Salt Bath Annealing

Guys, I do this out in my shed (door open) away from kids, dogs, distractions, etc. The manual I have says 500C-550C will provide a quality anneal. I doubt there's any quantifiable difference anywhere within that temp range so long as the soak time is as consistent as possible. I use a metronome app on my phone for a 5 second soak time. The process goes pretty quick.

I figure that if I treat it the same way that I treat my lead pot, that should give me a decent level of safety.

Yep. For some reason I felt like I was back in high-school chemistry the first time I did it. I'm about as concerned over this method of annealing as I am a 60,000psi controlled explosion going off 3 inches from my face every time I pull the trigger. Proper eye and ear protection and let 'er rip!

This looks like a great system. I have never tried to anneal before. How do you test/know if you anneal a case properly? I was always afraid to do it wrong and potentially have a split case or something. How often do you anneal with this method? Thank you for this post.

HappyHunter, we don't really need to test the state of the necks after salt bath annealing for a similar reason to a water analogy. If I take clean pure water below 0 C, I know it will be ice. If I take ice above 0C, it will be water. The discussion isn't about high or low pressure so we don't worry too much about testing for the state of the melted ice. Brass is similar...

Once we take brass to the salt bath temperature, we know we are well past the temp required to anneal the brass. The count isn't hard to do in terms of a minimum to make sure we are above the temp threshold, and we would have to really fall asleep to wait long enough to allow the case head to overheat.

I wouldn't overthink this.

Annealing isn't going to cause split necks, not annealing will allow split necks.

Tests for the actual metallurgical state are too troublesome and not worth the effort for something so simple and reliable.

How often to anneal is a matter of taste. Some folks anneal every cycle for precision and accuracy work, some say about every third or fourth cycle for plinking durability.

Did some research on digital PID temp controller parts today. This is an overview and not links to specific parts, but more to familiarize and point in right direction. I can post links to the parts I buy after I research more (which I always do infinitadum on everything). I'm a 30yr Airforce Vet acft electrician and more.
It seems there are a plethora of PID Temp Controllers on Ebay that come WITH an SSR (Solid State Relay) and K Type Thermocouples.
The PIDs run on 120 to 240vac (wall plug). They are like the thermostat on the wall of your home heat and AC sys.
Think of the SSR like a regular mechanical relay, except no moving parts, all electronic. It turns on and off your heating coil in the melting pot. It's commanded/controlled by output from the PID Controller. MAKE SURE you select the amperage you'll need. A 20 Amp SSR should be fine since the Lee Pot uses a 120vac 15 Amp wall outlet.
The K Type Thermocouple is like a thermometer. It's like the "finger" of the PID dunked into the Salt to "feel" what tempura ture it's at, then the PID sends a signal to the SSR to turn on or off your Melting Pot. You can search Slebay for K Type TCS of different temp ranges. I found some rated 0 to 700C for about$10. Found an exhaust K Type with 1/8" npt fitting for $12 that's rated to 1,200C (this could be installed in the pot/brass adapter plate by drilling n tapping for the 1/8"npt, then would be secure for safety). I'd recommend at least a range to 700C. This will cover the Salt MAX do-not-exceed temp of 590C, AND be good for Lead melting @ 300C to 375C!
The PID controller, SSR, and K-Thermocouple together total should be $40 to $55, +your time, wall power cord, mount box, etc...
If I'm incorrect on anything please make it known so the right info is posted for all of us. I'm not above being corrected, politely lol.
I'll post exact links if you want, when I get mine ordered

I'm also re-purposing my gear-motor and speed control to HOPPER FEED and timed drop the brass into the brass adapter on the pot. The brass will be passing through a break-beam to trigger an adjustable audible timer with chime/beep/buzz alert for "time in Salt/Time to remove".
The removal of brass from Salt/brass adapter will be done by hand. Haven't figured out an automatic withdrawal mechanism YET PARTS are laid out on bench and being built as we speak. Yea, my curse is I'm a gizmo MacGyver type... Hoping to have temp control and hopper feed/digital triggered timer done in a week or 2 and test with lead... Then I'll order Salt...

Ha! Wow...yeah, that sounds pretty high-tech! I do well just to screw my dies into my presses correctly . You'll have to post some pictures of that when you get it finished.

Deputy819 said:

Ha! Wow...yeah, that sounds pretty high-tech! I do well just to screw my dies into my presses correctly . You'll have to post some pictures of that when you get it finished.

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You got it! Watch for the new thread on the finished Dohickey Whatchamadinger. Have to finish building the phase converter for my lathe and shaper too...

so would you guys recommend this or the AMP? and do you have to do the salt annealing outside? im assuming either way, you'd want good ventilation.

Doublezranch said:

Currently there are lots of annealers on the market today. The DIY drill and torch, the fancy benchsource, and the high dollar induction style electric units. I was in the market and found Ballistic Recreations. Gary Chambers makes and sells salt bath kits for annealing. All you have to provide is a melting pot. It looks extremely legit and the nice part is the salt holds it temperature very well. I ordered one and should be here early next week.

Check it out for yourselves.



Thanks!

Jayson

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I've had Gary's kit for a few months now. I've loved using it and for the price you can't go wrong. He had it to me in days. There is a specific model of melter that us needed that I got from Amazon.

raider1v1
I would think that if price is of no problem then the AMP would be the ticket, but when price has to be taken into account the salt bath method is the way to go. I believe both end up with the same results. No need to do the salt bath outside, just watch the temp of the bath and use caution as this is very hot liquid.

Ballistic Recreations has stock now. Just purchased one.

feelinducky said:

Ballistic Recreations has stock now. Just purchased one.

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Says out of stock on the standard kit after i put it in the cart.