Annie Annealer- What else do I need?

[spife7980]

I went ahead and took the plunge of finally buying an Annie Annealer this morning with the normal coil. I dont do huger quantities, usually batches of 50, so the water cooled wasnt enticing to me.
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My next question that arises is what temp/type of templaq do I need? I would assume 750 for the necks but I remember reading some discussion on the various types and how some of the temps werent good candidates for what we are trying to do and that it also depends on the paint or crayon versions.

 

[Kyskeet]

750 strip from case mouth to 1/2 way down the case, 450 strip from shoulder to case head. Sneak up to the heat setting that just turns the 750 to a point just below the shoulder. 450 should not turn much past the point where the 750 stops turning. What brand and caliber case

 

[spife7980]

It will be 223 lapua to start. I'm testing the rdfs now so that's my current project, should be around 1.7-8 seconds to start I think I've read.

Is 450 really necessary? If I keep just the neck in between the... magic poles (?) I don't see how the 450 would matter. The shoulders would be done as well but I don't see how I could stop it migrating down the body that far.

Any preference on crayon or paint? With paint you have to let it dry but crayon would be thicker and thus delayed I imagine.

 

[Kyskeet]

The guy that helped me set mine up "this week" had liquid so that's what we used. I'm annealing 6.5 Creedmoor , Hornady was 1.8 sec and Lapua was 2.4 sec. Mine has the water coiled coil. I'm fab'd a trap door setup to drop the cases into and they fall out the bottom.

 

[spife7980]

I guess Ill get both just in case. 20-25 bucks extra for the 450 but I suppose thats a small price to pay for not blowing my face off of my head.

And I see that the crayon isnt as good as the liquid as its crumbly on cold metal and because of the cooling time between being hot and moving to the stick can lead to false conclusions. At least with this induction I dont have to worry about painting it inside of the case to avoid direct flame to it.

Now to get to a welding/hardware supply store that has it and isnt wanting 40 bucks for the bottle.

Brownells has 700 for 18 bucks but no 750. Midway has 750 but its 25 bucks.

 

[Kyskeet]

I heard Grainger carried it

 

[ctso030]

i ordered the templaq 750 because i ordered the Annie. i changed my mind and went with the AMP, If anyone is interested i will send the templaq to you for $15 pm me

 

[user]

How much was the annealer? Does it use 220v


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[spife7980]

With the annealer and the coil it was right at 550 shipped. This uses 120 but I think that they might have a 220 model as well.

 

[Kyskeet]

The onboard breaker is only 10amp, I can't see a need for 220. With the water cooled coil the duty cycle is practically 100%

 

[user]

Copy on price and amperage. Thanks spife7980 and Kyskeet

 

[Sendit6.5]

How are you liking the Annie? I'm torn between it and the AMP. I'm leaning towards AMP but would like to hear how you like the Annie? How hard was it to tune it to a specific case? Any overheating issues?

The onboard breaker is only 10amp, I can't see a need for 220. With the water cooled coil the duty cycle is practically 100%

Pretty sure the 220 version is simply made for the European (and other) markets where standard household plugs are 220v.


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[kansas]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. I'd saved you some money on templaq. I set the shoulder junction right in the middle of the coils then you'll get the neck and shoulder as well. You'll anneal so fast that the base wont get hot for a couple of seconds so I doubt the 450 will be necessary. For .260 I can hold the base in my fingers and anneal it as long as I set it down soon after it's annealed. I've tried templaq and found it's harder for me to judge than just watching for the glow. I anneal in a semi dark room and go until the neck just starts to turn. There's some good info on that in the sticky and some YouTube out there.
The Annie works great, is fast and easy to use and is small and easy to store. I bought the water cooler setup but it sets in the drawer. Ivan anneal over 100 cases at a time without the coils getting too hot.

 

[spife7980]

Sendit- I haven't gotten it yet, there is a two week lead time and then they'll ship it. Didn't notice that so I called and was informed but also told that it should have said so in the checkout process. So still waiting.

Kansas- Ctso030 did me a solid and gave me that bottle of 750 for 15 bucks shipped. So big props to him. I'm gonna use enough to figure out the setting for each type of brass I have and then pass it on.

 

[Kyskeet]

After using Annie for a few weeks, as the instructions say the unit will warm up after about 8 cycles and increase about .8% in output. My initial setups did not take this into account, I now keep 10 old cases to cycle thru and take into account the increase after warm up

 

[Sendit6.5]

10-4. I'll be curious to hear your impressions.


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[kansas]

After using Annie for a few weeks, as the instructions say the unit will warm up after about 8 cycles and increase about .8% in output. My initial setups did not take this into account, I now keep 10 old cases to cycle thru and take into account the increase after warm up

Hmm. That's interesting. I have one of the early models and I don't believe my instructions say that but...I have noticed that it does warm up some after a couple of pieces of brass. I also have some old brass around that I use for that but it's usually just the first couple of cycles. One big thing that I've noticed is that the time between Lapua brass and Hornady, Winchester brass is significant. Lapua takes longer to anneal than the Hornady. Makes sense since the Lapua is heavier brass. Found out the hard way when I got a piece of Hornady brass mixed with my Lapua. I hold my brass at the base when annealing and the Hornady brass go much hotter much faster. Had to drop that one.

