Thank you for sharing your knowledge and skills with this annealer build, the reasons behind your choices, and suggested alternatives. Your skills are a bit above mine and for my first one I will be shooting for a simple manual model. But who knows what future projects might turn into.
That's right! Skills are developed from practice. Most people should be able to do what others have demonstrated if determination is there. I am learning everyday from designing and building a truck camper from scratch with zero experience.
I had just found your DIY Annealer on RUclips. Probably wish I had found it right after you had posted the video. So I would like to take this to a complete model for myself however, I am in need of the code to get started as well as may have future questions regarding how to’s for you. I definitely would like to add a 2nd case stop/ slide for the addition of a case feeder. I hope to hear from you.
The code can be downloaded using one of the link in the description. I am not sure how you mean 2nd case stop. Different elevations? At one time I was thinking of attaching a stepper motor to the screw so when you select brass to anneal Arduino would automatically drive the stage to the right stop. It is very easy to setup Arduino to drive a stepper motor. I am playing with it as we speak to control truck camper jacks I am building. I also considered auto feeder, but I have not gone to the range much these days since I can't get primer. It is also possible for the Arduino to control a stepper motor to drop new brass in an auto feeder. If you can clarify what you want to do perhaps I can give you some ideas.
kk Lee, First, Thank You for responding. I had went to the site to download the program file for the annealer however, I was unable to download or receive the file by clicking on the download link. What I was referring to is putting another servo, solenoid or means by which to control a case feeder in dropping the brass into position in the annealer. I also would appreciate any updated information you have in any further work you may have completed on this annealer.
I was able to download the Arduino code. If you still can't download it please let me know. do you have a design in mind to automatically drop a new case? I was working on a rotary feeder, but never built it, see concept, drive.google.com/file/d/19zdc4vZyPwZAKS0-yoPKn0EOKjbEC8-r/view?usp=sharing Since the anneal cycle is activated by loading of a case, the feeder can simply be run by a speed controlled analogue motor. All you have to do is adjust the motor speed so it takes longer to drop a case than the anneal time. This does not require any change to the code. Alternative, the feeder cylinder could be driven by a stepper motor and thus feeding could be coordinated with the annealer automatically. For this to work, you will need to use an additional Arduino pin (assuming you don't want to control direction of the feeder cylinder) to generate the electrical pulses needed to turn the stepper motor. If you want to pursue this route, I can modify the code to turn a stepper motor 1 full turn to load a new case (or other angles [fraction of a turn] if you have multiple slots cut on the feeding cylinder), but I will not able to debug it for you since I will not be building it myself. If you have no experience with stepper motors, I have pulled some sample parts from Amazon below that may work. To give you an idea of wiring, you will need to connect the the pin on the Arduino you select to use, to the pull+ input port on the motor driver and Arduino ground to pull- on the stepper driver. VCC and GND on the stepper motor controller need be connected to your 24 volt (whatever voltage you have) power supply. B-/B+ and A-/A+ connected to your stepper motor coils. You will need a volt meter to determine which wires form a pair by measure resistance (near zero resistance are pairs). There is no polarity the stepper motor wires. You can hook either way. If you reverse I think the motor may turn the other way. Code modification should be easy. You will need to add the following code after ejection of a brass line, for (unsigned int i=1;i
@@kklee1543 Thank You, I am looking into this but, it will take me sometime as I will need to place orders for parts. I also need someone to 3D print me a case feeder, otherwise I can use a Dillon case feeder but will need to stop the cases from dropping until the annealed case has dropped. I see several ways to do that and question which is the best. Allowing the dropped case to activate the case feeder or staging a case in the drop tube prior to the annealed case dropping.
Fantastic build and informative video 🙏 thank you for sharing 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 although I still wouldn’t be able to build one just by watching the video Lol 😂
If you up the voltage, it would cut back on time needed to anneal and I think that would keep the whole thing cooler. You should also use less coils for faster anneal and lastly I noticed no glow on your cases nor silver color change. I don't think you're annealing it long enough to get proper anneal.
