Annealing on a budget.......

[sidesy]

ive done mine with a large reach socket / an adaptor and rechargeable drill. a mappi gas bottle and wand completes the package. timing and practice is important but once youve come up with a time , its simply a case of dropping the hot brass into a tray of water. plenty do this on youtube (some will use templelac).

[Daryll]

heres one I made earlier..

https://youtu.be/-DaojieJr_M

The parts were maybe £40 from the 'bay, plus some scrap plywood..and one of the wifes cake tins..!

[severnsider]

heres one I made earlier..

https://youtu.be/-DaojieJr_M

The parts were maybe £40 from the 'bay, plus some scrap plywood..and one of the wifes cake tins..!

Daryll that looks to be just the job. I have a small workshop, pillar drill, lathe, plenty of scrap plywood, aluminium and acetal bar for rollers and bearings, the wife has loads of cake tins and I would certainly have a go at making my own. So many examples on YouTube, but so few with an actual list of the items used (i.e. motor(s), speed controller, belt or gear driven etc). Many from years ago, so I doubt that the same components would be available today.

So - for your version, a D.C. motor having an output speed range of, say 8 to 12 rpm? A separate motor to drive the case feed, actuated by a switch on the cake tin?

[aris]

heres one I made earlier..

https://youtu.be/-DaojieJr_M

The parts were maybe £40 from the 'bay, plus some scrap plywood..and one of the wifes cake tins..!

Will you make me one for £50?

What kind of motor did you use - steppers?

[Daryll]

I followed the ideas here:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/D...ne/42-434088/?

its a long (16 pages) thread, with various people coming up with variations...

Looking back on my purchase history, the motors were "high torque 12vDc 25RPM gearbox sabilivolt electric motor replacement" although they're no longer available, I'm sure something suitable is.

The sensor is a LJ12A3-4-Z/BX Inductive Proximity Sensor Switch NPN ( make sure you get the right one... I mistakenly bought the wrong one first, so the motor only ran when it sensed metal, not when it didn't sense metal..!)

A couple of 8mm-16mm 45# Steel Rigid Flange Coupling Motor Guide Shaft Coupler Connector to connect one motor to the cake tin, I couldn't find anything suitable for the "case collecter" wheel so used a hole drill to cut out a cylinder of wood, then cut/filed the slot in... its about the right size for both .308 and .223, the only calibres I reload.

I also bought a DC6-30V 12V 24V Max 8A Motor PWM Speed Controller With Digital Display Switch UK, that controls the speed of the whole thing, and therefore the time that the cases are in the flame.

For power, I use a 12v CB radio power supply.


One thing i will say is to only anneal clean cases.... I did a batch of clean cases and they worked so well I jumped in and did all my other unfired cases... but I think the carbon/dirt on them caused them to get too hot... there was a definate difference between the clean and dirty cases, with the annealer set up exactly the same...

[severnsider]

I followed the ideas here:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/D...ne/42-434088/?

its a long (16 pages) thread, with various people coming up with variations...

Morning, Daryl. That's very helpful, thank you. I'm familiar with the 16 pages on the AR15 forum - it got me interested in the first place but the sheer number of posts and ideas just wore me down.

Your suggestions have put me back on track, thank you, so I shall be scouring the RS components catalogues and certain other sites for components today. I'm looking forward to coming up with a device of my own.

Your comment about using only clean cases has been noted by others, so it's clearly important not to chuck dirty brass on the annealer.

Also.. great shooting in the your CAS video........ "hey, cowboy, walk this way.." classic

Cheers!

Parts all stall available and ordered....

[Daryll]

Thanks Severnsider... yes, I love shooting in the US, using "real" guns for a change...

[aris]

What kind of design you going for? Please post pics of progress.

[severnsider]

What kind of design you going for? Please post pics of progress.

I'll try and post pictures..... I've not had much success in the past but can bung them onto a website with a link for you. I'm copying Daryll's design so I've bought the same motors, spindle adaptors, proximity sensors and speed controller used by him (although the motors are coming from China, the other bits have already arrived). I'll use Delrin (rather than wood) for the case "picker-upper" and probably aluminium sheet (rather than plywood) for the main frame. Hope to make a start next week. £60 so far but I doubt it will cost any more than £80 altogether.