 

[Jrb572]

I had a bad experience with the Annie. I purchased one to go with my Giraud annealer. It was promised to me originally in two weeks. I think it took two months to finally get. No big deal it's how the shooting industry seems to work. Then when I received my unit the ferrite was to small for .308 and was told oh we normally have that problem when people receive theirs. No big deal it was replaced with another one promptly. Well the next one didn't fit 338 Lapua cases. Once again no problem was sent another one promptly. The last straw was I think I had maybe less than 50 cases through it and it had some problem and it would not even anneal. It seems like a decent machine but I got tired of the problems and purchased an AMP and could not be happier. The AMP is not the automatic feed but I really don't mind.

I will say the people who make the Annie had good customer service and were easy to deal with and refunded my money without a problem. I just had enough and I had over 1000 cases to anneal and was not getting anywhere quick with the Annie and once it broke I had enough and wanted a refund.

 

[spife7980]

So its a month later now, at 2 weeks post order I was number 13 in the queue and today Im #2 so thats 5.5 annies made/shipped per week. An AMP is looking more appealing by the minute in retrospect.

"I'm really sorry we've taken so long getting your order out. Fluxeon is experiencing growing pains...trying to strike a balance between producing on our current small-scale facility, and doing the work to get set up with a major contract manufacturer. I would never have thought that the latter would be so much work....
We are very close. You are now #2 in the queue, which will probably mean Monday or Tuesday."

 

[ctso030]

i ordered the annie and changed my mind a week later and went with the amp. this is my first annealer and i couldnt be happier. the set up is easy and the operation is easier

 

[spife7980]

Came in yesterday. I am using some old 223 brass to practice on and have a question. On the 750 tempilaq- do I call it good when the 750 just starts to smoke and ever so slightly starts to turn clear on the neck (1.6), turns all the way clear on the neck (2.0), turns the neck clear and the shoulder just starts to turn a tad halfway down (2.2) or the whole shoulder turns clear (2.4)?

Im holding the top of the neck halfway into the space so the shoulder isn't centered, it concentrates on the neck. Should I push it further in and concentrate more on the shoulder? I figure we focus on neck tension and not shoulder tension and that's my reasoning for how I am doing it now. Plus I figure that's less of an effect on the case body which is what we try to avoid. The line of slight discoloration when wiped corresponds to where the tempilaq turned. It's just a sheen change, not the smoked look that comes with the flame I suppose.

 

[EXTREMEPREJUDICE]

I know you don't have the Giraud but take a look at Doug's examples, a picture is worth a thousand words. http://www.giraudtool.com/annealer1.htm It really should melt to the shoulder. You can also use the 450 half way down the case as your safety stop. I don't know what method you are using to time the impulse but once you find the sweet spot just duplicate it. Keep your test case to use in the future if you need to restart but also keep a written log to refer back to.

 

[spife7980]

I really should have taken pics of mine last night but between cooking dinner and doing this etc I said screw it.

Giraud example 1- Mine at 2.4 seconds make the tempilaq clear to about the same point as his 1.4 only my necks are darker like in the second example pic. [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"757","width":"1010","src":"http:\/\/www.giraudtool.com\/IMG_6040.JPG"}[/IMG2]


Example 2- My necks look more like this tone though not as dark as low on the shoulders. [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"463","width":"617","src":"http:\/\/www.giraudtool.com\/P7230073.JPG"}[/IMG2]


Im gonna try it inserted deeper as Im feeling that I am under cooking the shoulders and over cooking the necks but I am weary of overcooking the lower case walls that way.

 

[spife7980]

I ran a hand full through to make sure it was warmed up and then I ran these. I put the base of the neck in the center rather than the top of it and the shoulders heated up much faster than they did with just the tip of the neck so thats definitely a factor.

Starting left to right in a tempilaq-normal pattern are two 1.4s, two 1.6s, two 1.8s, two 2.0s, two 2.2s, and finally two 2.4s. [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"605","width":"807","src":"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/fWH2KjE.jpg"}[/IMG2]


Im thinking 1.8 or 2.0 based off of where the paint melted down to.

Lapua is 2.5

These were all cases I had already annealed yesterday and left in the tumbler so its sort of basterdized but better than nothing. I chose those that had the least amount of prior staining but there was inevitably some. I think most all of the discoloration is due to tempilaq and not the brass.

Also, flies friggin love the smell of tempilaq. I was doing these outside to avoid breathing in the cancer and the past two days they start showing up when I crack the bottle but when I start burning the stuff they swarm in in flocks.

 

[EXTREMEPREJUDICE]

You really only have to be concerned about the necks, when done correctly it will heat down to the shoulder but that's just incidental. Looks like you've got it though! LOL on the flies, haven't had that happen........yet, LOL!

 

[Petrov]

make sure you have consistent location of the brass also make sure its "high" enough in the coil area. If it sits too low it will really overheat the mouth of the case , get it to the right height and it will do it right, I guess just like the flame location. But this is harder to see because eddie currents are not visible to the naked eye.