A quick question about press maintenance.

[fgw_in_fla]

What do y'all use to lubricate your reloading press (ie - the ram, linkage, etc)?

Grease or oil?

How often do you treat it to a little lubricant?

After each use or when I get a "groan" sound from the ram I wipe off whatever is left of the old lubricant & apply fresh new oil.

How's about youse guys?...

[stangfish]

Whale oil when I can get it. Otherwise I use snails earwax..... And when that is not available I put some machine oil on it. I have used Lucas but I think the light oil is better.

[quickkillaught6]

Good ol fashioned transmission fluid ATF works very well after reloading 8-15,000 rounds mine done the same thing I use break clean to clean all the crap off the press, then use ATF to lube it up.

[fgw_in_fla]

I tried ATF for a little while. I prefer the regular 'ol straight weight 30w that I use for our spare vehicle. It a bit thicker & hangs in there. In the spare car with 6.2 gazillion miles on the engine the straight weight really fills in the bearing gaps & keeps it quiet. Settles down those noisy lifters, too.

I used wheel bearing grease on the press ram once. That was enough to convince me to stay with oil. Man did it get messy.

Snail's Earwax? Is that something I can buy locally or do I need to harvest it & preserve it?

[JW]

I use 3 in 1 oil on my Lee turret- makes for very smooth operation for about 1 month then I do it again
I have wiped off the old oil a time or two but usually just put more on it
The Hornady lock and load has grease fittings with a grease ring on the ram that seem to "wipe" grease where needed
Had it for a while and greased once

Quote: Whale oil when I can get it. Otherwise I use snails earwax.....
I can't wait to see scope eyes response on this LOL

Jack

[scope eye]

I give it a quick spray of WD40, it cleans it up and lubes it in the same shot.

Dean

[thomae]

I use dry lube. A little Moly powder on the ram goes a long way.

[davemuzz]

Silkworm poop. Good stuff. Hard to find tho.

[stangfish]

So 3 in 1 is machine oil, transmission fluid has great cleaning properties due to the detergents. WD-40 well that some baling wire and duct tape and you can make a press. 30 wt oil or any automotive lube has the adhesion and lubrication but like other wet lubricants it can be a smelly, gunky, dripping mess.

I'm going to have to try the silkworm poo. Bat guana was too slippery. Everytime I sized brass the primer would blow out the bottom with so much velocity that it chiped the flooring.

Dry lube.....hmmmm I think that is something that needs to be considered. Very little to no grime/gunk buid up. Virtualy no smell or drip stains on the floor. Good job Thomae. Going to give that a shot.

[fgw_in_fla]

I use 3 in 1 oil on my Lee turret- makes for very smooth operation for about 1 month then I do it again
I have wiped off the old oil a time or two but usually just put more on it
The Hornady lock and load has grease fittings with a grease ring on the ram that seem to "wipe" grease where needed
Had it for a while and greased once QUOTE]

Quote: Whale oil when I can get it. Otherwise I use snails earwax.....
I can't wait to see scope eyes response on this LOL

Jack

Wow.... Actual grease fittings, eh? Now that sounds like a well made press. I 'spose with a good quality drill bit & a few grease fittings any press could be modified to make life a wee bit simpler thru the use of grease fittins'...

[thomae]

One thing to remember is that one generally doesn't want to mix petroleum based lubes with gunpowders...it kind of ruins things. Of course, I would hope that no one used so much lube that it dripped into the powder or brass.

For what it's worth: My understanding is that 3 in 1 used to be vegetable-oil-based that broke down easily in wet or hot environments. I don't know what the current formulation is. I believe now there are several lubricants sold under that brand name.

Another thing to consider for a dry lubricant would be wax or paraffin. Food grade paraffin (for my British empire friends, I am not talking about what we Yanks call Kerosene, which is what you blokes call paraffin) is easily available in blocks at grocery stores and you can rub it on the main metal ram.

You could also melt some, add just a bit of moly powder, and then let it harden...it would be an ideal dry lubricant for a lot of things, to include a reloading press.

It is sometimes used for bicycle chain lube because it does not pick up dust and dirt as much as liquid lubricants. Old candles would work as well. A thin layer of shoe wax or paste wax would also probably be effective.

Cheers.