I'm getting ready to order an annealer, any reason to go with a Giraud over an Annealeez?  Plan is to use it primarily with .223 (including 6mm & 7mm TCU), 6.5 Grendel & 6.8 SPC, 7mm-08 class cartridges, and .280 class stuff....as well as 7mm BR.

Tips or suggestions?  I considered trying to build my own, but I simply do not have the time right now.

I'm planning on getting the Annealeez for price and simplicity sake.

You can damn near buy 2 Annealeez units for the price of 1 Giraud.

I have Vertex Bench Source annealer. It was a bit pricey, but I'm glad that I bought it. Once I get it set up, I just feed in the cases and watch it go. It's very well designed and well made.

I've got an older Anealeez, and it works ok.  If I were to do it again today, I would look very seriously at the Mike's Reloading Bench unit, albeit at a slightly higher price point.

The Giraud isn't easy (for me at least)to use. I can't tell you how shells I've over cooked in that thing.

If I had the money, I'd get the AMP electronic  annealer  and be done with it.

AMP here. With AZTEC mode it's the simplest annealing machine ever made.

Can usually do about 10 cases a minute by hand. Don't have the AMP Mate.

Edit.. Thought about one of Doug's units but decided not to after hearing of people having trouble getting it fine tuned and dialed in. Plus don't care for propane bottles and open flames in house

Triggered.

With the Amp induction annealer, is the case handler required or can it be used one case at a time?

I am also interested in how many cases you have processed.  I blew up 3 or 4 Fluxeon Annie induction annealers with just a handful of cases, so I have some cold feet issues with it.

I can't believe Giraud still has that Fluxeon piece of crap pictured on his site.  That alone gives me pause about ordering from them.

I watched the Mikes Reloading Bench video.  No additional accessories required.  I think that is the one I will go with.

You know better than this.

<snip>

<snip> to stay on topic, I went with an Annealeez and I am happy with my choice.  Easy to set up.  Easy to figure out the right setting for your brass.  Easy to run batches with little to no intervention by the operator during the run.  Good price.  For me, the choice was a no-brainer...  and it's a good thing too as I seem to have misplaced my brain this week...  or at least that is what the wife tells me!  



For folks with a current generation Annealeez, below is a table of settings & approximate torch times...



Based on my limited experience/testing, the relationship between the setting and the corresponding torch time is expressed by this equation:  Time (seconds) x Setting = 290.

Best,
- Reo -

Just looked up the cost of the AMP annealer...I'll go be poor somewhere else.  

As recently as late 2020, Erik Cortina (one of the top F-Class shooters in the US) was annealing his brass using a propane torch and it didn't seem to hurt his group sizes (YouTube vid)...  About a year ago, he published a YouTube video with him shooting a 1.3" 5-shot group at 1,000 yards (link)!!!  In consideration of this stuff, torch annealing is good enough for me - I have no interest in induction annealing...

Anyone here use the molten salt method? I saw a video on it and was intrigued, but haven't pursed it.

Looked at the method hard  for 6 months and decided that it may work but, I don't have the time for that fucking mess and maintenance.

I do. It works well, but there are some obvious dangers. I screw my set up to the bench to prevent it from accidentally getting knocked off. That’s my biggest worry especially with kids/dogs around. 500C molten liquid is nothing to mess around with.

It is very precise, but I’m considering switching to an annealeaze between the danger and mess.

I think I'm going to go ahead and simply order the Annealeez.

eta:  Ordered!

Hmmm, I'm curious about this as well...

Due to COVID producing a bottleneck in production, units are not shipping fast in my experience.  I ordered mine on 1/25/2021.  It shipped on 3/1/2021 and arrived 3/6/2021.  Just an FYI...  YMMV.

It's pretty easy.  There is a adjustable metal tab that you adjust to position your cases.  I use that tab as a visual reference to get the inner blue cone of the flame in the same place each run.  Position (of that inner blue cone) + or - a millimeter or 2 is not super critical - i.e. won't effect the temperature at the neck/shoulder junction enough to matter (IMO).