Yes, higher voltage would help shorten the anneal time and less radiative heat transfer to the coil. It is a question of economics, higher voltage/current power source cost more. I am not sure if less coil turns would be helpful. Temperature uniformity would not be as good (this may or may not be a problem since brass is a good thermal conductor, but heating is based on local eddy current). I have not measured the temperature, but based on what others reporting, you should only see the start of visible radiation. The brass would be over annealed if you see glowing for any significant amount of time.
Cool setup ! May I ask if a long coil as you have (9 turns) is not too much for like 308 brass ? I'll have to do quite the same, as my capacitor bank is 1.33 µF :/
Hey, great contraption. Could you tell me the dimensions of the coil. Diameter, windings, and pipe diameter. I tried to build something similar, but for some reason, it won't work properly.
The coil is made from 1/8 OD tube (don't remember the ID). I think I tried 8 or 9 turns, but it did not make a lot of difference. The coil ID is ~0.64". I may have used 5/8 bolt to make the turns.
The right hand button cycles through several preset choices in the code, but you can add more buttons to scroll up and down. The other 2 pairs are used to adjust the time.
Hello, I am making a replica of your machine. Thanks for the detailed explanations you provide. It is rare to be able to reproduce something with a youtube video. But I do not understand the connection of the screen. Could you detail its connection. Thank you
Look at my latest video, we are close in design, but I have little more automation. You will find some ideas maybe to do some mods on yours. Why you using plastic case for case holder? It will burn it eventually. Did you use heat resistant material for it?
Good for you, a professional looking machine. I designed an automatic feeder, but decided not to build it since I only need to anneal couple hundreds cases a year. The holder is made of high density polyethylene; it was what I had on hand and easy to work with. The bottom of the brass does not get very hot and after continuously anneals of several 30-brass batches it did not show sign of damage. Earlier on I only energized the selenoid for 100 ms and couple cases got caught. It deformed the slider slightly but it did not burn. The selenoid is now energized for 500 ms and cases should not be caught by the slider.
It is a 24V-15 AMP DC power supply, no brand. I purchased it for something like $10 on a business trip in Shenzhen many years ago to power stepper motors. I had to purchase a higher voltage power supply to improve stepper motor performance and so had this on hand. I'd suggest an adjustable voltage, to 36V and 20+ amps if you anneal large caliber.
Hello Bruce I'm trying to setup my timer, but can't seem to figure out the settings. On LP1 i'm running a motor to auto feed the cases, on LP2 I'm using it to run the annealer, then LP3 I'm actuating the auto dump. It would be greatly appreciated if you could give me some guidance for the settings. Oh I have a proximity switch on IN1 that tells the controller to anneal on LP2. I'm also confused as there are different screens showing the zones all at once, and have no idea how to access that feature.
I am not sure who Bruce is, are you asking the question at the right place? Not sure what you are asking on the timer. The way I have it, the coil is energized 1 second after the proximity sensor detects a brass. I left 1 second in there in case it is not dropped in properly and it is not aligned vertically. If you automated this you can change this to shorter time. Once anneal time is up, the selenoid coil is energized for 0.5 seconds to give enough time for the brass to clear, longer time won't hurt. On the actual anneal time, you will have to experiment on your own. Not sure on the question on different screens and zones. Do you have junk displayed on the screen or different anneal times displayed all at once?
Here is another question how large is the slot (opening cut out for drop to move) for the HDPE from top to bottom for movement? I'm thinking 2.5 inches tall by 1.5 inches wide
That depends on length of the brass you want to anneal and the thickness (height) of the HDPE holder. The top position for me is for 556, so I can't anneal anything shorter than 556. The downward travel only needs at most 1" for 30-06. If your brass holder is 1" thick like mine, 1.5" travel is plenty, unless you have brass over 3" long.
