Need some info on a Lyman base heater!

[blaser.306]

Can anyone here help me with info on the Lyman "plate type" base heater? I need to know how many amps they draw , I want to wire a rheostat in line to control the heat output . Any help is appreciated. And I guess the most important thing is has it been attempted before , Namely with a heavy duty industrial fan switch. Thanks in advance.

[trixter]

Mine just has a light switch dimmer, crude but functional.

[blaser.306]

Mine just has a light switch dimmer, crude but functional.

That is precisely what I am looking to do , but want to be sure that the rheostat that I have will handle the draw. It is rated for 2 amps min and 9 amps max.

[454PB]

I don't own one, but it shouldn't be more than 1080 watts, which is 9 amps at 120 volts.

[williamwaco]

I use to use a drop light with a 25 watt bulb.

My new Lyman 4500 heater is rated at 20 watts.
I find no need for a controller. It doesn't get that hot.

[Mk42gunner]

I've got one of the Lyman heaters, it came on the bottom of my $7.50 450. Honestly, I have never plugged it in. There are absolutely no markings on it that I can see, unless they are under the 450 or the layer of cork gasket on the bottom. I have no way of measuring amperage draw right now.

Robert

[btroj]

I use a dimmer switch too. No idea what the rating on it is. It works.

[3006guns]

According to law, any electrical device is supposed to have its amperage draw, or at least its wattage displayed. Can't believe the info isn't out there somewhere, but if you can't find it why not just call Lyman?

[Iowa Fox]

I just looked at the box and instructions for mine and it doesn't have the info. I looked at the base and also nothing. It does have a square piece of cork glued to the bottom side so maybe its under there.

[Fluxed]

I made my heater with a 100W cartridge die heater and a piece of aluminum plate. It is actually a good bit too powerful - way more heat than needed after just a couple of minutes from room temperature. I'm using a standard 15 Amp household switch for mine with no problems at all. Judging from most reports I've read, the factory made units are much less powerful than mine. I'd think any household 15 amp dimmer would be completely appropriate for the factory units.

[Cmemiss]

Harbor Freight has a router controler that works well.

[rush1886]

Dimmer switches are rated in watts. The rating is the total wattage they tolerate. Even the most basic dimmers are rated 600 watts. Most 10# lead pots only run around 900-1000 watts. That may help you imagine what you're dealing with.
I'm using a dimmer on my lyman 4500 cartridge type heating element, and keep it set at approx 1/4 "throttle". works great. Depending on the lube, you may even want to turn it off after an hour or so, when the iron body of the sizer gets a good heat soak.

[Buzz64]

Type of lube is probably the big thing with heat / duration. I run both a 450 with lyman plate heater and a 4500. Use carnuba red from white label. Being electrically challenged, I just let them heat up and based on 'feel' of the ratchet unplug and keep going until I feel some "Stiffness" then plug it back in. Usually get at least 45 minutes between plugging and unplugging - not too strenuous.

[blaser.306]

Thanks for all the replies! I will give this plan a try, As I am using carnauba red and if the heater is left on too long the lube starts to come out kind of an orangy color and looking like it has air whipped into it . This is one of the base heaters with the cork isolator glued to it and it is mounted to a star sizer. I just have too much trouble keeping the temp at a happy medium by pluging and un pluging it during long sizing runs.

[Gliden07]

I found an old post said it was only 15W?? Heres the link to the old post.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/arch...p/t-53560.html

Don't know if its right or not??

[johnh57]

You shouldn't need much. A lee production pot IV is a 500 watt machine. Thats enough to get 10 lbs of lead up to 800 deg. or so.

If the lyman is a bit under powered at 15w-20 watts, 50 (with a dimmer switch!) should do it, 50 without control would give you way to much heat. I looked at mug warmers yesterday - they run around 17 watts. Soldering irons (the pencil type) run from 25 watts to 100 watts. I finally just ordered a 100 watt cartridge heater of off amazon for $6.00 yesterday. I'd have ordered a 50 watt - but they get much more expensive. I'll head down to CdA metals in town later today and look through their drop pile for a 4" x 6" x about 3/4" chunk of aluminum plate.

Even a 300 watt heater isn't pulling more than about 3 amps or so. Any dimmer switch for lights should be fine - you wouldn't need to spring for a dimmer rated for fans (higher amperage). If I hadn't thrown the cords out for the old pancake griddle - one of those cords with the temp controller on it might work also.

[Gliden07]

Most of the cheap Rotary Dimmers are rated to 600W you can get those on sale at the local Home Depot for 4-6 bucks!! That should be more than enough for that heater if the rating is correct!

[454PB]

For whomever might be interested, here's a link to an old thread I posted. Using a coffee maker that was garbage anyway, I built a "super" lube heater for my Star sizer. I'm still using it, and I actually made up a rheostat for it, using a common dimmer switch.

Though it is certainly overkill, it works great.....and only takes a few minutes to bring the sizer up to temperature.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ee)&highlight=

[Jailer]

Most of the cheap Rotary Dimmers are rated to 600W you can get those on sale at the local Home Depot for 4-6 bucks!! That should be more than enough for that heater if the rating is correct!

Correct. And if you're still worried about they make heavy duty dimmer switches that will handle up to 1000 watts.