Annealeez My Opinion ... Out of the Box

[Lapua40X]

My Annealeez arrived last week. First impressions: Metal work very good. Some small blemishes of what looks like welding slag (bumps) in the powder coating in spots. But I don't consider that as anything major. Instructions revealed that the case delivery mechanism might need to be adjusted (very easy to do) so that the cases move smoothly from the primary wheel at the input ramp through the mechanism to the lower slave wheel that spins the cases during annealing and delivers them to the output. After making that adjustment I found that the center to center distances between the two wheels on my machine seemed to be a little too close, causing the case being annealed to drag against the delivery wheel when the lower slave wheel was trying to spin it, causing a stutter in the spinning action. The slave portion of the mechanism relied on a 1/4x20 bolt that was threaded along its entire length as a spindle for the rotating slave wheel. Those full length threads left some degree of excessive play where the spindle passes through the frame's 1/4 inch holes which support the spindle. With a few creative modifications, amounting to nothing more than replacing that bolt with a 1/4 inch cap screw (Hex bolt won't work because of the way the underside of the bolt head is manufactured) I was able to remove about .033 lateral play in that assembly - problem solved. I used nylon spacers to make up for spacing that might have otherwise required custom machining. The torch nozzle assembly came with a hook holding the nozzle in position during use. I replaced that with an eye bolt, a washer of slightly larger diameter and a wing nut. Only other issue I have with it is that the catch tray won't handle more than bout 50 of my .284 cases at a time. I'll be replacing that with a plasterers "mud" pan. Operationally this annealing machine works perfectly. It provides even annealing results (when adjusted properly) and it may very well be he very best single value for a machine of this type available today. Good product coupled with a good price makes it hard to beat.

 

[Bob L.]

Excellent post! Thank you for taking the time and effort.

 

[Nature Boy]

Good write up. I have one and it works well.

I’m going to look into that eye bolt idea

The first thing I did when I unpacked mine was peel off those goofy decals

 

[TerryH]

This might be of interest to you. Friend of mine has a couple of mods that are simple and improve the machine. I did the volt meter mod on my Giraud as well. Makes the machine much more repeatable for a bit of work and $7.

 

[Depart123]

How much voltage equals a 1 second change in annealing time? Is the change linear throughout the entire range of adjustment?

 

[JimSC]

How much voltage equals a 1 second change in annealing time? Is the change linear throughout the entire range of adjustment?

I have been using the Anealeeze for just about a year now and have annealed about 2500 cases with it. I modded mine with pulse width modulator similar to the one in the picture above. PWM stands for pulse width modulation, it varies the speed by changing the proportion of time the signal is high compared to when it is low. Exactly how that works is a mystery to me but it does. It seems to be a linear thing but I have never sat down with a non contact tachometer to test that. What I did was calibrate my machine using 750 Templaq paint on the inside of the neck on several sacrificial cases for the cartridges I use while timing with a stopwatch to see how long it took to change the Templaq then added 3 seconds then varied the number on the readout to get that time. For a .308 the number 20 worked, for the .260 smaller neck I speeded the machine up to 25 and for .223 I use 35. This is not the time in seconds just a reference number and once you determine this number you can use it in every session for that cartridge. Not exactly AMP consistency but good enough.

Link for the PWM I use - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4G5I6H/?tag=accuratescom-20

You have to cut a hole for the digital readout with a Dremel and drill out the hole a bit larger where the original on/off toggle switch is to replace it with the momentary contact switch but otherwise it is a pretty straight up modification


Overall I am pleased with the Anealeeze. It gives me a very repeatable anneal and is easy to use. Like the OP I noted some weld bumps along the little ramp that feeds to cases that irritated me until I ground them off. Also the blue tape on the lower wheel came loose so I replaced it with some non slip tape commonly used on stair treads.

The Anealeeze is a good machine and can be modded to where it gives a very consistent anneal. I find it easy and very convenient so I have made it a part of my normal case prep.