Hurry up and wait.  I ordered Annealeez March 2 and it just shipped Wednesday.  Website now saying 4-6 weeks for delivery of new orders.  Biden admin has caused his business to increase 150%.  I decided to anneal 223/5.56 brass to get more firings out of it given the "volatility" of reloading components these days.

Less than $70:

Attached File


I'm going to fully automate it. Just haven't got to it yet.

It does work though. For no extra cost I could build a simple trap door to drop them free.

that looks so cool
can you list those parts?

Sure.

Power Supply is just a generic 24V, 360W power supply.  You can use anything in that range, and the induction board can take up to 1000W.  At 360W I've found it doesn't need any cooling, but time will tell as I run higher volume through it. I've just been playing with it mostly thus far.

Similar PS on Amazon (mine was a different generic albeit it looks the same...mine was $18):




Next is the induction board.  Purchased on Amazon.  Scrap the coil that comes with it, it is MUCH too large for what we do.

$19 on Amazon:




Timer Relay.  This can be one of a billion solutions, but you want a way to fire the induction unit that is consistent and accurate.  This board lets you program 3 relays for a particular amount of time, and can have one fire after the other, in concurrence, etc.  You could easily use a second relay to actuate a solenoid attached to a trap door, for instance.  That was my plan originally but with me wanting to fully automate it, this isn't flexible enough for me, but I already have it, so might as well have some fun with it.

$13 on Amazon:




You need a way to start the induction coil and start the timer.  The relay board has a simple trigger circuit, that once the circuit is closed, it triggers the relay, turning on the induction coil.  You can do any toggle switch (as long as you flip it back right away), light switch, or any momentary on switch.  This is just a small bulk pack from Amazon.

$7 on Amazon (for 5x):




Lastly, you need a way to make the new coil that is properly sized for annealing brass.  For 223, 300 BLK, or similar diameter cases, you want a coil round aboutish 16mm ID.  It doesn't have to be exact, but in that ballpark.  I used a 16650 battery and wrapped the wire around that...you could also use a dowel rod, etc.  The coil is made out of 8 AWG solid copper wire.  I bought a 25 ft. roll at HD for $12.

Then just program the relay board.  I have read conflicting information online, but I'm aiming for 850 degrees at the shoulder, maybe a hair over that, but want to make sure it doesn't get above 750 degrees past about 1/4 of the way to the head from the shoulder.  I'm using 850 degree Tempilaq and found that with 300 BLK, I'm somewhere around the 4 to 4.5 second mark to achieve this.

Load a case, push a button, 5 seconds later, it's perfectly annealed, and you can move on to the next piece.  Only thing you use is electricity, no real consumables, adjusting the flame, repeatability concerns, etc etc etc.

I'm going to fully automate it with an Arduino. I'm still getting parts in, and still teaching myself about C++ coding, but it seems pretty simple once you get the basics down.  My wife already told me she is getting me a 3D printer for Christmas so I'll make a nice fancy case for it all this year in time to print it on 12/25.

I *really* wanted to build my own, and plans are readily available online...I just don't have the spare time right now.

Anyone set one of these up to run on natural gas?

I have a 3/8 quick connection with 2 6' hoses for my BBQ grill and flat top.

Running it on the back porch, and not have to worry about buying those little propane tanks and pressure changes would be easier.

Thanks for posting the info on the induction annealer.  Even though I have mad skills in the electronics world, I just have cold feet about the induction systems.  I even looked hard at some of the industrial ones for automotive work while at SEMA.

From all of the advice and details here, I went with Mike's.  It looked like the slickest unit, with no additional parts, accessories, or options to buy.  I already have Tempilac and the torch, so I will get it in service pretty quickly, once I receive it.

It will be great fun to watch it cycle while enjoying an ice cold beverage.

I have the controller, spindle, and some of the stuff in my parts drawer.  Lazy is my excuse.

I will pay these things forward if someone is interested, but you will have to post pictures in this forum.

Welp wife surprised me on our anniversary by ordering a 3D printer.

Guess I'll be building one sooner than I thought.