question about annealing gas check material

[rmatchell]

I just ordered a gas check maker from PatMarlin and was wondering about annealing the aluminum for making checks. I work at a glass plant on a forming machine so I have access to all the heat I could ever want, so my question is what process do you use as far as temp, time, and so on? The rolls that im seeing at lowes and home depot all look a lil on the hard side so i'm trying to see what can be done.

[tjones]

Real annealing of aluminum according to reference books is 750-800F. Good luck most don't have that kind of access. tj

[rmatchell]

Yep I work around everything from 150 to 2850 degrees. I have been wanting to run a coffee can of 22 lr emptys through the lehr but not sure if its to hot. It runs around 1200 to 1300.

[Idz]

You may want to experiment to see if you really need annealing. My checkmaker works fine with the flashing right off the roll. Checks punch and form great and stay stuck on bullets that are completely smashed on impact.

[rmatchell]

Does your flashing have alot of spring to it? That is the only reason I thought the stuff I have seen so far is hard.

[VHoward]

You can anneal aluminum with a propane torch. I have done it. Cut the aluminum into strips the width you need to feed through the pat marlin check maker, mark a line on the strips with a sharpie branded permanent felt tip marker, run the strip past a strong flame from the propane torch. When the black line disappears, the aluminum is annealed. stay on the aluminum any longer and the aluminum will melt.

If you find amerimax flashing, the yellow and white label flashing is soft enough not to need annealing.

[rmatchell]

thanks for the information, ill check a few more stores.

[338RemUltraMag]

Yonky is a member here that sells rolls of great aluminum, pre slit, rolled, annealed, and much better than roof flashing.

[rmatchell]

I have seen posts on Yonky's product, I havent looked into him yet.

[HollowPoint]

Real annealing of aluminum according to reference books is 750-800F. Good luck most don't have that kind of access. tj


Actually, most of us bullet casters do have access to this kind of heat. When I cast bullets I generally do so with my thermostat cranked all the way up; which comes close enough to the 700 degrees or so needed for annealing aluminum.

There's another thread in this section of our forum that asks a similar question as the OP's inquiry. Here's the reply I posted there:

"There was a guy on this forum that came up with an ingenious way of annealing this aluminum-flashing and it seems to be working out pretty good so far. His idea was to fill a short length of galvanized pipe (about an inch or two long with both ends capped off) with pre-cut aluminum check-disks. Then while you go through your next bullet casting session you simply let the pipe filled with the little aluminum disks sit in your melting pot full of molten lead.

The temperature of your molten lead generally remains stable enough that you can anneal the disks for a hour or so while you cast your bullets. When you're done casting, simply remove the disk-filled pipe from the melting pot and let it cool. Viola; you have a bunch of nicely annealed aluminum disks ready to be formed into your Gas-Checks."

The OP is quite fortunate in that he has access to the type of heat that's required for proper annealing. The rest of us do what we can to anneal when needed.

HollowPoint

[rmatchell]

It does come in handy when working on different things, kinda rough in the summer though. The flame retardant uniforms are a pain at times as well.