@@kklee1543 That's good to know what you set up for. I'm learning what size I will need to have the cut out as well as the coil size, and configuration. I'm looking at three wraps of 1/8" CU tubing dual layer as a possibility, with a7/8" ID. Here is a question. I have a 48v 3000w power supply out of a server. Do I need to put a variable power supply controller on it , as well as a zenor diode to protect the power supply from any potential feed back as my relay switches the power on and off to the ZVS??? any advice as always greatly appreciated
@@keeper1959fem Wow...you are going to have an efficient energy transfer, putting a lot of energy in a short axial span. I only have a 24 volt, 15 amp power supply using a single layer and 223 brass heats up to temperature in 4 seconds. With the power source you have and configuration proposed you could get to temperature in much less than 2 seconds for 223. Temperature control could be difficult and so a DC-DC voltage regulator would be useful to reduce energy transfer for light brass. If you are using an Arduino, streamline the code could achieve 1 ms timing control. The extra lines of code I have in there to limit the timing button adjustment rate really slows things down (I don't remember how slow it got, but each loop took several milliseconds instead of looping 3 times each ms). I am not see much inductance from the ZVS and so I do not have a fly back diode. The solid state relay I am using may have one built in (I don't know). It does not hurt to add one. There is a need to prevent the region below the neck to heat up, but I am not sure if excessive heating rate is good for the brass to recover from the cold work (technical term used to describe repeated deformation/lattice dislocation pileup at low temperature). The brass recovers from the repeated deformation because the dislocations can have mobility at the recovery temperature and they annihilate each other. This takes a bit of time and if heating rate is too high the material experience less time in the critical temperature and you will need to overheat to have the same effect.
@@kklee1543 LOL I like over doing it, and getting the best I can. the power supply rocks for what it is. I did get a 4 station timer that runs in milliseconds so that is covered. I have a 30A relay to delay the transfer of power from the power supply to the ZVS. I'm going to build a setup that will feed the brass automatically. with using three proximity sensors I can shut the machine off when it is out of brass, and one to trigger the timer when brass is detected in the drop tray. It is gluing now since I used HDPE to build it. sort of like yours only the front doesn't show the cut out I made with my dremel. Well enough for today we will see what tomorrow brings for the next steps.
I am not sure which part you are referring to, but I have added exploded view of both the brass holder and the screw driven elevation setup. I am not sure if I made the brass holder to the dimension shown, but you can make it to accommodate your brass size. The brass hole is tapered for easy insertion and centering, www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-stepless-drill-bits-66463.html. The taper offered by the hole drill was not large enough and sometimes brass gets caught by the edge. If you have a way to make the taper a little bigger it would work better. Or make the holder thicker so hole at the top would be bigger.
@@kklee1543 You got it. I’m working putting mine together starting next week, and when I saw you idea of the shell holder and the elevation I knew that was what I needed. The case holder I get what you did and I plan on making one similar to yours. You have some great ideas. thank you on the drill bit idea. I will Get those as I can see they will be perfect for the taper. I saw the plans for the elevation assembly, and that was what I needed, thank you again Thank you for your help Panama E
@@kklee1543 I've been rereading what you]ve said about the hole taper, and I may play with that a bit with my dremel so that when i setup to do larger calibers it will be accommodating. What I have noticed on other units was to have a larger hole size, then also to wrap the coil with glass cloth or even shrink tube so the brass doesn't short out the ZVS. My idea is to incorporate ideas from several other builds to make one unit that works for me, and possibly others.
After looking at your design for the case riser assembly, I noticed you tapered the rails to hold them in place. My question is have you thought about selling the parts to make the case holder assembly, or even the complete assembly that holds the ZVS?
@@keeper1959fem No need for that. I think If you buy a section T-track it should work just well, www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-71118-Double-Cut-Universal-Predrilled/dp/B074MN2CPL/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=t-track&qid=1618680628&sr=8-5. I have a table saw and so it is easy to make the tracks. you can also build the tracks with strips of plywood by gluing them together.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and skills with this annealer build, the reasons behind your choices, and suggested alternatives. Your skills are a bit above mine and for my first one I will be shooting for a simple manual model. But who knows what future projects might turn into.
That's right! Skills are developed from practice. Most people should be able to do what others have demonstrated if determination is there. I am learning everyday from designing and building a truck camper from scratch with zero experience.
Very nice setup and very informative! Thank you for the detailed share.
Thank you very mich for this video! I was a little afraid that i my not get thw code right but with your great instruction it should be easy.
I had just found your DIY Annealer on RUclips. Probably wish I had found it right after you had posted the video. So I would like to take this to a complete model for myself however, I am in need of the code to get started as well as may have future questions regarding how to’s for you. I definitely would like to add a 2nd case stop/ slide for the addition of a case feeder. I hope to hear from you.
