I was thinking about making my own case annealing machine. Traditionally I have not annealed my cases but with both a lot of cartridges I shoot becoming obsolete/hard to get, or needed to reform from some other cartridge I thought it might be to my advantage. If I get improved accuracy, that's great, but not the primary goal.
I started out with the disc design, this is because I shoot a lot of rimmed cases such as 30-30, 303SAV, 30-40Krag, etc. The other designs that have a large storage magazine and drop into a rotating drum would probably have issues with these cases.
I do not have access to any milling machines so I would need to farm this out. I found an outfit called "frontpanelexpress", they have software to download and you can easily make an aluminum disc with all the necessary holes drilled for about $50.00. To make a base plate to support all the components is about $90. I also wanted a motor that would spin the brass while being annealed, this adds another $30.00 to get a motor and a mounting bracket. There is no way I'm going to be able to fabricate a Geneva Drive system. Also the "saw blade" type increase the milling cost but this simplifies the electronics and use a simple pin system to index the disc. For me a stepper motor would be easier to use and program, but a geared stepper motor is going to cost $45. I already have an Arduino controller but the stepper drive card would cost $20 (this would also control the DC spinner motor and allow all the speeds to be adjusted). I would use a aluminum volume knob for the spinner, so add another $10. I also need to figure out how to clamp and support the torch and fabricate some support legs and get a box to mount the controller in.
In all honesty I don't think I can build one for a fair price. It would be another story if I had access to a CNC machine, the most I have is a drill press. By the time I'm done it's going to cost me $350 to $400. For $535 I can get Vertex Bench Source unit which from what I can tell is one of the better units, some of other units are cheaper but don't necessary spin the case.
Of course one could always do it the old fashioned way, such as the drill motor socket, lead pot, etc.
Anyone come up with some ingenious way to reduce the tedious task of annealing cases and do it accurately and consistent? Anyone know where to get cheaper high quality CNC work done? Or is it just better stick with the old ways.
I started out with the disc design, this is because I shoot a lot of rimmed cases such as 30-30, 303SAV, 30-40Krag, etc. The other designs that have a large storage magazine and drop into a rotating drum would probably have issues with these cases.
I do not have access to any milling machines so I would need to farm this out. I found an outfit called "frontpanelexpress", they have software to download and you can easily make an aluminum disc with all the necessary holes drilled for about $50.00. To make a base plate to support all the components is about $90. I also wanted a motor that would spin the brass while being annealed, this adds another $30.00 to get a motor and a mounting bracket. There is no way I'm going to be able to fabricate a Geneva Drive system. Also the "saw blade" type increase the milling cost but this simplifies the electronics and use a simple pin system to index the disc. For me a stepper motor would be easier to use and program, but a geared stepper motor is going to cost $45. I already have an Arduino controller but the stepper drive card would cost $20 (this would also control the DC spinner motor and allow all the speeds to be adjusted). I would use a aluminum volume knob for the spinner, so add another $10. I also need to figure out how to clamp and support the torch and fabricate some support legs and get a box to mount the controller in.
In all honesty I don't think I can build one for a fair price. It would be another story if I had access to a CNC machine, the most I have is a drill press. By the time I'm done it's going to cost me $350 to $400. For $535 I can get Vertex Bench Source unit which from what I can tell is one of the better units, some of other units are cheaper but don't necessary spin the case.
Of course one could always do it the old fashioned way, such as the drill motor socket, lead pot, etc.
Anyone come up with some ingenious way to reduce the tedious task of annealing cases and do it accurately and consistent? Anyone know where to get cheaper high quality CNC work done? Or is it just better stick with the old ways.
