A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roaster

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Here you can see the impeller housing (a massive chunk of cast iron that weighs about 12kg) and shaft.

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Heres a view from the front-right showing the flame adjustment levers (in the Off position), along with a view of the intake areas on the air channels. Peeking through the back just under them you can see the burners.

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

More progress has been made on the reassembly of the old new toy.

This despite it taking 4 hours today to get more stainless screws and bolts for it along with some high temp oil and grease and despite the non-stop ringing of the doorbell today.

I decided to put gaskets between the air channels and the main box and between the turbine impeller housing and the main box so as to minimize leakage and to maximize the air flow capability. What a pain finding high temp gasket material! Most of the so-called high temp gasket material is only rated to 350-400F. Not the 500-600F level I was looking for. I finally was able to find some rated too 700F which turned out to be *very dense and hard to cut. Im hoping that when it heats up it will soften slightly as theres a slight gap in one area of the impeller housings seal due to a slight warpage of the main boxs material. The air channels appeared to seal up nice and tight.

The air channels have all been put back on along with the gas supply and burner system and their control levers as well as the impeller and its housing.

Ive fired up the burners (with-out the barrels on) and have verified that all the valves work properly and that all three barrels are set up for propane and not natural gas. There is definate differences between flame heights on the three burners but nothing outragous. The middle burner doesnt appear to need the 2 extra air injection holes it has but I may leave them as that burner is farther away from the barrel than the other 2 and it may give it better performance because of it. The burning characteristics may also change once the barrels are on and air is being forcably drawn through the combustion chamber. Well find out later today. ;D

Ive decided for now to do my roasting in the kids old bedroom and put one of my friends who stopped over today to work helping me carry the roaster upstairs.

The list of parts remaining to be put back on is growing short:

• Drive shaft and worm gears
• Barrels
• Discharge chutes
• Motor
• Various knobs

and thats it. Wire the motor into the microdrive, make up some shields for the back of the roasters from alum foil, and mount an exhaust vent in a sheet of plywood cut to fit the window and Ill be all ready to roast!

Barring some calamity the first batch will be rolling down the chute sometime tonight. ;D

This pic shows the back of the roaster with the air channels and gas system installed.

Java "WooHoo!! Were almost there!" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

And here a few more pieces back on, the drip tray (mounted on the back and not very visible in this pic), the main shaft bearing housings, and one air channel.

This unfortunately is the stopping point for the night as theres no longer any 24 hour hardware stores around here to run too for more new bolts.

Java "WooHoo!! Its going back together!" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Here The plates are on and the main box is bolted back onto the base along with the motor mount.

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Here we go! After a trip to the hardware store for some new stainless steel and brass bolts the itchy fingers finally get turned loose!

And theyre off and wiggling!

Here we are getting ready to put the first pieces back on. Namely the indicator plates for the gas valves/flame height and the name plate. I used brass bolts for these and once its all back together and I can see how itll look I plan on painting the numbers on the indicator plates with a brass/gold paint, hence the brass bolts instead of the stainless used everywhere else.

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

That is going to be a nice looking roaster, Java....

Take a couple of snaps, showing the bad boy in action.. 8-)

Oh trust me! Pics there will be!! ;D ;D ;D

Java "Itchy fingers" phile

[stratford]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

That is going to be a nice looking roaster, Java....

Take a couple of snaps, showing the bad boy in action.. 8-)

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

A quick update on the bearing situation. Theres good news/bad news. :-/

At some point in the past they were converted from a sleeve bearing to a standard ballbearing assembly. As a result replacing the bearings was easily done with off-the-shelf bearings. A local company removed the old bearings, cleaned out the area, and replaced them with new sealed bearings all for only $25. Unfortunately in the process the new powdercoat was dinged up in several places which will require a recoating of the pieces. I wasnt too upset at this as they were going to have to be recoated anyways because of the damage to the finish from the oil that boiled/leaked out during the curing bake.

I will deal with their recoating after Christmas at the same time as I have the motor casing done. This time I will have the bearings pulled prior to dropping off the housings for coating to prevent any damage to them from the curing bake and then press them back in once the recoating is done.

The shaft is not as tight a fit in the bearings as it should be but I think I can take care of that easily enough with a thin layer of paint on the shaft where its in contact with the bearings. That should fill up the space and give it a nice tight fit.

I think the shaft will have to be painted once the roaster is reassembled due to the bearings and worm gears that must be slid the length of the shaft during assembly. Theres no way to put the gears on, coat it, and then put the shaft back onto the roaster. The shaft can not be put back on the roaster with the gears already on it due to the roasters design, plus the clearances between the shaft and the worm gears/bearings is too tight to get them on with-out ruining the finish. Ill have to hunt up a paint that matches the red powdercoat and put it on once everything else is done and the roaster is reassembled.

Things are moving along and I still hope to be roasting by tomorrow night with my baby.

Java "Oh the things we do for our cuppa!" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Here is My Preeeecioussss as I first saw her when arriving to pick her up from the coaters.