The code can be downloaded using one of the link in the description. I am not sure how you mean 2nd case stop. Different elevations? At one time I was thinking of attaching a stepper motor to the screw so when you select brass to anneal Arduino would automatically drive the stage to the right stop. It is very easy to setup Arduino to drive a stepper motor. I am playing with it as we speak to control truck camper jacks I am building. I also considered auto feeder, but I have not gone to the range much these days since I can't get primer. It is also possible for the Arduino to control a stepper motor to drop new brass in an auto feeder. If you can clarify what you want to do perhaps I can give you some ideas.
kk Lee,
First, Thank You for responding. I had went to the site to download the program file for the annealer however, I was unable to download or receive the file by clicking on the download link. What I was referring to is putting another servo, solenoid or means by which to control a case feeder in dropping the brass into position in the annealer. I also would appreciate any updated information you have in any further work you may have completed on this annealer.
I was able to download the Arduino code. If you still can't download it please let me know.
do you have a design in mind to automatically drop a new case?
I was working on a rotary feeder, but never built it, see concept,
drive.google.com/file/d/19zdc4vZyPwZAKS0-yoPKn0EOKjbEC8-r/view?usp=sharing
Since the anneal cycle is activated by loading of a case, the feeder can simply be run by a speed controlled analogue motor. All you have to do is adjust the motor speed so it takes longer to drop a case than the anneal time. This does not require any change to the code.
Alternative, the feeder cylinder could be driven by a stepper motor and thus feeding could be coordinated with the annealer automatically. For this to work, you will need to use an additional Arduino pin (assuming you don't want to control direction of the feeder cylinder) to generate the electrical pulses needed to turn the stepper motor. If you want to pursue this route, I can modify the code to turn a stepper motor 1 full turn to load a new case (or other angles [fraction of a turn] if you have multiple slots cut on the feeding cylinder), but I will not able to debug it for you since I will not be building it myself. If you have no experience with stepper motors, I have pulled some sample parts from Amazon below that may work.
To give you an idea of wiring, you will need to connect the the pin on the Arduino you select to use, to the pull+ input port on the motor driver and Arduino ground to pull- on the stepper driver. VCC and GND on the stepper motor controller need be connected to your 24 volt (whatever voltage you have) power supply. B-/B+ and A-/A+ connected to your stepper motor coils. You will need a volt meter to determine which wires form a pair by measure resistance (near zero resistance are pairs). There is no polarity the stepper motor wires. You can hook either way. If you reverse I think the motor may turn the other way. Code modification should be easy.
You will need to add the following code after ejection of a brass line,
for (unsigned int i=1;i
@@kklee1543 Thank You, I am looking into this but, it will take me sometime as I will need to place orders for parts. I also need someone to 3D print me a case feeder, otherwise I can use a Dillon case feeder but will need to stop the cases from dropping until the annealed case has dropped. I see several ways to do that and question which is the best. Allowing the dropped case to activate the case feeder or staging a case in the drop tube prior to the annealed case dropping.
Fantastic build and informative video 🙏 thank you for sharing 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 although I still wouldn’t be able to build one just by watching the video Lol 😂
If you up the voltage, it would cut back on time needed to anneal and I think that would keep the whole thing cooler. You should also use less coils for faster anneal and lastly I noticed no glow on your cases nor silver color change. I don't think you're annealing it long enough to get proper anneal.
Yes, higher voltage would help shorten the anneal time and less radiative heat transfer to the coil. It is a question of economics, higher voltage/current power source cost more. I am not sure if less coil turns would be helpful. Temperature uniformity would not be as good (this may or may not be a problem since brass is a good thermal conductor, but heating is based on local eddy current). I have not measured the temperature, but based on what others reporting, you should only see the start of visible radiation. The brass would be over annealed if you see glowing for any significant amount of time.
Cool setup ! May I ask if a long coil as you have (9 turns) is not too much for like 308 brass ? I'll have to do quite the same, as my capacitor bank is 1.33 µF :/
It has been a while since I used it. 308 is no problem, only on time is slightly longer.
