Lyman salt bath cast annealer

[Hossfly]

Going to try annealing some 30-06 brass with low temperature salt at 900’.
I’ve got a 40 year old Lyman 10# bottom pour pot that works, and a PID controller that I use for casting.

Going to set up outside and hopefully build a case holder to hold brass at the right height for 5-9 seconds to get necks softer, some are starting to split when processing.

Was wondering best way to plug bottom pour hole, to not leak, but keep in tac for future use?

Or possibly leave a layer of lead in bottom and put salt solution on top? Would that work?

[RedlegEd]

Hi Hossfly,
I used to do salt bath annealing, but I used a straight Lee 10#pot without the bottom pour feature. Please be extra careful as it can be really dangerous if you don't take the proper precautions. Also, I definitely would not use lead as a shield for the bottom. Lead alloys typically melt in the 600-700°F range and the salt gets up to 900°, so the lead would melt anyway and possibly cause other issues. Another suggestion would be to use clean, dry sand. That really reduces the splash danger as well as prevents leaks in the bottom. Good luck,
Ed

[country gent]

I use sand ( a silica sand very fine for glass making). several things one give it time to normalize thru out the pot. fill pot and geay up slowly yhe first couple times to remove moisture. Your 900* is a little on the high side I think. I normally give a 45 min to 1 hour warm up to 750-775* and with my rack holding 12 cases for abut 10-14 secs time does fine on the bpcr brass. I use a lyman big Dipper pot dedicated to this. You will be adding sand for awhile as it fills in thru use.

My rack is 3 sheet metal plates of a dia to just fit in the pot. Bottom plate is domed so a 1/4" washer fits under it with a little space. second plate is flat and solid with a hole pattern in the center ( this helps allow sand to fill in better). Top plate is solid in center and 12 1/2" holes 3/8" center from edge of outside of plate. this leaves an 1/8" ring around out side.

Plates are mounted on a 1/4" threaded rod with nuts top and bottom sides. Bottom domed plate is the base to locate and sit rack square. 2nd plate solid outside ring is the stop plate cases mouths set on as a stop. to[ plate is the ring of holes that locate each case evenly around. These plates can be thin sheet metal (steel) and made with iciders and a driill press.

IN use once pot is filled and up to temp i set a bucket of cases on one side a bucket of cold Ice water the other. I then slowly fill the ring around at abut the same pace as when actually under production. When I get to one empty hole I remove a case and drop on water insert one case in previous empty hole ( this way I have an empty hole showing where I am in the ring of cases) and work like this till batch is done. Inserting and removing sets the time of anneal very close. You will want to wear a glove or small channel locks while not overly hot they are warm on heads and fingers get sensitive after awhile :-P. On my straight walled brass I anneal down about 5/8" from mouth, depth plus a little of the seated bullets. I get almost no color change on the brass. Some of this I suspect is the oxygen free atmosphere the hot sand creates when heated, but brass shows very little spring back and is soft when done. On starline brass I do get a light pink color on the necks barely noticeable. When I talked to the engineer at starline he thought it was the oxygen free atmosphere also

I would dedicate a pot to this and leave it set up. The process works and is naturally very consistent. One change I would make is to got yo 3/8" threaded rod with a jam nut on bottom and a hole drilled thru so a lead thermometer can be used to verify temp easier. Or use a lamp threaded rod.

Work sand in as best you van and keep it filled Sand will settle over time and use once full it stays pretty well.

[Hossfly]

I use sand ( a silica sand very fine for glass making). several things one give it time to normalize thru out the pot. fill pot and geay up slowly yhe first couple times to remove moisture. Your 900* is a little on the high side I think. I normally give a 45 min to 1 hour warm up to 750-775* and with my rack holding 12 cases for abut 10-14 secs time does fine on the bpcr brass. I use a lyman big Dipper pot dedicated to this. You will be adding sand for awhile as it fills in thru use.

My rack is 3 sheet metal plates of a dia to just fit in the pot. Bottom plate is domed so a 1/4" washer fits under it with a little space. second plate is flat and solid with a hole pattern in the center ( this helps allow sand to fill in better). Top plate is solid in center and 12 1/2" holes 3/8" center from edge of outside of plate. this leaves an 1/8" ring around out side.

Plates are mounted on a 1/4" threaded rod with nuts top and bottom sides. Bottom domed plate is the base to locate and sit rack square. 2nd plate solid outside ring is the stop plate cases mouths set on as a stop. to[ plate is the ring of holes that locate each case evenly around. These plates can be thin sheet metal (steel) and made with iciders and a driill press.

IN use once pot is filled and up to temp i set a bucket of cases on one side a bucket of cold Ice water the other. I then slowly fill the ring around at abut the same pace as when actually under production. When I get to one empty hole I remove a case and drop on water insert one case in previous empty hole ( this way I have an empty hole showing where I am in the ring of cases) and work like this till batch is done. Inserting and removing sets the time of anneal very close. You will want to wear a glove or small channel locks while not overly hot they are warm on heads and fingers get sensitive after awhile :-P. On my straight walled brass I anneal down about 5/8" from mouth, depth plus a little of the seated bullets. I get almost no color change on the brass. Some of this I suspect is the oxygen free atmosphere the hot sand creates when heated, but brass shows very little spring back and is soft when done. On starline brass I do get a light pink color on the necks barely noticeable. When I talked to the engineer at starline he thought it was the oxygen free atmosphere also

I would dedicate a pot to this and leave it set up. The process works and is naturally very consistent. One change I would make is to got yo 3/8" threaded rod with a jam nut on bottom and a hole drilled thru so a lead thermometer can be used to verify temp easier. Or use a lamp threaded rod.

Work sand in as best you van and keep it filled Sand will settle over time and use once full it stays pretty well.

Does the silica sand melt or stay loose and you just push the brass down into it?

[Conditor22]

1,713 °C
Silicon dioxide
Names
Appearance Transparent solid (Amorphous) White/Whitish Yellow (Powder/Sand)
Density 2.648 (α-quartz), 2.196 (amorphous) g·cm−3
Melting point 1,713 °C (3,115 °F; 1,986 K) (amorphous) to
Boiling point 2,950 °C (5,340 °F; 3,220 K)

[Hossfly]

1,713 °C
Silicon dioxide
Names
Appearance Transparent solid (Amorphous) White/Whitish Yellow (Powder/Sand)
Density 2.648 (α-quartz), 2.196 (amorphous) g·cm−3
Melting point 1,713 °C (3,115 °F; 1,986 K) (amorphous) to
Boiling point 2,950 °C (5,340 °F; 3,220 K)


So its going to stay as is, wont melt at 700’, that seems better than dealing with a liquid. And safer.

[ioon44]

Good post, I had no idea I could use fine sand, I will have to try it in a 4 lb Lee pot.

[vagrantviking]

Thanks for the detailed description of what you are doing. Food for thought!
I've been thinking of trying this for a while now.

[Hossfly]

Ok just finished the salt bath annealer set up with the 40 year old Lyman pot that I was gifted.

Bought some low temp salt and set up my PID outside the tack room for safety reasons.
,
Had about 80 30-06 that were starting to split necks. Sent all through at 950’F for 7 seconds then dropped in some distilled water, rinsed 3 times, and now in drying mode.



They look good with color change just to middle of shoulder.

Will be finishing these this week, the hurricanes we just went through had me shut down for a while. Back up and running now.