Java "Aint that a purty sight" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

I hear ya Robusto. These exact issues were left as voice msgs, a special trip taken to go visit him in person to make sure he understood the directions and their importantnace with the parts/areas pointed out and discussed with written notes taken. All to result in what you see in the attached picture.

Java "Still has a hard time believing it" phile

[robusto]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Tsk Tsk. Very disappointing. I hope there is redress for you, but the last thing you want is more time wasted fixing problems which werent there in the first place. And so little time before the Christmas deadline, too.

I find most people are incapable of following instructions. My "solution" is to explain verbally. And in writing. And keep a copy. At least no-one can then say "Oh, you didnt tell me THAT".

Robusto

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Ggggrrrrr.......I just opened up the main shafts bearing housings to find them packed full of crud from the blasting!! Gggggrrrr.....They were one item we went over specifically that needed to be washed out in the parts washer to remove all that gunk both to avoid it being baked on and to avoid it dripping out during curing. Now both have occured. Its all baked in there and it did indeed drip out and ruin the finish in one area. I even opened up one of the housings while there to point out why they needed to be washed out prior to coating.

Another item we went over specifically was to pull the valves apart so their gasket material didnt get baked in the oven and potentially ruined. Did they do it? No! Damnit!! Does no one take pride in their work and craftmanship anymore and follow the directions theyve agreed too?!?!

Java "The pissed off" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Congratulations, Javaphile, the dance is well deserved and your patience admirable. I bet the next two days will seem like two weeks as your try to resist the irrisistable urge to caress it, give it a gentle touch. At least you can drink it in with thine eyes without harm.

Robusto

LOL Indeed Robusto! Ive already been carressing the red powdercoated parts and let me tell ya they feel beautiful! Theyre cured to a wonderfully smooth enamel type finish in a nice deep red. A very silky feel to them.

The high temp silver ceramic on the other hand doesnt have that glass smooth finish but rather has a coarser look to it. Some of that may be due to the light powdering of residue left from the baking and it may well have a smoother finish than it appears. Well find out in 2 days! Dagnabbit!

Drinking it in with my eyes ;D its obvious that the ceramic will not have the mirror finish that the powdercoat does, but rather a more duller, almost flat type finish to it. It will be interesting to see it all assembled to see how the color scheme I went with works in practical application.

It will look a bit strange still as a couple of pieces still need to be coated. The motor casing and the main shaft werent done with all the other parts as the coater didnt think Id be able to get the worm gears back on the shaft if he coated it and the motor hadnt had its guts yanked out when I brought it in. I figured Id wait until after Id gotten my Christmas roasting done and then deal with those parts. I also still need to make the shields for over the back of the barrels. At this point those will be made from heavy alum foil until I arrive at a design Im happy with and then Ill make the permanent ones. Cooling trays also still need to be made and Im shopping around for a reasonable price on those. I have one of the original trays and will use that to dump the beans into and then if needed toss them into my BBC to finish their cooling if another batch needs to be dumped before theyre cooled down.

Egads! I hate to think of all the batches of beans Ill destroy while getting used to my new toy! But at least Ill have fun while doing it! ;D Hopefully while not blowing myself up in the process! ;D :

Initially I plan on using just one barrel until I get used to the roaster and arrive at a profile that works well. Then Ill fire up the other barrels and dial them in hopefully while burning through the first couple of roasts. I plan on using the first two batches out of each barrel to help clean out any residue that may be left in them and then tossing them unused. On the third batch Ill be doing a *very critical analysis of the flavor of the beans looking for any signs of tastes or smells from the roaster and so plan on using a lighter flavored bean such as the Bolivian Ceneproc that I have a quantity of on hand.

Prior to doing the first batch I plan on using a green scrubber pad to go over the insides of the barrels to get off any residue thats left in them, but they should be pretty clean as they were sandblasted. Im sure there will be some residue on them from the ceramic curing process if nothing else. Yuck! Hhhhmmm.....maybe Ill wipe them out with some alcohol first before I scrub them. Between the alcohol, the scrubing, and then putting a couple of batches of beans through them they should be pretty well cleaned out and ready for use.

One of the other things Ill need to do before actually using the roaster is to fire up the burners on it with-out the barrels in place. I still need to satisfy myself that all three burners are the same and set up for propane and not natural gas. You might remember that the middle burner assembly is of an obviously different design with 4 air injection holes as oppossed to the 2 on each of the other two burners. The valve is also slightly different so I need to see them all in operation to see how the flames on the different burners compare.

All in all I hope to be roasting by Thursday evening. That would work out nice as the batches will then be ready for testing Friday evening when my friend comes over and they can help access the damage Ive done to them. :

Java "Purring over the red stuff" phile

[robusto]

Re: A (Epic?) journey in search of my perfect roas

Congratulations, Javaphile, the dance is well deserved and your patience admirable. I bet the next two days will seem like two weeks as your try to resist the irrisistable urge to caress it, give it a gentle touch. At least you can drink it in with thine eyes without harm.

Robusto