Annealeez Gen 3 What Else Do I Need To Buy With It?

[peeplwtchr]

Hi All-

I'm hitting my 2nd round of firings on my Lapua .308 brass and LC .223, and decided to buy an annealer to treat the cases after that. My goal is to maintain consistent neck tension throughout the life of the brass; that seems to be the one benefit everyone agrees on.
I have decided on the Annealeez, is there anything else I need to buy for the process, for example Templaq?

Thanks.

 

[Blue68f100]

Templaq is a good aid to help you learn how to setup your machine. You want to apply it to the inside of the neck. I used it when I started out, after a few times I knew what I was looking for and no longer use it.

 

[peeplwtchr]

Templaq is a good aid to help you learn how to setup your machine. You want to apply it to the inside of the neck. I used it when I started out, after a few times I knew what I was looking for and no longer use it.

I know there are different colors, any recommendations on which one? I'm not being lazy, I fully plan on researching the hell out of this process, but I initially just want to get everything required in one step so I can focus on the Pilot phase.

 

[irishlad]

A rubber mat to put the propane bottle and Annealeez on, really helps to keep from moving on my workbench. I really like my Annealeez 3.

 

[gifbohane]

I got more information by trial and error than with the Tempilac. Threw out almost the full bottle...

Rubber mat excellent idea.

 

[MEHavey]

1. No one is going to get consistent/repeatable annealing without some kind of Temp/Time mechanism
....(Brass and/or flame color doesn't cut it even remotely)

2. Temiplaq is as good as it gets for home annealing.
.... 750° Green inside the neck for big/straightwall (e.g., 45-70)*
.... 475° White outside the case ¼” down from the shoulder (for common bottleneck)

We can argue all day long about exact time/temp req'd, but both the methods above provide
that consistent/repeatable process -- case-after-case, session-after-session, days-after-day,
year-after-year.

Good strong light is req'd.*
Dishtowel to drop hot cases on is recommended.
Water is not req'd.

.

 

[Skgreen]

Catch pan?
My Gen 2 included one. Don't believe one is included w Gen 3. (I'd just as soon have a bigger generic 'cake pan'.)

 

[irishlad]

Catch pan?
My Gen 2 included one. Don't believe one is included w Gen 3. (I'd just as soon have a bigger generic 'cake pan'.)

I'm thinking mine did. Either that or bought one. Can't remember

 

[Skgreen]

Looks like the pan is $15 on the Website. Mines nice, but when doing non-stop volumes, a couple of cheap, small bread loaf pans could come in handy.

 

[gifbohane]

Catch pan?
My Gen 2 included one. Don't believe one is included w Gen 3. (I'd just as soon have a bigger generic 'cake pan'.)

No, gen 3 did not include the pan. You can use anything in your workshop, buy a cheap tray at walmart, or second hand store. Just anything to catch the brass.

 

[EricBu]

If it included the catch pan...that one makes a good place for oddball odds and ends to collect in your shop, it's not useful with the annealeaze, lol......to tall and certain calibers will catch on the side and jam under the wheel. A bread pan is also too tall. A shallow cheap baking pan is perfect. Use the Templaq, at least until you get the process down. Be mindful of where the flame is. .308 is one of the easier ones to do, but it's still possible to melt your wheel with it so keep an eye on that.

 

[Skgreen]

My Gen 2 OEM pan is 7 1/2 L X 3 1/2 W X 2 1/2 D

Bread Loaf pans come in all different sizes. If I could source these locally, I'd grab a couple:

 

[dartor]

Catch pan?
My Gen 2 included one. Don't believe one is included w Gen 3. (I'd just as soon have a bigger generic 'cake pan'.)

I set mine on a large cookie sheet. I've used the catch pan included with the Annealeze and I've tried a cake pan. Both had a tendency to occasionally jam brass on the lip of the pan. I let the brass drop on the cookie sheet and when it stacks up I push it to the front corners with a putty knife.

 

[Blue68f100]

I'm cheap, I just use a cardboard box that a 1k rounds of LC 556 came in. Works just fine. I setup a ramp for the brass to slide down so it cools off some before it pile drives in the others in the box.

