Home made Lubricator heater

[richhodg66]

Looking for idea. I have one under my 450 I bought from Midway years ago, I want to set up a few more sizer/lubers and was wondering what a cheap and easy way to heat them. I see cheap coffee makers at Good Will all the time, would the hot plate that keeps the pot warm in one of those work or too much heat?

 

[Ian]

I think the standard DIY unit has always been a 1/2" x 4" aluminum plate about a foot long to mount the sizer to and a thrift store clothes iron.

 

[Snakeoil]

I have one started that I never finished because the lubes I use really do not need one. But here is the idea. I have all the pieces. Just never put them together.

I bought a coffee mug hot plate. This looks like a thick coaster for your coffee mug. Inside is a small rectangular heating element. I cut a piece of 1/2" aluminum plate to match the base of the 450 sizer. I milled out the center to accept the heating element. Idea was to fit the element to the plate with plaster of Paris and then mount under the sizer. No control since it does not get that hot. And I figured if I found I needed a control, I could always come up with something.

I have the parts in the basement. If you want me to take pics, let me know.

I do like the plate and small flat iron idea. I find elegance in simplicity.

 

[david s]

I've made two out of pieces of 4"X4"X1" aluminum and one from a piece of 4 1/2"X4 1/2"X5/8" aluminum. There blatant knockoffs of the Lyman (second from right) factory ones. Just drill four mounting screw holes then drill and tap the four lube/sizer screw holes and a hole for the cartridge heater I also drill and tap a retainer screw hole for the cartridge heater. This allows a single cartridge heater to be used in the other lube/sizers. Lyman offers just the cartridge heater but it's pretty expensive there also offered on Ebay. Thet also get sheet cork between the heater and the loading bench. [/ [url=https://postimages.org/] url]

 

[Snakeoil]

Damn!! That's about as simple as they get. Had never seen a "cartridge heater" before. Bet my heater was a better deal, though. 25 cents at a garage sale.

 

[david s]

Before I had a computer, I purchased the Lyman cartridge heater for a pretty good price. When I got the computer, I found some cartridge heaters for about 1/10th the Lyman price, but still more than a quarter.

 

[Ian]

Rich, if you need a couple pieces of aluminum big enough to work with an iron, I have some you can have for the cost of freight. They might fit in a flat rate envelope.

 

[richhodg66]

Rich, if you need a couple pieces of aluminum big enough to work with an iron, I have some you can have for the cost of freight. They might fit in a flat rate envelope.

Very generous of you, thanks very much.

I use one of the coffee mug warmers to dip bullets in thinned LLA, didn't think it big enough for a luber. Might be now that I think about it.

 

[fiver]

i had to repair an old texan 12ga. re-sizer that also heated up the paper hulls so the wax would repair itself.
i used a soldering iron cartridge.
it occured to me i could also drill a hole in a piece of aluminum and insert the same cartridge in the hole and use it to heat up a lube sizer if i had to.

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

Is a 100 watt truble lite home made ?---been there dun that

 

[Ian]

I used a 75-watt incandescent bulb in a small clamp light for a while but it wouldn't heat the lube at the front around the die without being in the way and I had to wave a propane torch at it periodically. The thermal conduction of a plate really does the trick as long as you give it a half hour or so to warm up.

 

[Tomme boy]

I've made two out of pieces of 4"X4"X1" aluminum and one from a piece of 4 1/2"X4 1/2"X5/8" aluminum. There blatant knockoffs of the Lyman (second from right) factory ones. Just drill four mounting screw holes then drill and tap the four lube/sizer screw holes and a hole for the cartridge heater I also drill and tap a retainer screw hole for the cartridge heater. This allows a single cartridge heater to be used in the other lube/sizers. Lyman offers just the cartridge heater but it's pretty expensive there also offered on Ebay. Thet also get sheet cork between the heater and the loading bench. [/ [url=https://postimages.org/] url]

What are you using to drive the heater? We used these to heat dies that sealed the ends of packages that were crimped. Like how candy bars have the wrapper on them. We used a large PID unit to drive them. Just be careful not to crush them. I always used heat sink grease to help them heat better. And it helps if you need to replace one so it comes right out.

 

[farmboy]

I had an old diesel truck that would not like to start in cold weather, so I used an oil pan heater to help it start. When I sold the truck I kept it. Been using it to make lube soft in lube sizer ever since. It has a magnet to hold to lube tube but gets too hot to keep on too long.

 

[Bret4207]

My loading room is in the old milk house of the barn- no heat. I use an electric heat gun to help start diesels in the winter and it hangs right by the door. Does a great job of warming the sizer and my frozen fingers.

 

[richhodg66]

Similar situation, reloading stuff is in a detached building with no heat. I use soft lubes, but they aren't soft when it's real cold.

I seem to remember I have a heat gun out there somewhere, might give that a try, but I'd rather have something mounted and permanent.

 

[462]

For many years, I used a clamp-on lamp and 100-Watt bulb, and covered that and the 45 (till I quit using it) and the 4500 with aluminum foil. Apparently, my son-in-law thought little of the setup so he bought me a Lyman 4500 cartridge heater. (He paints his bullets.) I must admit that the heater is pretty efficient.

 

[Walks]

I bought one of the Lyman heaters when they first came out. Before that I used a old iron wedged up against the back of reservoir.
Heaters work great until your bottom seal goes out.

 

[Ian]

Bottom seal is just an O-ring in the staked bottom bore plug. If it leaks around the spindle, a thin disc of gasket material can be installed under the sizer when it's bolted down. Also, a bead of RTV silicone can be squeezed out in a circle around the bottom plug and then the sizer bolted down to make a seal.

 

[Walks]

It's easy enough to fix, after it happens. Just goes to show You should Never walk away after you turn something on.

 

[fiver]

piece of truck tube will fix it too.