Question RE: Hornady's Annealing Kit

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About a year ago I bought Hornady's annealing kit to make the process more uniform than the old "pie plate with water in it, hit 'em with the torch, and tip 'em over" method. I like the Tempilaq as an indicator of heat on the brass case, and while it takes a little while to paint a ring of the stuff on the case bodies, I at least know that when it turns translucent I have hit 475 deg. at 1/4 in. below the shoulder, and it's time to dump the case into the bowl of water.

My question is this: The danged Tempilaq sticks to the brass like Grim Death after it's been heated, and it doesn't tumble off very well at all. I can scrape it off with my thumbnail, but that takes time and it's tough on the thumbnail, too. I've tried alcohol and xylol as possible solvents; neither one touches the stuff. Has anyone had the same problem, and if so have you found a quick way to get the stuff off without scratching the brass cases all to heck?
 
I've used the Tempilaq as an indicator to set up the heat and time on a rotary annealing machine.

I believe the intent for Hornady's kit is similar -- figure out how high a torch flame and how long to hold the case in it using the Tempilaq, and then just try for consistency.

I just tossed the case rather than try to clean that gunk off...
 
Yeah just use it a few times and time it (count in your head) then use that method w/o the tempilaq aka baked on forever one with your brass epoxy.
 
More on Tempilaq

I found when doing the last 60 rds. that the time range for my torch setup was 7-9 seconds per case. I also discovered that the Tempilaq residue is gone on about 75% of the cases after 7 hours in the tumbler with emery-treated corncob. On the remaining cases, a thumbnail was enough to scrape off the minimal amount left after tumbling.

My prior experiences averaged about 8 sec./case, so I will likely use that as a guide and ignore the Tempilaq when annealing .243 win. and .257 bob cases. I'll probably paint 3 or 4 cases when I start annealing stuff for the 7mmWSM, just to establish a typical time for the big-shoulder stuff.
 
I wet a folded paper towel w/ some acetone and just rub the case where the (white) tempilaq was
-- pulls it right off.

Ditto when I use 750degr Tempilaq inside the neck on the big 45s -- acetone & a twisted "plug" of
paper towel twisted inside the case mouth.

If you adopt the 'Time' method, make sure to establish that "time" w/ a few Tempilaq'd cases each time
you start a session. (Flame/temp/placement adjustment on the propane torch is always slightly different)
 
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