Annealing
- Thread starter dantiff2
- Start date
i've got a brass o matic,go to zephyrdynamics.com,pretty cool
I have the Ken Light machine and would not want anything else. Remember to order all the shell plates you will want at the time of purchase as they are cheaper then.
It is so efficient, it takes almost as long to get it out of the box and screw in the fuel bottles than it takes to anneal 100 cases.
Get one!
It is so efficient, it takes almost as long to get it out of the box and screw in the fuel bottles than it takes to anneal 100 cases.
Get one!
dantiff2, Your original question asked if anyone had any cool annealing gadgets. Well the Ken Light machine is about as cool as it gets. Yes annealing will extend case life but my guess is that most guys that anneal do it to maintain neck consistancy and proper bullet release for match purposes and saving brass is of little concern. If you want cheap, get a cake carousel and a bernzomatic torch, fill a empty tuna fish can with water and have a ball. Annealing for me is not about having fun it's about making my brass as uniform as they can possibly be, the fun part is shooting them all in a hole.
I'm one of the few that use a lead pot and like it just fine.
Not knowing how it would work, I bought a small cheap Lee pot for about $25. The first time I melted a pile of wheel weights I didnt expect all the smoke from paint, ect.. burning off. I filled my whole shop with smoke. After the first time I can re-melt the lead with no smoke or smell. I use a leather glove, stick a case in for 2 seconds and drop it in a pan of water.
The only problem I've found is maintaining the temp. The pot I have is very small and only has enough lead in it to just cover the case shoulders. The cases are a pretty good heat sink so I have to go slow to maintain the lead at 700 degrees. If I do a bunch fast the lead will cool off and start sticking to the cases. I need a bigger pot that will hold several pounds of lead and not cool off as fast.
There are usually some traces of lead on most cases but it wipes off easy. I deprimed all the cases first because the air pockets will cause a little splatter without a vent hole.
Like I said it works pretty well for me but I dont recommend anyone doing it. You'll burn your house down or die from lead poisoning and blame me.
Not knowing how it would work, I bought a small cheap Lee pot for about $25. The first time I melted a pile of wheel weights I didnt expect all the smoke from paint, ect.. burning off. I filled my whole shop with smoke. After the first time I can re-melt the lead with no smoke or smell. I use a leather glove, stick a case in for 2 seconds and drop it in a pan of water.
The only problem I've found is maintaining the temp. The pot I have is very small and only has enough lead in it to just cover the case shoulders. The cases are a pretty good heat sink so I have to go slow to maintain the lead at 700 degrees. If I do a bunch fast the lead will cool off and start sticking to the cases. I need a bigger pot that will hold several pounds of lead and not cool off as fast.
There are usually some traces of lead on most cases but it wipes off easy. I deprimed all the cases first because the air pockets will cause a little splatter without a vent hole.
Like I said it works pretty well for me but I dont recommend anyone doing it. You'll burn your house down or die from lead poisoning and blame me.
Cochran, You may have just given me a use for a long ago put on the shelf Item. I have a Lee production lead pot furnace that has a adjustable temperature control dial producing a max of 500 watts. I'd think that should be more then enough to keep the larger quanity of lead plenty hot. Being this pot has a discharge lever for easy filling of casting molds, I always sat in a shallow rimed metal plate just in case there was a spill. I'm aware of the need to only use in a well ventilated area. Now if I could just find a use for all those Do-It lure and sinker molds.
RJ
RJ
Dantiff,
Take a look at the posts and the fancy stuff. The basic principals are evident in the designs. All you need to do for a homemade rig is to account for those. I started off years ago using a cordless screwdriver, deep socket, and a torch in a darkened room. I recently bought a Ken Light because I'm too lazy to build my own. It's so much faster it's ridiculous and the results are much more consistent too.
Spin cases for even heating
constantly feed cases thru flames for maximum efficiency,one at a time by hand is real slow)
provide a heat sink to keep bases from heating if heating slowly
provide a place to drop off the cases to cool, water isn't necessary, brass will cool quickly and you can pick it up barehanded in a few minutes
Take a look at the posts and the fancy stuff. The basic principals are evident in the designs. All you need to do for a homemade rig is to account for those. I started off years ago using a cordless screwdriver, deep socket, and a torch in a darkened room. I recently bought a Ken Light because I'm too lazy to build my own. It's so much faster it's ridiculous and the results are much more consistent too.
Spin cases for even heating
constantly feed cases thru flames for maximum efficiency,one at a time by hand is real slow)
provide a heat sink to keep bases from heating if heating slowly
provide a place to drop off the cases to cool, water isn't necessary, brass will cool quickly and you can pick it up barehanded in a few minutes
That mechanisim looks petty neat and is probably the best way in the world to anneal cases but till I got the 350$$$ to get one I just got a Hornady anneal kit last week and I like it. I`m not a big fan of those plug in screwdrivers though. The damn thing petered out after about 30 cases.
memilanuk
Gold $$ Contributor
Anybody here with experience with using MAPP gas,yellow bottle) vs. regular propane,blue bottle) torches?
I had several MAPP bottles on hand, and tried using them but it seems like it gets them too hot too quick... really hard to get it 'just right'. I recently tried the regular propane and it is noticeably slower, but seems more controllable.
Anybody else have similar experiences?
I had several MAPP bottles on hand, and tried using them but it seems like it gets them too hot too quick... really hard to get it 'just right'. I recently tried the regular propane and it is noticeably slower, but seems more controllable.
Anybody else have similar experiences?
I never tried MAPP, but asked Ken Light about it when I bought his gizmo a year or so ago. He said to use regular Propane, as the MAPP is too hot for use with his gizmo.
I think you can be sucessful with MAPP gas. Since the annealing process,at least teh way I understand it) is both time and temperature dependent, if you use MAPP gas as your fuel, you'll need to turn the brass faster and expose it to teh flame for a shorter period of time.
JeffVN
I think you can be sucessful with MAPP gas. Since the annealing process,at least teh way I understand it) is both time and temperature dependent, if you use MAPP gas as your fuel, you'll need to turn the brass faster and expose it to teh flame for a shorter period of time.
JeffVN
For years I used regular propane and thought it too slow. So now I use MAAP gas, and it goes faster. I simply rotate cases using a cordless screwdriver with a K&M neck turning shellholder and dump them in water. I count three seconds as max turning time to heat the necks, and try not to get them cherry red. I don't use templic sticks or other fancy stuff. Is my process sufficient? I don't know. Are the necks consistent? They seem to be, as accuracy does not suffer.
I just can't see an investment of $350 for this tool. I would rather replace the brass every ten firings, it would be cheaper. When someone can show me why my method is not beneficial I will reconsider.
I just can't see an investment of $350 for this tool. I would rather replace the brass every ten firings, it would be cheaper. When someone can show me why my method is not beneficial I will reconsider.
I just annealed 50 243 WSSM cases last night, and i purchased a 650 degree heat stick. I'd heard the 650 crayon was a good way to get it as precise with temp as possible. The problem is it's not really like a crayon, it's more like chalk, and it doesn't adhere to the case neck at all. What i did was just scrape a little off on the inside of the neck. This way it would stay on the inside while i spun it on a screwdriver on the point of the torch,propane), and at about 5 seconds it melted and dissipated. Seemed to work pretty good. I'm sure it's better than guessing as time and temp is supposed to be critical according to the article on annealing here.
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