I like DIY, I like projects (too much if you ask my wife) but half the time they never fully materialize, this time one did. This isn’t a guide, how-to, instructible, or anything, this probably isn’t the best way to do half the stuff I did. Just a showing off what I did to get the job done. This is also like version alpha .12 This annealer is my own design borrowing existing parts from some places, ideas from some places, some original ideas, all thrown together by me. Some things I got lucky and they worked quick, some took a dozen iterations. several parts use slotted holes to make them work lol. I designed it with multiple calibers in mind (.223Rem to .375H&H, can make parts for more), swapping the feed adapter, carriage, and drop tube should accommodate just about any case and the induction board/coil are height adjustable on some ACME threaded rods.
Why anneal? It undoes some of the work hardening from alternatingly firing and sizing the brass. Allegedly it helps the brass last longer and helps keep the hardness consistent which means consistent neck tension which means better accuracy. Plenty of people say it’s unnecessary too. I’m not trying to do a scientific study. Now that the labor of putting it together is done, this is about the easiest step of loading.
The overall process is the Dillon casefeeder fills its feed tube. The motor spins causing the carriage to close the bottom gate and feed one case at a time to the drop tube and induction coil. As the carriage travels all the way forward, it trips the microswitch on the timer board to turn the motor off and induction board on to heat the brass. The timer counts down and when it hits zero, the motor spins and cycles the carriage opening the gate to drop the hot case and get another.
Temp is checked with 700f tempilac working up from the bottom. Just enough heat to turn colors.
Future changes:
-The induction board runs 12-48v. The cycle time with a 48v power supply is really tight, stepping .1s between calibers and working up temps. .223 is 2.1s. Going to a lower voltage power supply would necessitate longer heating times which would give much finer control at the expense of throughput. Definitely an option really loading for precision.
-purpose built heat exchanger for the water loop. Right now it's just a couple feet of tubing which are the remains of the early attempts at a larger coil.
-go back and revise the carriage and gate.
-Fuses? breakers? lol
Feeding the cases is done by my Dillon casefeeder. Why reinvent the wheel?
Flow control is the job of the carriage and gate. The carriage works like most progressive presses, accepting one case then blocking the flow and moving that case to the drop tube. The gate at the bottom of the tube prevents the case from falling out while being heated. The glass tube the case is dropped into for heating is there because the first iteration was plastic and after a hundred rounds the heat melted it and they started sticking.
Heating: Induction heating (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_heating) Basically, high frequency alternating current flows through the coil creating rapidly changing magnetic fields. Those changing/moving magnetic fields induce a current/voltage in any conductive material nearby. That current flowing induces heat within the material. It works best in magnetic materials like iron but it does work in anything conductive. I’m not an EE so I bought one pre-made on amazon. It works but gets self-destructively toasty at full power. The coil that came with the board was too large physically and electrically. After reading some electronics sites well above my pay grade I figured out that you need higher frequency for thinner materials (lower frequency for thicker materials) and higher frequency for non-magnetic materials. I reasoned if the whole thing is an oscillation based on the capacitors and coil, make it smaller/tighter increases the frequency and focuses the field (kinda like shortening a trombone to increase the pitch). Dunno if it’s true but it works. With the original coil, the coil and board got hotter than the brass. With the one I made, 700f is just over 2s and it’ll turn the case to a puddle in 5-8.
Electrical: 12v comes on when it’s plugged in to the wall. switch A turns on the pumps, fans, and timer. Switch B turns on the timer and motor that runs the carriage. The motor that cycles the carriage is on the NC output of the timer so it runs when power’s on. The NO of the timer has the 120v load, 12-24vdc control 40a solid state relay that controls power to the induction board. There's a PWM controller on the induction board fan but that's optional.
Parts list:
-12v power supply for the controls (science & surplus)
-48v power supply from Amazon
-12v motor from S&S
-Timer board: Amazon product ASIN B07DFT2WDS
-induction board: Amazon product ASIN B01C70G7Y8
-12 fountain pump: Amazon product ASIN B073XMP2VX
-PWM controller: Amazon product ASIN B007TH4EN6
-Dillon case feeder
-various 3d printed parts by me
-glass tube from ABR Images in Bloomington
-boards, brackets, pipe, hoses, screws, bolts, zip ties from various hardware stores via my garage.
