Annealing cases - blowtorch and induction annealing methods

They would be great if you need to anneal 100s. But like many other shooters I only need to do perhaps 20 or 40 at a time. In fact to be real probably should just buy new cases. But I like tinkering and don’t like spending. :grinning:

Yeah, for small batches, what you’re doing with a socket in a drill is good enough once you get your timing.

I batch all my brass in lots of 100 and generally a few batches/cals at a time so can be annealing 3-400 cases at a time so an annealer makes it a bit easier.

@TheDude have you built one of these? Or how do you do yours?
We would love to see some pics.

I use a bench source annealer (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OaXzARG5Qz0), if I’d not already bought one I would have had a go making one of skips design. From memory I ordered mine only a month or so before he first posted his first design

If I was going to buy an annealer it would be the AMP but at $1600 it is a big investment. Not to mention way over priced for the technology. To build it would be quite cheap. You can get the hot plates for cooking for $50. I have bought a couple of modules of ebay for about the same but need a bigger power supply the timer also is not a costly piece of equipment. Wish the Chinese would get onto making one.

Ok I have bitten the bullet and bought a heap of parts from fleabay to make a DIY annealer out of one of the ZVS 1000 W modules. The parts list is quite extensive if you want to make a good job out of it.

I am looking for ideas for a Tube or tube inside a tube type of thing that one the winding can be wound around and then stay as a former. Then another piece that will hold the case nice and vertical and central in the heating coil.

Any recommendations of material the is not easily breakable and can with stand 500F-750 F.

The idea is to make a trap door type device so they can drop out the bottom when finished.

@sungazer do you have a link to the project/parts, etc.

Here it is. I annealed my first case last night using a 30V 6 A current limited power supply it took about 7 seconds. It was interesting I used the Ferite open induction unit and when switched on it pushes the case out of the path. So a pretty solid way of holding the case in place will have to be used. Waiting on delivery of a 48V 30 A power supply then will experiment with the closed copper coil vs the ferite.

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/induction-brass-annealer-redux.3908353/

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So I have pretty much finished not one unit but two. Main reason for the two was I bought spare parts in case of failures, I got one power supply for free due to what seemed like a lost package and I bought some alternative components in case I didn’t like one or it broke. which was the case in two instances.
So one unit uses a water cooled work coil to induce the power the other uses a ferite which concentrates the flux in the gap.

The Ferrite unit uses less power and is faster and is a bit cheaper to make I think. However the rate of change of the temperature even with 0.01 second control is so quick overheating may be a issue. You often get a slight glow.

The water cooled coil unit accepts a wider range of cases as is and other coils are relatively easy to construct. it is not as efficient and uses a lot more power and is a bit slower but I think you have a bit more temperature control.

The shelf on each unit is adjustable in height and I have some small rulers still to attach to make repeat setups easy. Under the case is a trap door the drops the case into a pan on one unit automatically on the other a press of the momentary switch. this was a case of buying the wrong timer but not really an issue. On the water cooled unit I anneal a 308 case in 4.35 seconds Same for each case at least its consistent if it is need well that’s a wait and see.

Certainly @Cooper and I found for the 223 case which can be done in 1.2 seconds or less annealing was needed to get back the spring in the case neck. On other calibres I am sure it prolongs life of the necks. My question is will it improve accuracy or maintain it on multiple reloads.

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Well you’re not very clever then, are you?
They look great, great work mate :grin:

Do you take orders?

G’day sungazer,
Annealing brass from new won’t improve it’s potential as very little age hardening will occur between factory annealing and sales. Annealing is an aid to accuracy by maintaining a consistent neck tension and thereby removing another variable, as well as extending case life by reducing neck splitting. In combination with neck sizing and occasional shoulder bumping you can effectively triple, or more, case life, Cheers.

I would never anneal a brand new case. However I did have to bump the shoulder back a few thou on brand new Lapua 308 Palma brass. I ran them all through my chamber before any sizing and found most the bolt fell down on them easily. there was about 20% that has slight resistance and the last 20% that the bolt would have taken some effort to close. I didnt do that, I simply used the competition shell holders that are 10 tho oversize and reduce in 2 thou steps until the bolt fell closed and then resized them all to that dimension. Gave the flash hols a debur from the inside and weight sorted a large batch into boxes of 50.

I think form here on in though I will anneal them every firing and see how that works. It only a game and experimentation is part of the fun of learning what works and what doesn’t. Easier if you can learn from someone that has been there and done that though.

For me it wont be so much about extended life but hopefully an aid to accuracy by maintaining a consistent neck tension.

Have a look at this site

I bet AMP is not happy having the internals of there machine splashed all over the net. For those of us interested in the induction topic and home made machines this really lays a lot of info on the table.

I think you are right, there will be some unhappy people there.

Why? It’s a commercially available product without any expectation of its internals being ‘private’ after the very first sale. Load of rubbish.

Inclined to agree. Anyway, no shooter is going to try and copy someting that complex. Easier ways out there.

You obviously haven’t seen @sungazer’s set up.

I guess they could be like Minelab metal detectors and paint all of the internals the same colour so people don’t know what bits they use like resistors etc.

Well there were letters submitted asking for confidentiality. The things like the frequency although easy to find out by testing if you have the right equipment and most importantly are the coil or ferrite size and shape and the amount of turns of the wire in what shape. They are things that any manufacture would want to keep a trade secret and pattern like they did. They put the ferrite in a molded plastic to try and keep it a little under raps. However there pride has over ruled and they have shown some parts themselves just recently on Facebook.

I may try to replicate that ferrite shape. The ferrite certainly does concentrate the Flux and they have refined it even further if you look at the shape at the ends. Also some parts were shown in the pattern application and some red herrings were throw in the pattern application. It is all becoming much clearer.

I am really happy with the results I am getting so far on the 308 cases. I have just done 300 the other day so quick and easy and so consistent.

@Oldbloke back up a few post to see the pics at what some shooter is getting up to and I am not the first or only one. Its quite easy if you are that way inclined. I expect to see @juststarting knocking one up in the future. He has taken on much harder little projects like the wifi target camera.