Great video thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing
Hey, great contraption. Could you tell me the dimensions of the coil. Diameter, windings, and pipe diameter. I tried to build something similar, but for some reason, it won't work properly.
The coil is made from 1/8 OD tube (don't remember the ID). I think I tried 8 or 9 turns, but it did not make a lot of difference. The coil ID is ~0.64". I may have used 5/8 bolt to make the turns.
Very nice. Do the various pushbuttons on the front panel call up different anneal times in the Arduino?
The right hand button cycles through several preset choices in the code, but you can add more buttons to scroll up and down. The other 2 pairs are used to adjust the time.
Can you explain how you are setting the anneal time for various cartridges?
The "anneal times" in the code don't look like time. Look like some measured value that varies with the size of the brass case?
Hello, I am making a replica of your machine. Thanks for the detailed explanations you provide. It is rare to be able to reproduce something with a youtube video. But I do not understand the connection of the screen. Could you detail its connection. Thank you
There are many howto youtube videos on IIC display, you only need to search for it
Very nice setup. Could you post a pdf file of the course code and schematic of your setup?
Link to my latest Arduino code is the description. If you need any clarification please feel free to leave a follow-up comments.
@@kklee1543 Hey I requested the files, but I guess they are locked in your google docs! thanks for sharing!
@@tituscara9878 I have unlocked the files.
Look at my latest video, we are close in design, but I have little more automation. You will find some ideas maybe to do some mods on yours. Why you using plastic case for case holder? It will burn it eventually. Did you use heat resistant material for it?
Good for you, a professional looking machine. I designed an automatic feeder, but decided not to build it since I only need to anneal couple hundreds cases a year. The holder is made of high density polyethylene; it was what I had on hand and easy to work with. The bottom of the brass does not get very hot and after continuously anneals of several 30-brass batches it did not show sign of damage. Earlier on I only energized the selenoid for 100 ms and couple cases got caught. It deformed the slider slightly but it did not burn. The selenoid is now energized for 500 ms and cases should not be caught by the slider.
Also a parts list would be nice.
I have added links to the parts I that purchased in the description.
What power supply do you use?
It is a 24V-15 AMP DC power supply, no brand. I purchased it for something like $10 on a business trip in Shenzhen many years ago to power stepper motors. I had to purchase a higher voltage power supply to improve stepper motor performance and so had this on hand. I'd suggest an adjustable voltage, to 36V and 20+ amps if you anneal large caliber.
What's the ID of the coil, as i have ordered the parts to make one
Sorry I have not been monitoring messages. There is a link under the comment section if you select "SHOW MORE"
Hello Bruce I'm trying to setup my timer, but can't seem to figure out the settings. On LP1 i'm running a motor to auto feed the cases, on LP2 I'm using it to run the annealer, then LP3 I'm actuating the auto dump. It would be greatly appreciated if you could give me some guidance for the settings. Oh I have a proximity switch on IN1 that tells the controller to anneal on LP2. I'm also confused as there are different screens showing the zones all at once, and have no idea how to access that feature.
I am not sure who Bruce is, are you asking the question at the right place?
Not sure what you are asking on the timer. The way I have it, the coil is energized 1 second after the proximity sensor detects a brass. I left 1 second in there in case it is not dropped in properly and it is not aligned vertically. If you automated this you can change this to shorter time. Once anneal time is up, the selenoid coil is energized for 0.5 seconds to give enough time for the brass to clear, longer time won't hurt. On the actual anneal time, you will have to experiment on your own.
Not sure on the question on different screens and zones. Do you have junk displayed on the screen or different anneal times displayed all at once?
@@kklee1543 I'm so sorry I sent this message to the wrong person. I did figure out what I needed. again sorry for any inconvenience and confusion
Here is another question how large is the slot (opening cut out for drop to move) for the HDPE from top to bottom for movement? I'm thinking 2.5 inches tall by 1.5 inches wide
That depends on length of the brass you want to anneal and the thickness (height) of the HDPE holder. The top position for me is for 556, so I can't anneal anything shorter than 556. The downward travel only needs at most 1" for 30-06. If your brass holder is 1" thick like mine, 1.5" travel is plenty, unless you have brass over 3" long.
