Lubsizer and PID...Little Help Please

M

Mike / Tx

New member
Ok, my CRS is getting worse it seems, and I guess I am going to have to start writing things down. Thing with that is I then have to remember where I put the darned notes. :D

Not sure if it was someone here, or on another forum, but I distinctly remember reading a reply where someone had tied their PID into the heating element on their lubesizer, and gave the temp range they used for Carnuba Red.

For the life of me I cannot remember who, or where it was though. I checked my PM's but didn't see anything related there.

I have it all wired up and ready to go, just need to figure out what temp to run the Carnuba Red at so I can set the PID. Anyone using this set up?

I've never used this thing before, (lubesizer) and had wanted to be done with a few hundred bullets by now and possibly even shot some. I spent yesterday getting it all mounted up in a somewhat portable fashion so I can store it later on. After that I grabbed up my bag of CR, still unopened, and realized these sticks need a hole in them. So I spent the rest of the afternoon building a mold stand so I could remelt, and re pour the lube up this morning, and have 4 sticks ready and waiting.

Got that done then had to unwire my PID from the thermocouple stuck in the lead and add on a terminal strip to enable switching between the Lee pot and the Lyman sizer.

Now then I am fixing to get busy on some bullets and see if I can manage to squeeze some lube in them.

If you have a temp recommendation shoot it to me.
 
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Mike, that might have been me!??:rolleyes:

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Drilled and tapped into the base of the 450 Lyman. TC is ¼ X 20 threaded.

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That's the plug that I wired into the PID cabinet. Same male plug is on both of the lee pots. Simply unplug and switch.

As for temp to set it to, if my failing memory serves, it was 90 degrees that made the C-red just about right. Set it there for starters, adjust from there, if needed.

As for the hollow sticks, I melt my C-red in an old pan on my hot plate for my molds. Then simply pour the melted lube into the top of the sizer. It works better in that there's no way for air to get under the stick of lube. Trapped air can lead to lots of headaches with lubing boolits until it works it's way out of the lube.
 
I thought that the temp needed to be like 100 or 105, but then again I am sure once you hit the sweet spot temperature you will be set.

I have a piece of aluminum plate that I am getting cut. Will put a small square under the luber with a longer one right on top of the smaller square. Once all is bolted down, I plan on putting a small travel iron on the plate until the Carnuba Red is at the right temperature. I am sure I will need to experiment a whole lot more than you to get mine consistent.

I also use the travel iron to preheat my molds, so it serves a dual purpose. :D
 
Or you could do this;

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That's simply a room light dimmer switch wired into the hot lead in the 110v circuit for the Lyman lubrisizer heater plate. I find that half way between full power and off is just right for good flow with the C-red.

I actually use this instead of the PID, switching the PID back and forth messes up what it "learns" about the TC that's in the lead pot. It has to re-set/re-learn for a different TC each time it's switched.
 
Heck man I think that is the deal I was thinking about anyway. DOH

Yep I got the PID all hooked up and plugged in this evening and waited and waited and waited, it finally got up to 85 and that was it. Even when I turned it up to 100 it stayed put at 85 on the nose.

Yea I got the switchy thingy like that hooked up to my rod turner motor, wouldn't be anything but a few steps to reach and get it. Man I could have saved half a day on that one. LOL

I did manage to get a couple hundred bullets lubed up and ready to load though. I also took some of your warning to heart about the air. As the lube warmed up I had the sizing die out, and I just kept cranking it down a little at a time until I filled the whole of the bottom for the most part. Then I shoved the die in and cranked on it a bit more with a bullet in there until it got good and snug. After that I was rolling, with a short crank of the handle about every third bullet. I'll be trying out the other heat control next time and see how that does. I might leave the PID hooked up just to see the difference it might make with the heat.

Heck Saturday I would have done just fine outside in the shade, we were only 2 degrees of setting a new record high.
 
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