Annealing on a budget.......

[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...