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Induction brass annealer redux

I agree that there is nothing wrong with the 20A induction board. I have one setup for annealing. I looked at the component redundancy, form factor to mount coils and add fans. I chose to focus on the 50A board. The RPS-750-48 is a great power supply but at $169.00? It has far more capability than the cheaper power supplies I used. I had looked into the RPS-750-27 upped to 30V output and using you resistor setup to dial in the amps. I may still experiment with that power supply. The point I make is that there are additional ways to " skin the cat" ... no best or absolute way. Use whatever works for you.
 
In this build... cost is also a factor. The 48 volt, 600 watt DC power supply from Jameco has a retail price of $75.95. If you were to go to that 720 watt, 24 volt PS, Jameco price for 751 watt power supply is $168.95. !!
I just ran a bunch of .223 brass through the basic GinaErick with 750 degree Tempilqa and the anneal time (to 1/4") below the shoulder was 2.95 seconds. Pulling 12 amps.
Granted the SainSmart 1000w 50A 1 kw ZVS induction heating machine product voltage 12V-40V 36V appears to be more robust. But why go there ? The 20 amp unit works just fine, in this build, with this power supply it does not pull more than 12.5 amps.
Further I have annealed 300 win mag ultra cases with this unit, without any problems. No reason to change the ZVS PCB.
 
The point I make is that there are additional ways to " skin the cat" ... no best or absolute way. Use whatever works for you.

Wholeheartedly agree.

Just some advice on the RSP units, avoid tripping the protections, the undervoltage trip on the 48v unit is ~5v, I'd guess it actually 10% of rated voltage. The overvolt and overcurrent trip at around 125% of rated, just above the allowable adjustment range of 120%. There's a wide variety of PS that will work fine to fire off the tank circuit, as long as its above the threshold for a successful start (whatever value that may be). I never experimented with trying to adjust above 100% rated current, saw no need and didn't want to run the PS that hard. You could probably get to 32-33v on the 27v unit without overvoltage protection trips.
 
I am not advocating changing anything, only offering observations based upon what I have done and my results, just as others have. As for the power supplies ... the cost for the 24V - 480W power supply was $36.95 shipped but took 3 weeks to arrive. A 24V - 600W would be $42.95. The 36V -1000W power supply I purchased was $80.00, again with a longer lead time. The material build cost of my complete 50A system, including cooling was just under $250.00. The 20A system was my first build, and included a learning curve of the "wrong" parts, but came in at $225.00. I have found about a 20% savings in parts cost over Amazon, Jameco, and Mouser if you are NOT in a hurry for delivery.
 
I am not advocating changing anything, only offering observations based upon what I have done and my results, just as others have. As for the power supplies ... the cost for the 24V - 480W power supply was $36.95 shipped but took 3 weeks to arrive. A 24V - 600W would be $42.95. The 36V -1000W power supply I purchased was $80.00, again with a longer lead time. The material build cost of my complete 50A system, including cooling was just under $250.00. The 20A system was my first build, and included a learning curve of the "wrong" parts, but came in at $225.00. I have found about a 20% savings in parts cost over Amazon, Jameco, and Mouser if you are NOT in a hurry for delivery.

James

Thank you for your input. You may want to add a link, in this thread as to the source of these lower cost power supplies.

As this build was originally published (this thread) using Amazon and Jameco as the two main suppliers, the whole idea was to make it easy for the first time builder or those with limited knowledge to build the GinaErick annealer. Not to be chasing parts on e-bay, plumbing supply houses, or any number of sources on the web, or waiting on long delivery times.
Yes... you can find cheaper power supplies, if you know what you are looking for and where to look.

Much thanks

Gina
 
For those with an interest in sourcing power supplies at reduced cost, here are 2 eBay seller names that can be searched. For low cast 24v switching supplies the seller is "further-deal" and for the 36V supply I used "totiwo2011". Enter the seller name in eBay search, without quotes, and then seach 24V or 36V power supply. If the seller includes make offer, give it a try. I bought my 36V 1000W supplies from "totiwo2011" with offer of $80.00 including shipping. Good luck
 
For those with an interest in sourcing power supplies at reduced cost, here are 2 eBay seller names that can be searched. For low cast 24v switching supplies the seller is "further-deal" and for the 36V supply I used "totiwo2011". Enter the seller name in eBay search, without quotes, and then seach 24V or 36V power supply. If the seller includes make offer, give it a try. I bought my 36V 1000W supplies from "totiwo2011" with offer of $80.00 including shipping. Good luck

James....

