once the wire has a good coating of the waxes, they would be a magnet for the silicon in dirt.

 

[yodogsandman]

Good point, I'll be sure to clean mine good first with a brush. I'm unlikely to ever use it for range scrap again. Does it seem worth while to pre coat the wire with BLL?

 

[Ben]

NO, you'll gain nothing.

Ben

 

[Ben]

Easy to accumulate a lot of bullets quickly with this system.
Ben

 

[fiver]

i keep a small heater in the shop going all winter long the metal stool I sit on when swaging is just high enough that the fan blows the hot air over the top of it.
when I tumble lube I also heat the boolits up with a hair dryer, between the warm air from the heater and the boolits temp by the time they get cooled off to room temp they are dry.
a big ol batch piled on top of each other in a heap is dry enough to pick up by hand and load in cases in about 20 minutes.
I flip the tray [made from a milk crate and steel mesh window screen] around once about halfway through and give them a shake to roll them over a little.