My question is whether annealing actually helps. I had good case life before using it and noticed no improvement in SD and ES from cases that got annealed every time to those that were annealed once every fifth firing using the torch, drill, and socket method. I have managed to get my ES and SD numbers down to single digits but since I made a lot of other changes in case prep over the last year any benefits that annealing gave is just part of the sum.


y

 

[dickn52]

This might be of interest to you. Friend of mine has a couple of mods that are simple and improve the machine. I did the volt meter mod on my Giraud as well. Makes the machine much more repeatable for a bit of work and $7.

I did the digital meter upgrade about an hour ago. I like the repeatability of the mod. I'm doing 6.5CM at 5.8 or so, and going from the 223 to 6.5 is so easy and accurate now. Cutting the hole was the hardest part.

 

[JimSC]

Cutting the hole was the hardest part.

a lot of patience, a Dremel and about 6 or 8 of the abrasive cutting wheels worked for me

 

[riflewoman]

I have been using the Anealeeze for just about a year now and have annealed about 2500 cases with it. I modded mine with pulse width modulator similar to the one in the picture above. PWM stands for pulse width modulation, it varies the speed by changing the proportion of time the signal is high compared to when it is low. Exactly how that works is a mystery to me but it does.

Link for the PWM I use - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4G5I6H/?tag=accuratescom-20

y

As I understand PWM, you apply full voltage in a series of pulses rather than varying the voltage to get speed control. It only works for DC motors. The electrics in a motor would last a touch longer using this rather than varying the voltage particularly at slower speeds. YMMV. In essence the motor is constantly accelerating and decelerating but That would only affect the mechanical parts of the motor and they are sized for that.

 

[dickn52]

a lot of patience, a Dremel and about 6 or 8 of the abrasive cutting wheels worked for me

I had one of those quick connect diamond wheels. Cut through it like hard butter , but we got it done. Cut it a touch short and used a hand file to finish the hole. Snug, level and the wiring was a snap after watching the youtube video.

 

[JimSC]

I had one of those quick connect diamond wheels. Cut through it like hard butter , but we got it done. Cut it a touch short and used a hand file to finish the hole. Snug, level and the wiring was a snap after watching the youtube video.

same here, makes a world of difference in repeatability so it is worth the time, did about 150 cases on mine today

BTW love the Red Fox quote in the sig

 

[snakepit]

I did the digital meter upgrade about an hour ago. I like the repeatability of the mod. I'm doing 6.5CM at 5.8 or so, and going from the 223 to 6.5 is so easy and accurate now. Cutting the hole was the hardest part.

I just installed my digital meter upgrade and it works great. Since I did not cut the hole and just mounted it on top of the case using double sided tape it took me about 10 minutes max to install. I put it to use right away and it looks like this easy mod will improve the ease of annealing with the Annealeez.

Thanks to TerryH for his post and video about this cheap and easy modification.

 

[muleman69]

Just installed mine, drilled hole for wires then velcrowed meter on just in the event I have problems. Works great and thank you Terry for the idea

 

[Cloudrepair]

This might be of interest to you. Friend of mine has a couple of mods that are simple and improve the machine. I did the volt meter mod on my Giraud as well. Makes the machine much more repeatable for a bit of work and $7.

Do you have a model number or link to the one you used?
Thanks for the post
That is just what i was looking for but it has been a long time since I worked with this kind of stuff.
It helps to have this.

 

[JimSC]

Do you have a model number or link to the one you used?
.

This is the one I used

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4G5I6H/?tag=accuratescom-20

 

[geraldgee]

Tagged

 

[Cloudrepair]

This is the one I used

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4G5I6H/?tag=accuratescom-20

Thanks
I would like to find a blue led display

 

[JimSC]

Thanks
I would like to find a blue led display

NP I used red because blue would have clashed with the chintz curtains in my man cave

seriously if you want blue cause of the pretty blue lit toggle on the Annealeeze it would not matter because the toggle goes away with The PWM I used. This one needs a momentary contact switch unless you want to have to double throw the toggle each time. You may be able to find a digital readout PWM that works with a two position switch if you look around enough

good luck

 

[dickn52]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXMLIL8/?tag=accuratescom-20

Blue it is.

 

[muleman69]

This might be of interest to you. Friend of mine has a couple of mods that are simple and improve the machine. I did the volt meter mod on my Giraud as well. Makes the machine much more repeatable for a bit of work and $7.

I set mine up the same all but the clamp. Is that a ground rod clamp?