Case Annealing
The case annealer was built from scrap materials and only the torches are new. Cost (not including time) was under $50.00. The motor is an old rotisserie motor from a long gone grill. The back plate is an old aluminum fan with the vanes broken off, but any plate would work. The bearings and shaft is the end plate off of an old gear reducer. The shell holder is a scrap from the machine shop next door. Guide rods are scrap as are the brackets. The torches are held by a piece of scrap wood, but this will be improved to a more positive system as soon as I'm positive where the will sit.
This unit is fairly universal as to cases. I put 223 cases in and 45-100 cases in it. The shell holder has shims under it so it can be raised and lowered for different size cases. The slots worked fine with all case sizes.
To operate, the torches are lit and adjusted to the case height and temperature desired. Case are dropped into the slots and fall out the bottom annealed. When I have more time, I will put a plate and guides on top which will automatically feed the case into the slots. The machine is turning fast enough that a 3rd torch wouldn't hurt as I am only filling every other hole now.
This is a photo of it in operation. The shell holder has slots at
20 degrees apart (they are .60 wide and .50 deep). Holes would work but the
automatic feed wouldn't if I used holes. With slots, I can move the guide
rods closer if needed for smaller cases. From my short trials, the incline
angle tended to make any size case go where it was supposed to.
This is a good photo of the bearing plate and shell holder.
This shows the guide rods and mounting.
A good photo of the rotisserie motor and bearing hub.
The drive motor. It is held on with one bolt through the
original mounting plate. The shaft was cut to a 5/16" square and goes
directly into the motor. The motor is slightly loose in it's mounts and
any missalignment is forgiven.