@@kklee1543 That's good to know what you set up for. I'm learning what size I will need to have the cut out as well as the coil size, and configuration. I'm looking at three wraps of 1/8" CU tubing dual layer as a possibility, with a7/8" ID.
Here is a question. I have a 48v 3000w power supply out of a server. Do I need to put a variable power supply controller on it , as well as a zenor diode to protect the power supply from any potential feed back as my relay switches the power on and off to the ZVS???
any advice as always greatly appreciated
@@keeper1959fem Wow...you are going to have an efficient energy transfer, putting a lot of energy in a short axial span. I only have a 24 volt, 15 amp power supply using a single layer and 223 brass heats up to temperature in 4 seconds. With the power source you have and configuration proposed you could get to temperature in much less than 2 seconds for 223. Temperature control could be difficult and so a DC-DC voltage regulator would be useful to reduce energy transfer for light brass. If you are using an Arduino, streamline the code could achieve 1 ms timing control. The extra lines of code I have in there to limit the timing button adjustment rate really slows things down (I don't remember how slow it got, but each loop took several milliseconds instead of looping 3 times each ms). I am not see much inductance from the ZVS and so I do not have a fly back diode. The solid state relay I am using may have one built in (I don't know). It does not hurt to add one. There is a need to prevent the region below the neck to heat up, but I am not sure if excessive heating rate is good for the brass to recover from the cold work (technical term used to describe repeated deformation/lattice dislocation pileup at low temperature). The brass recovers from the repeated deformation because the dislocations can have mobility at the recovery temperature and they annihilate each other. This takes a bit of time and if heating rate is too high the material experience less time in the critical temperature and you will need to overheat to have the same effect.
@@kklee1543 LOL I like over doing it, and getting the best I can. the power supply rocks for what it is. I did get a 4 station timer that runs in milliseconds so that is covered. I have a 30A relay to delay the transfer of power from the power supply to the ZVS. I'm going to build a setup that will feed the brass automatically. with using three proximity sensors I can shut the machine off when it is out of brass, and one to trigger the timer when brass is detected in the drop tray. It is gluing now since I used HDPE to build it. sort of like yours only the front doesn't show the cut out I made with my dremel. Well enough for today we will see what tomorrow brings for the next steps.
I like your design,but is it possible to see how you made the case holder/drop part, and how it is adjusted? any help would be great
I am not sure which part you are referring to, but I have added exploded view of both the brass holder and the screw driven elevation setup. I am not sure if I made the brass holder to the dimension shown, but you can make it to accommodate your brass size. The brass hole is tapered for easy insertion and centering, www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-stepless-drill-bits-66463.html. The taper offered by the hole drill was not large enough and sometimes brass gets caught by the edge. If you have a way to make the taper a little bigger it would work better. Or make the holder thicker so hole at the top would be bigger.
@@kklee1543 You got it. I’m working putting mine together starting next week, and when I saw you idea of the shell holder and the elevation I knew that was what I needed.
The case holder I get what you did and I plan on making one similar to yours. You have some great ideas.
thank you on the drill bit idea. I will Get those as I can see they will be perfect for the taper.
I saw the plans for the elevation assembly, and that was what I needed, thank you again
Thank you for your help
Panama E
@@kklee1543 I've been rereading what you]ve said about the hole taper, and I may play with that a bit with my dremel so that when i setup to do larger calibers it will be accommodating. What I have noticed on other units was to have a larger hole size, then also to wrap the coil with glass cloth or even shrink tube so the brass doesn't short out the ZVS. My idea is to incorporate ideas from several other builds to make one unit that works for me, and possibly others.
After looking at your design for the case riser assembly, I noticed you tapered the rails to hold them in place. My question is have you thought about selling the parts to make the case holder assembly, or even the complete assembly that holds the ZVS?
@@keeper1959fem No need for that. I think If you buy a section T-track it should work just well, www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-71118-Double-Cut-Universal-Predrilled/dp/B074MN2CPL/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=t-track&qid=1618680628&sr=8-5. I have a table saw and so it is easy to make the tracks. you can also build the tracks with strips of plywood by gluing them together.