De gumming a press????

[Elpatoloco]

I have a couple of Rock Chuckars, etc. I keep an old RCBS partner press here at the house to load on. My shop is 15 miles away.

Anyhow, I had this little press for 35 years. (Since I was 15) no telling what all I have put on the ram over the years to keep it running smooth.
It has always had a habit of binding up on "Gum" since I statred using it. Likely somekind of lube mixed with old powder. Its been about 15 years since I bathed it in a parts washer. I do not have access to one anymore. About every 200 strokes, she gets gummed back up until I wipe the ram down with Hoppes 9. Then it runs up and down like a machine....until it doesnt.

What in the heck do I need to put on this thing to stop this nonsense once and for all?

 

[RicinYakima]

Hoppes #9 is a very poor lube. What you are seeing is mostly primer and powder ash. Put it in the sink and wash it with soap and HOT water until clean, dry, than a very very light coating of grease NOT OIL on the ram and pivots. That should last about 2500 cycles.

 

[Elpatoloco]

Hoppes #9 is a very poor lube. What you are seeing is mostly primer and powder ash. Put it in the sink and wash it with soap and HOT water until clean, dry, than a very very light coating of grease NOT OIL on the ram and pivots. That should last about 2500 cycles.

Yes Sir, I was not using it for lube, rather to cut the gunk off of the ram. I haven't used any "Lubes" since I've had it back out and using it. I figired at some point all thay shit would come out of there.

Will give it a soap bath and see!

 

[Reeferman]

I spray Hornady One Shot on the rams of all my presses. Works really well.

 

[Jeff H]

Every "few" years (five, ten?), I take my presses apart and clean much like @RicinYakima mentions. The press I use most is a "cheap" LEE, 3-hole Turret Press I got in the early nineties - and it still looks new and is tight.

I clean that primer residue crap off each time I deprime any number of cases, but try to deprime offline on a LEE single-stage I think I paid less than $20 for on some super special, decades ago. That one gets disassembled and cleaned periodically as well, but it's "portable" and easier to clean, so depriming is one of its core competencies.

As far as lube on the ram and pivot points, I still use original milspec Break-Free CLP, but I have less than half an ounce left, so I will likely start using Lubriplate 130-A (an ancient grease) on the ram and some other lighter oil on the pivot points - IF I live that long. A little goes a long way. I know a few who swear by petroleum jelly on the ram.

The dirt and grit from primers is the biggest culprit, so I keep it cleaned off. I cringe when I think about presses I've seen mounted on benches in garages, with rusty rams and creaky pivot points. Bubbas abound. They'll run a few through the resizing die, dribble some 10W40 on the ram, work it madly for a few seconds and go to town. It seems to work, but really, REALLY goes against my grain. I just can't do it that way.

 

[RBHarter]

I've resorted to lots of WD40 as a wash solvent then 3 in 1from the top until just before it rolls up a drip under the frame .
There's a lot of slop in my Partner now , RCBS says it has a design life of 50,000 rounds . Mine has probably probably 200,000 strokes on it under work load .

An inquiry to RCBS resulted in learning that in the labs they use Stay lube white motor/engine assembly white grease , I want to say #9 .

 

[Elpatoloco]

I've resorted to lots of WD40 as a wash solvent then 3 in 1from the top until just before it rolls up a drip under the frame .
There's a lot of slop in my Partner now , RCBS says it has a design life of 50,000 rounds . Mine has probably probably 200,000 strokes on it under work load .

An inquiry to RCBS resulted in learning that in the labs they use Stay lube white motor/engine assembly white grease , I want to say #9 .

I'd hate to venture a guess as to how many rounds mine has loaded. Its a little sloppy, with the linkage, but the ram is tight and it makes good loads.

 

[358156 hp]

You might consider pulling the press completely down, to include removing the ram. Then clean the ram and inside the ram bore really well. I use motor oil on my presses as per Dillons maintenance video. This includes greasing all pivot points as Ric suggested above. I use synthetic grease, but not everybody does. My Redding Big Boss, and my Lyman turret press get the same treatment.

 

[STIHL]

I’ll vote 2nd for WD40 and 3 in 1. A bath also sounds like a good idea too.
I have heard kroil oil or ATF mixed with kerosene also does really good, it’s just too expensive.
I use grease in my APs.

 

[JonB]

I use Kroil's product called Microil, it's a machine tool oil that doesn't dry, so it doesn't gum up.
I only deprime on the two Lee presses that have a hallow ram for clean primer disposal, so I don't get primer residue on the ram/frame area. If I was to need to clean/lube a gummy crud'd up Ram, I'd use Ed's Red.

