Anealing has anyone used the bolt buster?

[s100whunter]

Wondering if anyone has used the bolt buster to aneal,with no flame just radiant heat

 

[jlow]

First of all, it is not cheap at $369.99, so at that price, you might as well buy a machine made to anneal.

Second, my understanding is that it only works on things that a magnet can pick up since it is creating a magnet and oscillation it to create heat so I doubt it will work on brass?

 

[amlevin]

First of all, it is not cheap at $369.99, so at that price, you might as well buy a machine made to anneal.

Second, my understanding is that it only works on things that a magnet can pick up since it is creating a magnet and oscillation it to create heat so I doubt it will work on brass?

You're correct, it only works on ferrous metals. It was designed to remove stuck lug nuts on decorative wheels where a regular torch would destroy a wheel, some of which can cost up to an obscene "thousand bucks".

 

[BoydAllen]

I have no idea as to the results that would be obtained, but if you read the FAQ on the site you will see that it works on brass. The way that it works is by induction. Here is a link to a page that explains the process. http://www.gh-ia.com/induction_heating.html

 

[s100whunter]

Add states it will work on brass

 

[spclark]

Works on brass or any other electrically conductive metal. Physics involved means it'll work faster on magnetic stuff like iron, steel, nickel-bearing alloys like stainless. Not as fast to heat brass but the thin sections we're working with will heat faster than thicker stuff like nuts & bolts so some means to control the heat interval is mandatory.

My only question is whether the diameter is appropriate for rifle cases where this product is designed for stuff like wheel lug nuts of significantly larger diameter. If an element having an inside bore of 3/4" is available, may work better than something with 1-1/2" or larger.

 

[jlow]

I did not get into the details of it, just listened to the salesman.

Still even if it does, why would anyone pay that much money for something really no better than a torch? Sure the Bench Source cost more like $530 but at $370, you are only $160 away and you are not getting the timer or the ability to load up brass.

Apart from being able to get precise anneals, one of the reasons I really like the Bench Source (or for that matter another dedicated annealer) is how it has converted a part of brass prep from something that I really dislike because of the arbitrary nature to something that I now really enjoy.

 

[TC260]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny0a72_AX0E

 

[jlow]

It’s nice but why re-invent the mouse trap that already works? Specifically what is the advantage? I guess for fun it would be worthwhile if you have the cash, but I would bet that the setup we see cost a lot more than $530 and a heck of a lot more time.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for tech and I love to tinker myself but it would seem that efforts like that unless it has specific advantages that I am missing would best be focus on something that we don’t already have a solution for?

 

[Scott Harris]

I tried using some induction heaters to anneal brass. It worked well, but the induction devices could not handle the heavy load of 100+ pieces of brass: the heating elements burn up in short order. It was an expensive experiment that ended as a failure for me. I think you'd have to get a very expensive induction system to work well. Propane is a far cheaper method that is just as effective. Combined with a Benchsource or Giraud, propane is the way to go IMHO.

 

[BoydAllen]

It is not often that we get a first hand account like yours. Thanks for sharing. You may have saved a curious person some money. Having used an annealing machine that pauses cases in the flames, and is easily adjusted for dwell time, I can find no reason to do otherwise if one has the budget. The one that I helped a friend set up worked very well. We tested with templaq each time that we set up, so that difference in flame adjustment were taken into account with slight time adjustments. You can use the same case over and over to get templaq readings as long as you cool it between, and scrub the old material off.

 

[amlevin]

Still even if it does, why would anyone pay that much money for something really no better than a torch?

That brings up the question why people spend large amounts of money for just about anything that has an inexpensive basic "tool" to get the job done.

An example:
Yesterday I was out edging my lawn. Between the driveway and front sidewalk I have a couple hundred feet that needs to be edged. I was out there using an old fashioned "edger" that consisted of a half-moon shaped piece of steel attached to a hoe handle. Sharpened up it cuts the sod that has grown over the concrete with not much effort at all. Cuts it clean and neat.

My neighbor came over and gave me a bad time for "going old school". Suggested I'd get it done quicker with either a weed-eater or power edger.

Here I am, getting a near perfect job from a tool I bought for $5 at a garage sale, and watching my neighborhood doing half-@ssed jobs with weed-eaters and power edgers. They'll have to edge their lawns every week. I only have to do mine once a month with the sod itself being cut.

I think I'll stick with my "old school" methods. Edge my lawn with my $5 edger and anneal my brass with a torch, socket, and cordless drill. In the last 5 years I've had two cases with split necks )out of thousands of shoot/reload cycles and I can't blame any accuracy issues on annealing.

 

[Webster]

Wondering if anyone has used the bolt buster to aneal,with no flame just radiant heat

How would you control heat imput?