# DIY brass annealer



## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

looking to build my own brass annealer. There are lots of videos out there. Hoping to have a middle of the road model with the case feeder. Anyone else done one? I am not seeing how to do the case feeder wheel w/o machining your own, any ideas? My place of work (bank) doesn't have a lathe available. 
Here is the simple model that the guy does a great job explaining





For the life of me, cant remember how to embed...


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

I dont see why wood wouldnt work. You can order Delron off of ebay but its fairly expensive. ABS pipe is easy to work with and you can buy small sheets of ABS plastic off ebay that is easy to heat / mould and glue to the pipe with black ABS glue.


-DallanC


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

I built one similar to those for about $40. It works good. I did not need a lathe to build mine. You can get some short pieces of Delfina at a desk able price


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Whats Delfina?


-DallanC


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

DallanC said:


> Whats Delfina?
> 
> -DallanC


That is why I hate typing on my phone. It auto corrects Delrin to that.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

reb8600 said:


> That is why I hate typing on my phone. It auto corrects Delrin to that.


Wow, they are proud of that stuff. That is a common complaint of someone having to buy like a whole 3' rod for $80 and they only need 2". I just realized I have a neighbor who is a machinist at a little shop; I wonder if he can make a few parts just out of scraps for me, that would sure help keep the costs manageable.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

LOL, told you it was expensive. 

What is the diameter of Delrin you need? I bought a 12" long piece last year to make some snowmobile ice scrappers using bailer tines. I have some left over.


-DallanC


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

I like this design a bit more, it seems simpler than the other. The two moving wheels turn at the same speed so gearing is really simple, you just get it indexed properly and it would run forever. You could use a DC motor and adjust the power with a pot to adjust speeds, or get a stepper motor and a stepper motor controller (I did this once, built a telescope tracking motor with a 300:1 ratio, they create way less heat than pots)






-DallanC


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Good points there, I am more curious about the inside of the box on some of these. Simplicity certainly is good, here is my ideal one right here; he does not disclose plans on it. A good Aussie or Brit ??accent here:




I would really like to figure out the lever contraption, that is really slick. The timer would be pretty slick too, I dont think that would be too difficult to figure out that part.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

I bought a 6” or 12” piece from somewhere and the price was not that bad. I think it was 2” in diameter. I think it was on eBay, that is where I bought all the parts for mine.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

If you want to go the super cheap route: I use a propane bottle turbo torch and my Lee case trimmer brass holder that I put in a hand drill. I wear a gloves, put the case in the holder (barley snug), put the neck of the brass in the flame while running the drill for a few seconds and then loosen the brass holder and drop the brass in a bucket of water. I already have a turbo torch for general use and I use the case trimmer so really I bought nothing and it seems to do a good job annealing. After all isn't reloading all about mind numbing repetitive tasks in order to save a few bucks :grin:


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

This is the one I built
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bb_cm10J8urCM2PtKql8VyHtGlovTeI3RnAj7xa0eX0/edit

Not my video but similar to mine






Pictures of the one I built


























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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

reb8600 said:


> This is the one I built
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bb_cm10J8urCM2PtKql8VyHtGlovTeI3RnAj7xa0eX0/edit
> 
> Not my video but similar to mine
> ...


Reb that looks like a great job and a neat little unit but I have one question on the instructions that you provided.

On the diagram for the Front Hole layout are the measurements to the center of the holes or to the outer sides of the holes?

I think that I will start getting parts together in the next couple of days.

Thanks.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

Critter said:


> Reb that looks like a great job and a neat little unit but I have one question on the instructions that you provided.
> 
> On the diagram for the Front Hole layout are the measurements to the center of the holes or to the outer sides of the holes?
> 
> ...


Those are to the center. I had the same question when I built mine.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

So it begins...my buddy got some scrap 1/4" aluminum for me to make my case that Ill just braze together and cut with the jig saw. Looks like I have about 4 weeks to figure all of that out by the time my stuff makes it across the Pacific. 
Can someone more electronically minded tell me how one accomplishes this action on the feeder side? I would assume the proximity sensor just connects to a relay that allows one revolution on the motor? Not sure it is a big deal, but interesting. 