 

[oscarflytyer]

usually when I buy a used something reloading, I use brake cleaner to clean and degrease. It will def remove all gunk/put it back to bare metal against bare metal. Then, like Ric, I typically very lightly lube with RIG grease using a q-tip. I will sometimes also use the spray Hornady One Shot on it if it is binding in the middle of loading and I am not at a full clean up point. The One Shot gets me through what I need til I can reclean/degrease.

Kerosene/Parts Cleaner/diesel fuel will also do basically same end result as brake cleaner. Diff is, brake cleaner you have to thoroughly wipe down/wipe off all the brake cleaner and gunk and maybe do twice to get it all. Kerosene et al, you are doing a bath and removes in one process.

Brake Cleaner will make it dry as dirt, so you def have to lube it lightly. other options not as dry, but I still lube lightly.

 

[richhodg66]

I tend to just wipe down the ram wuth acrag soaked in Ed's Redwhen ut starts to feel a little draggy. Takes care of it for a while. I think I've only broken that Rockchucker completely down and cleaned it ince in 30+ years.

 

[Tomme boy]

Lubriplate is what you want to use to lube the ram. Just a swab on the top and bottom to keep everything going.

 

[MW65]

I use some auto grease.... and have also used moly grease as well... every once in a while wipe all the grease off, then reapply.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Everybody has their preferred methods of maintenance and that includes their own selection of maintenance products.

Depending on the amount of use, every now and then I pull my presses apart and clean them. The interval is at least a year and often longer. That typically involves some solvent. After the moving parts are clean and dry, everything gets lubricated and reassembled.

Pivot points such as pins, get plain old wheel bearing grease. Rams get straight 30 weight motor oil (per Dillion manual and used on all presses). Occasionally the ram will get wiped off with a clean rag and re-oiled with some 30-weight oil without disassembly. This maintenance regimen has served me well over many decades.

The key to maintaining any machined, moving surface is two-fold: clean and lubricated.

Don’t allow grit, debris, dirt, whatever, to build up. Most of the crud that accumulates on a press isn’t terribly abrasive, but some of it is.

Don’t let the press run dry. Some oils and grease don’t age well. They will dry up or gum up. WD-40 is notorious for gumming up with age. (I personally hate the stuff, it’s a mediocre penetrating oil, terrible long term oil and a pretty bad preservative; not to mention expensive)

Whatever path you go down, the keys are relatively clean and never completely dry of oil or grease.

 

[KeithB]

Anything I own that has any sort of sliding motion and is indoors gets lubed with way oil. We always have Mobil Vactra around for the lathes and mills and it works great for presses etc.

 

[Jeff H]

I like all the ideas I read (and "liked" every post as well) and think any of them could work for me, especially since I don't load or shoot as much as I used to.

Probably most important to any of us, referring to @Petrol & Powder 's point, is about keeping it clean. I think that would let most of us get away with even some less than ideal lube.

@KeithB 's suggestion of way oil certainly makes sense, coming from someone who world revolves around revolving and sliding machine components. I never thought of that. When I had a "real job," I could have carried buckets of that stuff home (as well a cutting/grinding coolants/oils). I walk past our CNC lab and machine shop every morning at school and the smell puts me in a mood of elevated alertness instantaneously.

Having worked with (not for) the "Big Three" in their machining plants for years, I don't relax when I smell machining/grinding coolants or certain other oils. I'd be jamming that press handle and constantly looking over my shoulder - not relaxing when I hand-load.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I bought a Tub of RedNTacky grease some years back when the last "tub" was nearly emptied. I also keep a tub of Mobil one syn grease in my cabinet.

When I had access the parts cleaner was my first choice. It cleaned great then blew it out/off then applied grease.

Today, brake cleaner.

I done see them gummy but can tell when more is needed. This new MEC was bone dry & dusty. Appeared to have been under a bench or in a dusty corner upright. It cleaned up easy and runs slick now.

One thing that HAS given me troubles is primer feed on one of my 550's. It can be slower then me and when that happens cases do t get primed. I tear down clean but haven't found anything to cure issue. Graphite is used now. PERFECT operation after clean but only for limited time.

CW

 

[Winelover]

Break Free CLP.......... cleaner lubricant. What I use.

 

[popper]

Very little stress on the ram, just keep it clean to keep alignment correct. Stress is on the pivots where grease needs to be applied. Of course, no zircs there.