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Fluxeon Annie Owners Input Please - The Good and the Bad

jimmymac

jimmymac

Jim McGregor
If you'd indulge me, I'm interested in hearing from Fluxeon Annie owners and your experiences both good and bad with the machine and the company.

I'm not interested in hearing from AMP owners. I've used one. It's awesome! It also costs more than I want to spend. I'm also not interested in hearing about flame annealer options. I have no desire to flame anneal.

I did a search and it came back with mostly dated threads and the do it yourself thread that I'm not interested in so I'm looking for some more recent experiences as well as long term usage experiences from Fluxeon Annie owners. The Annie V1.5 unit looks good to me, but I don't know squat. Thanks.
 
jimmymac said:
If you'd indulge me, I'm interested in hearing from Fluxeon Annie owners and your experiences both good and bad with the machine and the company.

I'm not interested in hearing from AMP owners. I've used one. It's awesome! It also costs more than I want to spend. I'm also not interested in hearing about flame annealer options. I have no desire to flame anneal.

I did a search and it came back with mostly dated threads and the do it yourself thread that I'm not interested in so I'm looking for some more recent experiences as well as long term usage experiences from Fluxeon Annie owners. The Annie V1.5 unit looks good to me, but I don't know squat. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I have one. Bought it earlier this year. It works well. Mine is set on 1.4 seconds for 6 BR.
I`m happy with it. My brass had gotten to the point of not bumping. This brought it back to life and my brass seems happy now.
 
I've ordered an Annie but haven't received it yet. Watched a lot of videos about it. I ordered the water cooled version. You can order the scissor lift for it or get the Lyman version which is a bit cheaper. I still need to build a stand for it though.
 
I have one. Bought it earlier this year. Mine is set on 1.4 sec. for 6 BR. It works well. I`m happy with it. My brass had gotten to the point of not bumping. This brought it back to life, and my brass seems happy now. You can trust them to make any issues right, if there are any.
 
Had mine for many years love mine don’t have any complaints I would buy it again can’t think of anything to improve it works flawlessly Jamie
 
I bought one a couple of years ago. The owner was very transparent and easy to work with. After about 6 months I had a problem of it not annealing the same each time. Some would under anneal and some would glow bright red. When I contacted him he said to send it back and he would fix it - which he did. This was during the COVID BS and he was having problems sourcing good components.
A couple of things. I have found is that having the top of the brass ever so slightly above the top of the coil gives me a much more even anneal to the neck shoulder area. If it is below then the top can glow dull red while the rest doesn't change at all. My setting for 6BRA is 1.8 seconds - much less if I raise the coil.
The second thing is it doesn't come with a method to hold the brass so you have to make something up. I made a plexiglass holder with a lever to to drop the brass when it's done, but it's more like a mad science project than something more refined like an AMP.
If you're handy and can make the holder like shown on YouTube then it's a very good alternative to the more expensive units. It's very fast and can do hundreds of cases in a short time. Be sure to get the water cooling setup if you are doing a lot of cases at a time. Also, I drop the hot brass into a METAL baking loaf pan.
HTH
 
jimmymac said:
If you'd indulge me, I'm interested in hearing from Fluxeon Annie owners and your experiences both good and bad with the machine and the company.

I'm not interested in hearing from AMP owners. I've used one. It's awesome! It also costs more than I want to spend. I'm also not interested in hearing about flame annealer options. I have no desire to flame anneal.

I did a search and it came back with mostly dated threads and the do it yourself thread that I'm not interested in so I'm looking for some more recent experiences as well as long term usage experiences from Fluxeon Annie owners. The Annie V1.5 unit looks good to me, but I don't know squat. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I like mine it's quick and very adjustable, built a small table with a spring gate 1.4secs hit the lever and your done.
 
My Annealing experience is only with an Annie. My setup is that I have a nylon cutting board with a few holes in it and I use glass rod to hold the cases. The rod is centered in the coil with the length of the rod controlling the height of the cases. I use 5, 6, or 8 mm rod depending on the case neck diameters. Drop a case on the rod (case mouth down), hit the optional foot switch, then after the countdown, use a leather gloved hand to grab the case and drop in a glass bowl, repeat ….

There was an issue early on which was my fault which I admitted to the manufacturer, but they took care of it no problem.
 
I’ve had one for a few years and am pleased with its performance.

You’ll have to test to determine your own annealing times with Tempilaq. A shooting buddy also has an Annie and we set them up side by side. My Annie took 1.3 seconds while his took 2.1 to anneal the same case to the same spot on the case (shoulder/body junction).
 
I've been using mine for six years with nary a problem. You do have to find the right setting for your machine and your brass - my setting for Lapua Dasher brass is 2.0 seconds and a buddy's machine is set for 1.4 seconds. Both machines produce very consistent results despite the difference in power delivery between them.

Water cooled coils are a must. Get yourself a fishpond water pump at Harbor Freight, some quarter inch tubing, a small bucket and you're all set.

About the only malfunction I've had involved the power cycle switch on the machine. It stuck a couple of times, one without incident and the other cost me a .223 case. I didn't catch it in time and it cooked it pretty well. Two switch malfunctions in who know how many tens of thousands of cycles, a pretty good track record of reliability.

I'm very happy with the Annie.
 
kra961 said:
I like mine it's quick and very adjustable, built a small table with a spring gate 1.4secs hit the lever and your done.
Click to expand...
Same here. A table with a spring gate. I also made delrin inserts to place between the table and spring gate that matches the case body diameter, then chamfered the top of the insert opening so that the dropped case automatically centers in the coils. I anneal everything from 45-70 to 223. It goes really fast and consistently. Very happy with the results.
 
I’ve had mine for several years. Works great. I’ll never screw with a torch again. No comparison. Also, you don’t need a fancy lift or anything else. I’ve got a 1/2” piece of OSB and some pieces of cardboard to get the right lift for my different cases. As soon as it cycles, I grab the case by the base and toss it in a pan.
 
jimmymac said:
I picked up a nice used water cooled unit. I’ve only destroyed 10 pieces of brass so far.

Thanks to all who chimed in.
Click to expand...
Amazing what happens to a .223 or similar piece of brass when over-done. Melts like a candle in the span of a half-second.
 
JLT said:
Amazing what happens to a .223 or similar piece of brass when over-done. Melts like a candle in the span of a half-second.
Click to expand...

It is amazing. I think the tempilaq that came with it is in need of some fresh thinner. Application was not easy.
 
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Would one of you guys please post a picture of what your case looks like inside the coil? It would be helpful to see the location of the caee mouth in relation to the top of the coil. I’m not sure what I’m doing is correct. If it is a PPC case that would even be better, but I’ll take what I can get. Thank you.
 
I have an Annie and it has worked well for many years. I was an early adopter, and deliveries were long in those days as the developer was establishing vendors. He was however, open and quick to respond. I am happy with the product and the service.
My experiences are listed here Building with an Annie

I suggest the easiest way to do it is listed in post # 43. Mr Manson shows how he did it with glass rods, a very simple way to adjust for case length.

I also run about two or three scrap cases to "warm up" the system before I start a run of cases.

I believe you will like the Annie.
 
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