STLs:
www.thingiverse.com
On to what you really want: pics and videos:
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="71P27IR"><a href="">View post on imgur.com</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
front view
close up
Board and acme threaded rods
cooling loop
Backside
Why anneal? It undoes some of the work hardening from alternatingly firing and sizing the brass. Allegedly it helps the brass last longer and helps keep the hardness consistent which means consistent neck tension which means better accuracy. Plenty of people say it’s unnecessary too. I’m not trying to do a scientific study. Now that the labor of putting it together is done, this is about the easiest step of loading.
The overall process is the Dillon casefeeder fills its feed tube. The motor spins causing the carriage to close the bottom gate and feed one case at a time to the drop tube and induction coil. As the carriage travels all the way forward, it trips the microswitch on the timer board to turn the motor off and induction board on to heat the brass. The timer counts down and when it hits zero, the motor spins and cycles the carriage opening the gate to drop the hot case and get another.
Temp is checked with 700f tempilac working up from the bottom. Just enough heat to turn colors.
Future changes:
-The induction board runs 12-48v. The cycle time with a 48v power supply is really tight, stepping .1s between calibers and working up temps. .223 is 2.1s. Going to a lower voltage power supply would necessitate longer heating times which would give much finer control at the expense of throughput. Definitely an option really loading for precision.
-purpose built heat exchanger for the water loop. Right now it's just a couple feet of tubing which are the remains of the early attempts at a larger coil.
-go back and revise the carriage and gate.
-Fuses? breakers? lol
Feeding the cases is done by my Dillon casefeeder. Why reinvent the wheel?
Flow control is the job of the carriage and gate. The carriage works like most progressive presses, accepting one case then blocking the flow and moving that case to the drop tube. The gate at the bottom of the tube prevents the case from falling out while being heated. The glass tube the case is dropped into for heating is there because the first iteration was plastic and after a hundred rounds the heat melted it and they started sticking.
Heating: Induction heating (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_heating) Basically, high frequency alternating current flows through the coil creating rapidly changing magnetic fields. Those changing/moving magnetic fields induce a current/voltage in any conductive material nearby. That current flowing induces heat within the material. It works best in magnetic materials like iron but it does work in anything conductive. I’m not an EE so I bought one pre-made on amazon. It works but gets self-destructively toasty at full power. The coil that came with the board was too large physically and electrically. After reading some electronics sites well above my pay grade I figured out that you need higher frequency for thinner materials (lower frequency for thicker materials) and higher frequency for non-magnetic materials. I reasoned if the whole thing is an oscillation based on the capacitors and coil, make it smaller/tighter increases the frequency and focuses the field (kinda like shortening a trombone to increase the pitch). Dunno if it’s true but it works. With the original coil, the coil and board got hotter than the brass. With the one I made, 700f is just over 2s and it’ll turn the case to a puddle in 5-8.
Electrical: 12v comes on when it’s plugged in to the wall. switch A turns on the pumps, fans, and timer. Switch B turns on the timer and motor that runs the carriage. The motor that cycles the carriage is on the NC output of the timer so it runs when power’s on. The NO of the timer has the 120v load, 12-24vdc control 40a solid state relay that controls power to the induction board. There's a PWM controller on the induction board fan but that's optional.
Parts list:
-12v power supply for the controls (science & surplus)
-48v power supply from Amazon
-12v motor from S&S
-Timer board: Amazon product ASIN B07DFT2WDS
-induction board: Amazon product ASIN B01C70G7Y8
-12 fountain pump: Amazon product ASIN B073XMP2VX
-PWM controller: Amazon product ASIN B007TH4EN6
-Dillon case feeder
-various 3d printed parts by me
-glass tube from ABR Images in Bloomington
-boards, brackets, pipe, hoses, screws, bolts, zip ties from various hardware stores via my garage.
STLs:
Induction Annealer by Russ10
These are the 3d printed parts used in making an auto feeding induction annealer. more info at:
www.thingiverse.com
On to what you really want: pics and videos:
<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="71P27IR"><a href="">View post on imgur.com</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
front view
close up
Board and acme threaded rods
cooling loop
Backside
