I decided to buy or build an annealer in the fall of 2018 to solve my issues with inconsistent neck tension in my reloads. There are very few available machines that work well, and dont cost an arm and a leg. Ended up settling on the Annealeez as the Gen 2 has been available for awhile now which irons out a few of the issues the Gen 1 had.
A few thoughts.
Wait time was 4 weeks to the day. Not bad at all considering the level of demand. Jeff (owner) was honest with me on approximate shipping timeframe and he was right on.
Quality is good. Rivet construction. Motor and mounts are solid. Electronics are glued in place and all connections are soldered in place. Torch is a good quality Bernzomatic unit. I did deburr the sharper edges due to the laser cutting of the material used. Because Murphys Law states that I will cut myself if I dont.
Wheels did get warm during the 500 piece test run I did. But not to the point of melting. Wheels are a heat resistant nylon from what I can tell.
Time to anneal a full hopper of 223 at the speed I determined was correct was about 26 minutes. Time to anneal 100 pieces was about 11 minutes.
I did elect to use a 20# LP tank instead of a camp bottle as I can refill the 20# for $16 and the throw away bottles are $13 each. I purchased a Weber 6501 hose locally for $35, but if you plan ahead you can get one for $10 or less from Amazon.
https://amzn.to/2GQG3u3
I also added a voltmeter and on/off for ease of use. Here is the wiring you need to do.
Speed Controller:
Black to motor - (negative)
Red to power + (positive)
White to motor + (positive)
On/Off:
Remove the red wire from the board, crimp on a spade terminal, and plug into switch. Add a wire with a spade terminal plugged into switch, and wire to power + (positive) on the board.
I cut the voltmeter in with my Dremel and a cut off wheel, and the switch was just a 1/2" hole drilled in. I elected to put them in the top to keep them off the front, and make it easy to get it done. MAKE SURE YOU BLOW OUT ANY DUST FROM CUTTING OR DRILLING BEFORE YOU TURN THE MACHINE ON OR IT WILL GO "OLD SPARKY" ON YOU!! Seriously, dont be dumb and wreck your annealer.
https://amzn.to/2LQ9QCi
https://amzn.to/2CN8gxX
Im not going to go too far down the rabbit hole on the actual annealing process, but I used a combination of 750 degree Tempilaq and my Mark One Eyeball. I ran a few pieces of brass with the lights off, adjusting the speed until the brass just started to glow as it drops out of the flame. Then I Tempilaq the inside and out of the case neck, let it dry, then ran it into the flame watching for it to change from a solid to a liquid. From there I made a couple of adjustments and called it good. Pretty simple process.
https://amzn.to/2GTuPVW
In the past week I have run over 10k pieces of 223 brass thru this machine with no issues.
Cost is $275. Could I have built something very similar for about $100 or so? Yes, but not nearly as polished as this. Overall, Im extremely happy with it. I did add the voltmeter and the on off as this is something that was cut out to decrease the cost as much as possible. Jeff said that they will likely be adding these into the next gen of their annealer, but it will probably increase the cost slightly.
A few thoughts.
Wait time was 4 weeks to the day. Not bad at all considering the level of demand. Jeff (owner) was honest with me on approximate shipping timeframe and he was right on.
Quality is good. Rivet construction. Motor and mounts are solid. Electronics are glued in place and all connections are soldered in place. Torch is a good quality Bernzomatic unit. I did deburr the sharper edges due to the laser cutting of the material used. Because Murphys Law states that I will cut myself if I dont.
Wheels did get warm during the 500 piece test run I did. But not to the point of melting. Wheels are a heat resistant nylon from what I can tell.
Time to anneal a full hopper of 223 at the speed I determined was correct was about 26 minutes. Time to anneal 100 pieces was about 11 minutes.
I did elect to use a 20# LP tank instead of a camp bottle as I can refill the 20# for $16 and the throw away bottles are $13 each. I purchased a Weber 6501 hose locally for $35, but if you plan ahead you can get one for $10 or less from Amazon.
https://amzn.to/2GQG3u3
I also added a voltmeter and on/off for ease of use. Here is the wiring you need to do.
Speed Controller:
Black to motor - (negative)
Red to power + (positive)
White to motor + (positive)
On/Off:
Remove the red wire from the board, crimp on a spade terminal, and plug into switch. Add a wire with a spade terminal plugged into switch, and wire to power + (positive) on the board.
I cut the voltmeter in with my Dremel and a cut off wheel, and the switch was just a 1/2" hole drilled in. I elected to put them in the top to keep them off the front, and make it easy to get it done. MAKE SURE YOU BLOW OUT ANY DUST FROM CUTTING OR DRILLING BEFORE YOU TURN THE MACHINE ON OR IT WILL GO "OLD SPARKY" ON YOU!! Seriously, dont be dumb and wreck your annealer.
https://amzn.to/2LQ9QCi
https://amzn.to/2CN8gxX
Im not going to go too far down the rabbit hole on the actual annealing process, but I used a combination of 750 degree Tempilaq and my Mark One Eyeball. I ran a few pieces of brass with the lights off, adjusting the speed until the brass just started to glow as it drops out of the flame. Then I Tempilaq the inside and out of the case neck, let it dry, then ran it into the flame watching for it to change from a solid to a liquid. From there I made a couple of adjustments and called it good. Pretty simple process.
https://amzn.to/2GTuPVW
In the past week I have run over 10k pieces of 223 brass thru this machine with no issues.
Cost is $275. Could I have built something very similar for about $100 or so? Yes, but not nearly as polished as this. Overall, Im extremely happy with it. I did add the voltmeter and the on off as this is something that was cut out to decrease the cost as much as possible. Jeff said that they will likely be adding these into the next gen of their annealer, but it will probably increase the cost slightly.