Please recommend me a gas torch for annealing

[mick miller]

I've looked, most searches lead to American sites. I don't really want to spend upward of £50 on a bit a plastic and brass, so if anyone has found a good 'cost effective' brand or make could they please enlighten me so as not to waste more money on the wrong thing.

 

I've seen the Benzomatics - too costly.

Rothenberger QuickFire - maybe but still £40-£50 plus

Laser 5274 - Any good (only £20!)

 

Any others?

 

[Bewsher500]

kitchen blowtorch will do it

run on butane cans

costs pennies

 

the heat is not the problem

regulating it, keeping it even and getting it to the right temp for just the right time

[figgy]

Get round some boot sales and look for a gas torch with hose and regulator like plumbers used to use. Buy a small

Propane bottle and you'll have enough to last years.

[mick miller]

kitchen blowtorch will do it

run on butane cans

costs pennies

 

the heat is not the problem

regulating it, keeping it even and getting it to the right temp for just the right time

I'm thinking thus...

 

400ºF Tempilaq for base

700ºF Tempilaq (inside neck)

Drill

Socket

Timer (me - one-one thousand-two one-thousand etc.)

 

Perhaps a made stand to hold drill, adjustable screw for trigger, torch at fixed distance, hinged tip the case off when done.

 

Or making one of these

 

Edited January 24, 2016 by mick miller

[subsonicnat]

Now that is one smart bit of kit..

Who the hell thought that one up.?,, ought to work for NASA.

Edited January 24, 2016 by subsonicnat

[Spiker]

I run my Bench Source using two Silverline torches (inexpensive) and a very large butane bottle. A simple "Y" connection and I have had no problems having annealed upwards of 15k cases. Silverline readily available online.

[mick miller]

Great, could you let me know which model please?

[mick miller]

Now that is one smart bit of kit..

Who the hell thought that one up.?,, ought to work for NASA.

 

Chap called Skippy (I'm sure it's been on here before), but I don't reckon this will be too tricky to make.

Edited January 25, 2016 by mick miller

[1066]

This one is cheap and works well, it's all brass and works with the Coleman or Rothenberg cartridges.

http://www.diy.com/hand-tools/pt7010h-gosystem-flame-power-torch/191136_BQ.prd

 

See it in action on my annealer here.

 

 

[mick miller]

Thank you for your advice. That's a very neat design YHPM. I guess there is an amount of disassembly and reassembly with the torch as it shows it with a 1" UNEF fitting at the base.

 

You've used ( I guess) a 3/8" BSP angle and then fitted the hose with a jubilee clip, I can't really see how you fitted the 1" UNEF to the bottle in the video, but I guess something similar?

Edited January 25, 2016 by mick miller

[1066]

Yes, that's about right Mick - I chopped about with the burner and used the two ends connected with some 6mm gas tube. The right angle fittings are silver soldered together.

[Verminator 66]

This has given some good out look on doing it different ways

[old_n07]

I use a Clarke torch from Machine Mart connected to a propane bottle I use for the heater in the garage, comes with three different ends, regulator and hose

 

Edited January 26, 2016 by old_n07

[mick miller]

How do you go about alering the timed steps for the main rotating feed on your version? Seems similar to the bench source annealer, but I cannot figure out what sort of motor would allow that movement (configurable step and pause).

[old_n07]

mick miller, on 26 Jan 2016 - 4:31 PM, said:

How do you go about alering the timed steps for the main rotating feed on your version? Seems similar to the bench source annealer, but I cannot figure out what sort of motor would allow that movement (configurable step and pause).

 

It is run via a stepper motor that is controlled by an Arduino, this controls the step angle and the time in flame is set by reading the resistance of a rotary potentiometer and converting it to a pause in the rotation of the stepper motor in the code of the Arduino program, I'm going to fit an LCD screen that will display the pause time to make things a bit easier.

 

Under the annealing location is a small motor that turns a little turntable to spin the case in the flame.

 

I'll add some pictures of the underside later if you want

[mick miller]

Ah, I guess you need to do two things then... A) Have an Arduino B) Know how to program it!

 

Not sure I have the time or inclination to learn a computing language. But, It was a nice idea... Skippys all the way then!

 

Very clever though.

Edited January 26, 2016 by mick miller

[old_n07]

The Arduino is very simple to program, this is the code on mine:

/* 
 Stepper Motor Control
 
 This program drives a unipolar or bipolar stepper motor.  

 Turning the rheostat changes delay timing
 
 The motor controller is attached to digital pins 8 + 9 of the Arduino.
 Rheostat analogue pin 2
 
 */

 
 #include <Stepper.h>                            // includes the stepper motor binaries
 const int stepsPerRevolution = 200;             // change this to fit the number of steps per revolution for your motor
 int val = 0;
 Stepper myStepper(stepsPerRevolution, 8,9);     // initialize the stepper library on pins 8 through 9
 

void setup() {
		myStepper.setSpeed(200);	// set the speed at 60 rpm:
		Serial.begin(9600);		// initialize the serial port:  
	    }

void loop() {
               Serial.println("Running");
               val = analogRead(2);              // read potentiometer data from analogue pin 2
               int pause = val*10;               // set the value of the pause variable by mulitiplying the pot value x 10 to increase time range
               Serial.println(pause/1000);       // 1000 is 1 second

                          myStepper.step(1280);
                          delay(pause);
                          
                          
            }

It is uploaded via a USB connection to the Arduino from the laptop using the Arduino programming utility

 

This is the underside:

 

 

Before I went down the Arduino route I was looking at doing something similar in style but using a 12v windscreen wiper motor spinning an arm that contacts a pin on the centre wheel once per rotation advancing the case through the flame, I'll try and find a link to the one I saw but it looked pretty easy to do

Edited January 26, 2016 by old_n07

[old_n07]

Here you go, the hardest thing looks to be the disk that holds the cases

 

http://rvbprecision.com/shooting/brass-annealing-machine.html

 

or

 

 

HTH

Edited January 26, 2016 by old_n07

[mick miller]

Arduino looks like the way forward YHPM

[mick miller]

I'd like to thank both 1066 and Old No 7 for their extensive help and suggestions via PM. Way beyond what I had expected.

 

Thanks chaps!

[1066]

Pleased to help MM. Let us know which way you're going and keep us posted.

[old_n07]

Same here, it's what this forum is all about

 

@1066 - I think there is quite a bit of reading going on in the background thanks to us

[1066]

Same here, it's what this forum is all about

 

@1066 - I think there is quite a bit of reading going on in the background thanks to us

When I started out on the annealing road several years ago, this was the where I found some good information:

http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

 

and if you want to delve a little deeper:

http://www.nlrc.org/index_htm_files/Ryan%20Stevenson%20-%20Technical%20Paper.pdf

[Bewsher500]

i just send mine away

£10 for 100 and I dont have to **** around with torches!