 

[Kaldor]

Extension hose to use a 20# LP bottle. That does require rigging up something to hold the torch head though on the newer versions.
The 20# bottles are obviously cheaper long term, but Ive found the pressure to be more consistent coming out of them.

 

[irishlad]

I'm cheap, I just use a cardboard box that a 1k rounds of LC 556 came in. Works just fine. I setup a ramp for the brass to slide down so it cools off some before it pile drives in the others in the box.

I dump the loaf pan into the boxes drinks come in. I use em for all the stages of brass prep.

 

[Varminterror]

9x13" metal cake pan for me. I have a silicon drawer liner doublestick taped on my bench to grip the pan beneath the annealer.

For me, were I still using an Annealeez:

• Cake pan
• Aluminum wheels to replace the meltable plastic ones
• Tempilaq
• Hose extension & big propane bottle
• Gas regulator
• Desk fan to blow across the tray so they cool faster for processing

I might also think really hard about mounting a Dillon VFD case feeder above it with a spring tube feeding into a half-tube to orient and drop the cases into the Annealeez hopper without wasting my time to do so by hand.

 

[peeplwtchr]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I just used it for the first time, Tempilaq says it's set up right, and I watched the videos on the Annealeeze website. It took me about 10 minutes to get it set up correctly, it comes timed to about 5 seconds, the timing adjustment is easy to use. This seems like a great product for $275. I thought it was odd that it didn't come in a branded box, but it doesn't affect function. It's kind of the best part about brass prep., it's fun to watch it. But I also burned the tip of my pinky loading brass. Do that before you light it.
I'm calling this one of my high value reloading scores, just like the Giraud trimmers, the Chucker and the 750.

 

[gifbohane]

But I also burned the tip of my pinky loading brass. Do that before you light it.

.

I wear rubber gloves all the time at the bench. Good thing too. I placed my lower thumb too close and only got a moderate burn due to the gloves. If you live where brass is scarce, this is a great tool.

 

[lightman]

It sounds like you have got everything covered. I use a shallow bake tray with 1/2 or 3/4 inch lips for a catch tray. I also save old brass for setting things up. Dents, split necks, ect. I use Tempilac to help with setting up and I also bought a bottle of the thinner.

I wish my Giraud had a digital timer. I like the one on your machine.

 

[Kaldor]

I might also think really hard about mounting a Dillon VFD case feeder above it with a spring tube feeding into a half-tube to orient and drop the cases into the Annealeez hopper without wasting my time to do so by hand.

Interesting idea. Id use my Hornady feeder, but I think I could make it work.

 

[Varminterror]

Interesting idea. Id use my Hornady feeder, but I think I could make it work.

Yup, Hornady or Dillon, as long as it will collate cases, it would work. Run a spring tube so it can curve from dropping down to sliding in sideways, and feed through a half tube which spits them out on to the ramp so they roll down to the stack. Might have to angle the machine back a little more, but I'm betting it could be done.

I just HATE orienting or racking cases... Case handling is the bane of my existence - it takes a lot of time in the overall process, and it doesn't actually add value.

 

[Varminterror]

Adding - I use deeper cake pans instead of sheets for my annealer catch tray. Shallow lip sheets don't hold much brass if they have a small footprint, OR they have to have a huge footprint. If I'm running 1,000pc of 5.56, or 300-500pc of 6 creed, I need a pan with enough volume to catch them all. They don't seem to cool any differently with the fan across the deep pan than they do in the shallow sheet, so I like having the minimum footprint on the bench of a deeper pan.

If only I could get my annealer to feed directly into a case rack (I rack to spray lube before sizing). The same tool would let me rack after priming to go straight to the rack for charging and seating too...

 

[peeplwtchr]

Hi All-
I'm getting about 20% of the cases with silvery necks. Is this over annealing? The case drops right when the 750 degree Tempilaq turns clear, what's up pls?

Thanks

 

[rayatphonix]

When I anneal I heat more of the shoulder. I don’t know if that’s right, but it sure helps my consistency when resizing, which is why I started annealing. Color wise, I’ll leave that to the experts.