Templaq and Annealing

[malachi_s]

Hey guys, Started noticing my brass isn't responding as well as it used to when I case prep and of course read all about the "dark science" of annealing so I thought I would give it a try. A few articles I have read mention a product called Templaq. I think it serves as a heat measurement aide as it melts at defined temperatures. Does anyone use this technique? Where can I purchase this product? Any opinions, thoughts or comments are welcome.

 

[Exodus]

I haven't looked into this process but sounds kind of like the melt sticks we used at one of my old jobs. They were like big crayons that had set melt temp. You could buy the one you want and cut it into wafers and put one in with each batch to know when you have reached your desired temp. I'll do a little looking to try and find what they are actually called.


Edit: well it wasn't to hard. Thermomelt HEAT-STIK markers. They start at 100 degrees and go to 2200 degrees.

Edit again: The price of these sticks and the tempilaq are about the same but I think you get more with the tempilaq. These seem to be just opposites of each other one is liquid that dries at temp and one is dry and melts at temp.

 

[malachi_s]

Thanks a bunch, is it called Tempilaq then? I have never tried to anneal before so this will be a first. From what I gather, 600º to 650º is the heat range I going for.

 

[Exodus]

Thats name of it that came up when I was looking for it. Guy said he put a small dab on the case mouth and then heated with a blow torch til the stuff dried. Seems easy enough.

 

[Leo]

annealing is not that hard. I hold the case in a 4 prong pick up tool. Rotating the case neck in a propane torch flame until it changes color. Drop it in a bucket of water. A dimly lit garage is a good place to do this as you can easily see the color change.

I do not think you really need to carefully monitor the temperature

 

[ljk]

Rotating the case neck in a propane torch flame until it changes color. Drop it in a bucket of water.

isn't that quenching? the opposite of annealing process which harden the metal by rapid cooling?

 

[Leo]

It works backward on copper and brass. Quenching of red hot iron/steel hardens it, but not copper/brass.

 

[Sean]

I started by reading the article linked below, temp and time to temp are critical if you want to anneal correctly.

The Art and Science of Annealing

 

[Leo]

I started by reading the article linked below, temp and time to temp are critical if you want to anneal correctly.

The Art and Science of Annealing

Good linked article. That is an amazing machine to automate the case annealing. The guy that wrote that article sure took a simple process to the extreme. Since I generally only anneal to make 7mm TCU, 6.5 X 284 or 6.5-06 brass, I'll probably keep using my old propane torch and the $3.00 pick up tool.

 

[Broom_jm]

Annealing is both simple and easy to screw up. The key is to not overheat the brass and to make SURE you don't heat the head of the case. A slower, but very effective method is to use a candle. You hold the case about halfway down the body and heat the neck in the flame of the candle. When the case gets too warm to hold you drop it into a damp towel and wipe it off

 

[Sean]

Good linked article. That is an amazing machine to automate the case annealing. The guy that wrote that article sure took a simple process to the extreme. Since I generally only anneal to make 7mm TCU, 6.5 X 284 or 6.5-06 brass, I'll probably keep using my old propane torch and the $3.00 pick up tool.

Check out the Giraud if you want to see amazing, I like it a little better since it also feeds the cases. I guess if you were doing high volume it would make sense.

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