Ballistics edge annealer question.

[chuckbuster243]

How many shooters out there are using the Ballistics edge 360 annealer? Do you like it? And how hard is it to set up the two torches? Does it anneal the case uniform since it does not rotate the case? I thought about the bench source since it rotates the case but the edge is a small amount cheaper. The Girard is nice but its hard to change case sizes. I have been mailing brass off to anneal and am considering buying one. Thanks for the replies. Matt

 

[CatShooter]

How many shooters out there are using the Ballistics edge 360 annealer? Do you like it? And how hard is it to set up the two torches? Does it anneal the case uniform since it does not rotate the case? I thought about the bench source since it rotates the case but the edge is a small amount cheaper. The Girard is nice but its hard to change case sizes. I have been mailing brass off to anneal and am considering buying one. Thanks for the replies. Matt

I have not used it - but I would not own an annealing machine that didn't spin the case in the torch!

 

[jonbearman]

First off I have that annealer but it is an earlier model.Anyways the only reason they spin case's is for aesthetics.The case anneals the same as the flame wraps around it.If you don't believe me put the paint all the way around it and watch it change color.The fella that makes the ballistics edge knows alot about annealing and with my annealer it works perfect and my tension is good and the cases last way longer than before.Talk to a real metallurgist like my uncle and he told me that brass has such good conduction that it anneals all the way around through conduction alone.If you need the case to spin to make it look better but perform the same buy his more expensive model,but I know it is just to please people with the resulting change in color so it looks factory.I would purchase that one and never look back.

 

[hedditch]

I own a Bench Source and it makes me feel better that the case spins around

 

[jimbires]

jonbearman and I have the same machine . I'm well satisfied with the results I get .

 

[jonbearman]

Your benchsource is a great machine but they both do the same thing,just not as pretty.LOL

 

[jlow]

How many shooters out there are using the Ballistics edge 360 annealer? Do you like it? And how hard is it to set up the two torches? Does it anneal the case uniform since it does not rotate the case? I thought about the bench source since it rotates the case but the edge is a small amount cheaper. The Girard is nice but its hard to change case sizes. I have been mailing brass off to anneal and am considering buying one. Thanks for the replies. Matt

I have not used it - but I would not own an annealing machine that didn't spin the case in the torch!

I agree with CatShooter, the weakness of this annealer is that it does not spin the case. Remember, the whole idea of doing this business and paying big money to anneal cases evenly, and there is no way that a case annealer that does not spin the case can give you as even an anneal as one that does.

 

[LHSmith]

I'd have to disagree that spinning the case is not the ideal method. The thermal conductivity of brass is ~ 1/4 of that of copper.......yet any plumber who has sweated 1/2" and especially 3/4" and larger fittings will find rotating the flame around the joint speeds up the process.
Again, I just experimented spin vs. no-spin......on .222 cases it seemed to not make a difference, on .300 WM cases, the unspun case neck turned red on one side only for a few seconds before the heat transferred (by conduction) to the opposite side. Done in low light.

 

[Gene66]

I have two annealer's. Zephyr Dynamics Brass-o-Matic,and Ken Light BC 1000
The Brass-o-Matic does not spin the case, but does a good job. I use it to for my .375x.50cal bmg and .50 cal bmg.I use the ken light for 300 wby and down
to 6mbr, IMO the Ken Light does a better job
Good Shooting
Gene

 

[jlow]

I'd have to disagree that spinning the case is not the ideal method. The thermal conductivity of brass is ~ 1/4 of that of copper.......yet any plumber who has sweated 1/2" and especially 3/4" and larger fittings will find rotating the flame around the joint speeds up the process.
Again, I just experimented spin vs. no-spin......on .222 cases it seemed to not make a difference, on .300 WM cases, the unspun case neck turned red on one side only for a few seconds before the heat transferred (by conduction) to the opposite side. Done in low light.

Heat certainly transfer in brass, there is no doubt of this but I think what you see in low light i.e. “unspun case neck turns red on one side only for a few seconds” clearly says that that part that turned red has experience higher temperature than the other side, that by itself will cause a difference in the degree of annealing between the two sides. There is no real way around this. This is why spinning is important.

 

[jonbearman]

This ballistics edge has 2 torches converging at 2 different angle's and it does a fine job.

 

[jlow]

Two torches are definitely better than one but could you not envision that the two sides of the case facing the torches getting hotter?

 

[Codeman]

The case DOES spin in the 360. The top plate has holes all the way thru and the case head rides on a lower stationary plate- when the upper wheel turns the case rolls on the lower one making it spin.

Its a great machine, the only complaint I have is when I'm annealing short cases like the 20VT the wheel gets hot because the flame has to be so close to it, that only happens when I do batches over 100 cases without letting it cool down.

 

[lrgoodger]

The case DOES spin in the 360. The top plate has holes all the way thru and the case head rides on a lower stationary plate- when the upper wheel turns the case rolls on the lower one making it spin.

Its a great machine, the only complaint I have is when I'm annealing short cases like the 20VT the wheel gets hot because the flame has to be so close to it, that only happens when I do batches over 100 cases without letting it cool down.

Nope. That's the Model 400, which is what I have. According to the website pics, the 360 does not spin. May the pics are old?

http://www.annealingmachines.com/model-360.html

 

[jlow]

That’s interesting because I went to their website and they have a video of the 360 and at least as far as I could tell, there was no spinning – do you have a different upgraded machine?

As for annealing the short cases, the BenchSource I think will have the same problem.

 

[jlow]

The case DOES spin in the 360. The top plate has holes all the way thru and the case head rides on a lower stationary plate- when the upper wheel turns the case rolls on the lower one making it spin.

Its a great machine, the only complaint I have is when I'm annealing short cases like the 20VT the wheel gets hot because the flame has to be so close to it, that only happens when I do batches over 100 cases without letting it cool down.

Nope. That's the Model 400, which is what I have. According to the website pics, the 360 does not spin. May the pics are old?

http://www.annealingmachines.com/model-360.html

That 400 is really pretty different as although it does spin the cases, the cases do not stop but just keeps moving… I guess that is OK as you can just adjust the timing, and BTW both torches point in almost the same direction which is also different.

 

[Codeman]

My mistake- I have the 400 model