Thread: Gadgetmans Induction Annealer

I've been gathering together bits to make a couple of annealing and with the weather improving it was time to start work.

I gave up looking for a source of plastic for the trapdoor so went the DIY route. I made up a mould from some old used angle iron I had kicking around, didn't have anything big and flat enough for the base so I split some more angle and welded them flat before grinding flattish. Bung it in an oven at 180C and slowly add 90g (two chopped up 2l milk bottles) and periodically squash it flat. Net result a 100x46x23mm block of HDPE to work with.





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Squared it up with the old Stanley plane then bunged it in the cheap arse milling vice on the drill press with the stop nuts used to lock it up. With a $14 aliexpress T-slot cutter and a bit of monkeying around I have slots cut in the two blocks and a hole for the brass. Chopped up some HDPE board for the trapdoor. Very slick operation.



I decided to use some remote control servos that I had bought a bulk load of. The advantages of using these are that they are cheap and the sweep can be well controlled. I've been working on the control system on and off for a bit so hooked it all up or a quick function test. Just an Arduino that controls the 40A solid state relay, servo and screen. With the switch in the off position you can change the anneal time using a couple of buttons, then flick the switch to run mode. The servo needs to be reversed, but that'll only take a couple of minutes in the program.



Next step will be throwing it all together in a case along with the actual annealing bits, power supplies, coil, liquid cooling, ... the easy bits. Will mount the trapdoor block on some curtain rail so it can slide up and down to suit the size of brass.