Checked it out... WOW prices are LOW. Comes from China, but then again almost all electronics does these days. My only problem would be if there was a defect in it. Warranty, return shipping, delays, customs, etc
Only my thoughts.. But the ones you got are working well. The ones I looked at (that had pictures) looked like Mean Well power supplies.
Good find on your part.
Thanks for the additional data
 
Hi,
Just wanted to say a BIG thank you to the Gina and Hollywood for sharing their design, in great detail, for all to follow.
I started building mine around a year ago but had real difficulty getting both the coil diameter and coil tubing OD correct - spent a small fortune on different lengths, coil diameters and OD on tubing!
Then I found this thread and the coil design and its been smooth sailing ever since.
I've done literally hundreds of. 308, .270, .243, 6.5x47, .223 & .38 special and, so far, all have been successful after the initial setup (timing, case depth in coil, tempilac 750f).
So again, thank you.
This is mine:

 
Hi,
Just wanted to say a BIG thank you to the Gina and Hollywood for sharing their design, in great detail, for all to follow.
I started building mine around a year ago but had real difficulty getting both the coil diameter and coil tubing OD correct - spent a small fortune on different lengths, coil diameters and OD on tubing!
Then I found this thread and the coil design and its been smooth sailing ever since.
I've done literally hundreds of. 308, .270, .243, 6.5x47, .223 & .38 special and, so far, all have been successful after the initial setup (timing, case depth in coil, tempilac 750f).
So again, thank you.
This is mine:

Nice build. I like the accent lights. Glad we could share with everyone.
 
has anyone used a raspberry pi to automate this instead of a timer yet? I am thinking of combining the propane style annealers auto feed with the induction types you all are doing now and controlling, timming, speed of auto feed and trap doors etc.. anyone here done this yet?
 
has anyone used a raspberry pi to automate this instead of a timer yet? I am thinking of combining the propane style annealers auto feed with the induction types you all are doing now and controlling, timming, speed of auto feed and trap doors etc.. anyone here done this yet?

Hi Ryan...

If you look around the web I'm sure you will find that configuration. What the GinaErick annealer as published here is a unit that someone with some electronic/building skills could build. Parts list, suppliers, instructions, all in one package.
One of the most important parts of the GinaErick informational package was the ID of the coil used with the 20 amp induction board. Know that and you can build your own design induction annealer, any way you want. (raspberry pi).

Gina
 
has anyone used a raspberry pi to automate this instead of a timer yet? I am thinking of combining the propane style annealers auto feed with the induction types you all are doing now and controlling, timming, speed of auto feed and trap doors etc.. anyone here done this yet?


Working on it..... Should be done this simmer. I'm using a Texas Instruments MSP microcontroller. The PI, and Arduino can get the job done, I am more familiar with the TI architecture. I'll post up the build soon as it's rolling. You will be able to set the time for each of the calibers, just have to choose your caliber and dump the brass in the hopper.
 
Working on it..... Should be done this simmer. I'm using a Texas Instruments MSP microcontroller. The PI, and Arduino can get the job done, I am more familiar with the TI architecture. I'll post up the build soon as it's rolling. You will be able to set the time for each of the calibers, just have to choose your caliber and dump the brass in the hopper.

Awesome ill be on the look out for your posts on this..
 
I started working on a low cost induction annealer myself - really low cost, and I got some great info here, so thank you all for contributing. Now, I wont be using water cooling, because I really dont have that much cases to anneal, and that should put down my costs significantly. Also, I will have a different approach for determining temperature: I ll borrow a Non-contact Infrared Thermometer from a friend to determine how long should I keep the case in the coils to get it to 400 C - and I will set up the timer to it. I ll skip using the amp/volt meter too (maybe just initially while setting it up) - I ll just work on 8x57IS cases. I got myself some 12-30V ZVS board ($9.95), and it should be OK up to 20 amps from what I ve read. Since timing isnt critical (as 7 seconds per case for instance - even 30 seconds per case sounds great to me) I believe I dont need the expensive PS also - I have one 12V 10A, and I have one 18V 14A on hand. Tried to use it with 120W one, but the copper coil I have isnt good enough, so I couldnt red heat the case even after 4 minutes in, and half case into coils (just for testing) - the ID of the coil is maybe 7/8", 10 windings total, and they are all splashed together - I think that is the root of the slow heating it up. I did try a 1/8 inch hex key in this setup, it red heated in 4 seconds lets say.
I ll report on the progress, but if someone more electrically inclined has any advice, I would love to hear it.
 
Made some progress with my less powerfull ZVS board (12-30V). powered it up with 22.5V, and used a coil that is smaller in diameter. got a 5.5A with no load, and 6.8 with load in it.
now, it took a full minute for the case mouth to reach 400 C (750F). in the same time, the lower (lowest) portion of the case is reaching 120 C (250F). I used the thermometer with a high temperature contact probe to get the readings. as time is no problem for me, cycle duration is fine from my end. I still have to work on cooling part of the setup, and getting the timer properly set up for future work.
now, my concern is that I ve read on several places that the process shouldnt last more than 8-10 seconds in order not to over anneal the head or case lower base, but these readings give me different conclusion. what do you think, is this turnaround time fine?
 
Keep in mind measuring temperatures accurately is a 'non-trivial problem', especially when there's no temp equilibrium or in a moving media. There's a considerable time delay involved in most methods. Any contact method is likely to have a large time delay.
 

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