Similarly, how does one wire this with the timer to reset with each time it dumps and how it dumps? 



I dont think I will go that route, just curious how they mechanically do that. Thanks for the input guys!


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

If you have a speed controller for the case feed you can adjust it down to the lower speed. 

So once you have the speed set for the cake pan you can adjust the speed for the case feed.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

On the one where the case feeder is starting and stopping you could put a cam on the motor shaft that activated a switch to turn that motor on and off at the right time or some kind of timer. 

The speed control would be the easiest.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Critter said:


> If you have a speed controller for the case feed you can adjust it down to the lower speed.
> 
> So once you have the speed set for the cake pan you can adjust the speed for the case feed.


+1

Don't over think this. Duration of the case in flame is dependant on the rate of the cake tin turning. Once that is set as per your needs, adjust the feed to match and you are done. The digital voltage outputs make it easy to make minor adjustments to speeds, but certainly isn't needed.

-DallanC


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Well, everything has arrived except the motors and buddy is going to cut case with his plasma cutter, so hopefully have it all figured it next month or so.


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## DUSTY NOGGIN (Feb 27, 2017)

they really don't need to be auto feed , cause you'll want to sit and monitor it anyways ... if one flips around and drops in there backwards and you anneal the case head , then drops in your done bucket ... you really need to NOT rely on automatic function while annealing ... if/when you see it happen, you'll be afraid look away from the thing 

one motor, with the cake pan and one speed controllers with a ramp to set while dropping in the pan would work fine, its fun watching and hearing all the clinking dropping of brass on the aluminum pieces on the new contraption that you just built though

i bought one off a guy used, and the first little wheel slot is too small for belted magnums and bigger 

i set one in at a time , for my bigger rifle type cartridges and 200 cases might take a half hour , including testing and setting up timing 

like in post #15 - there is 2 cases shown in that picture , i just set one in the upper case position , 100 cases goes really quick ( basically i manually do the work of the upper wheel ) 

i can say this for certain that the stop ubolt , will work best sitting in the very lowest part of the cake pan. or occasionally they will jump the stop bolt 

another thing to think about is : that heat will build up in your pile to a very concerning level if doing huge volumes ( more than 50 ) 
-- i did about 500 223 and let them all fall into a large metal pan and the hot brass heated up the pan to a disturbing level , i am fairly certain the the ones buried under the pile had heated all the brass to a ruined level . i tossed em !!! when doing 223 now i fill a 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full of water to quench

another thing that isnt really needed is the propane holder mechanism doo-dad
because you could easily just prop your bottle of propane up on the bench with a shooting sand bag or something to point where you want it rather than messing with some stupid clamp to hold your bottle , they work but just saying not needed 

really the only thing these gadgets do that you cant do with the power drill and socket is timing consistency ... some guys get good at the socket method. but there is immediate satisfaction when you can look across all annealed brass in a reloading block and see exactly uniform heat lines ... you will really appreciate how evenly consistent they turn out

your question about the feeder wheel , it is on another potentiometer running separate , you just make sure that it never outruns the pan wheel or you will end up with 2 in the pan at the same time ... its better to run that one on slow and have it miss an annealing turn than to ever have it catch up -- 

if you ever have the pan open slot lined up with the entry ramp at the same time a drop happens it will have such momentum that it will flip around and do all kinds of unexpected things , fly out of the pan all together , flip around , drop but be under timed to effectively anneal , or jump the wheel and go back and forth like a hamster in a wheel only annealing on one side of the case ... 

*** again you will save alot of hassle by setting them in there yourself & scrapping the idea of the feeder wheel ***
bonus+ you will have a spare motor for when that one goes out


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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

This is something I'll have to attempt sometime soon as well. I've been doing the power drill method for now, but looking for something a little more refined.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I was actually thinking of making one similar to this set up. It is a manual feed one and you do have to do more than just watch but if there is a problem you will know it quite quickly.


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