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

[Javaphile]

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

Redcrate you d*mn nerd
Didnt mommy ever tell you
Hippies roll, not rule

I am glad to see
From your cave you have wandered forth
And seen the daylight

;D Welcome to the land of the snobs.

Java "Yay! Now theres 2 pins in Minnesota!" phile

[stratford]

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

Yes, nice bit of haiku there, redcrate...

Welcome, and Merry Christmas to you.....

[redcrate]

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

Minnesota lose.
Freakin hippies and their roasters.
Pittsburgh Stealers rule.

ohh haiku...

[Javaphile]

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

Gggggrrrrrr....It appears I may have to run the roaster with only 2 barrels until I can get a new worm gear made for one of the barrels. Due to the morons down in Mexico not oiling the shafts of the barrels for god knows how long crud has built up in there and the curing process of the coating hardened it all up even more.

If youll recall there was a question on the middle barrel possibly having come from a different machine based on the massively different wear on its gear compared to the other two barrels. It still may be from a different roaster but I think a more likely expination is that the barrel shaft started binding from lack of oiling and the worm gears started skipping over each other. This is exactly whats happening with it now as its resistance to turning is so great. Even moving it to the outside position (where the drive shaft cant deflect as much) and bolting the back of it down doesnt work. It runs for a bit and then (because its in the outside position) instead of the teeth just hopping over each other they jam, stopping the drive shaft.

Im going to continue flushing the barrel shaft out (maybe as a last resort with some solvents) using a thinner oil and see if I can clear enough crud out for it to be usable until such a time as I can get a new gear for it made. Until then Ill just have to live with 2 barrels.

Ive got to stop here for now as Im being picked up for a football game in 45 minutes. When I get back Ill put the last of the knobs back on it while letting it run some more to continue flushing out the barrel shafts. Then Ill connect it up to the vent and fire up the two barrels.

Java "D*mn people who dont know what oil is!" phile

[Javaphile]

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

Robusto,

Yup, Im doing a cleaning of the insides of the barrels before I put them on and then once installed I plan on running themup to temp while empty and letting them sit there for awhile and then putting at least 2 batches of beans through each barrel that I plan on throwing away before I start on my keeper (hopefully!) roasts



Andy,

Yuppers! It has indeed changed a bit in appearance. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I too am eagerly looking forward to that first roast in it! ;D

Everything is now done on it except for the barrels. The drive shaft is installed with the flywheel, collars, and worm gears properly located and locked down. The impeller has been locked onto the motors shaft and the motor bolted into place and the drive belt installed. The microdrive has all been wired up and connected to the motor, and everythings ready for the barrels to be attached.

Ive powered it up to make sure the motors turning in the right direction (it is) and to test the setup so far. Turning it on via the microdrive it spins up too speed in 10 seconds as programmed into the microdrive and levels off at 50Hz perfectly. Everything worked beautifully on it but then a vibration started setting in. Ye Olde Toy Box is not the most level thing in the world so I put some shims under the base plate to level it out and viola, most of the vibration stopped.

Being the perfectionist I am I then tried to track down the source of the remaining small vibration. After an hour of fiddling with it Im still unsure of its source and with the vibration being as small as it is I dont think Ill be able to find its source until the roaster is properly set up on a solid flat bench. Sitting on a surface that is smaller than its base allows the entire roaster to flex more than normal which I think is amplifying the vibration. I suspect that the impeller is slightly off balance and/or the bearings in the motor are starting to show some signs of wear. In either case the vibration is small enough that it wont interfere with the roasters usability even if it cant be eliminated, itll just bug me.

As soon as I finish up with this Im going to start cleaning the barrels and then depending on how awake I am when I finish them, if I finish them tonight, Ill toss them on and power it up again to see how it behaves with them on it. I expect the noise to increase and probably the vibration as well as the rear of the barrels arent bolted down. I assume this is so theres a bit of a float for the worm gears. Ill then grease up the worm gears and put copious amounts of oil on the drums shafts (Eek! No more spotlessly clean roaster!) to flush out any debris left in there and let it run for a quarter hour or so while flushing the drums shafts with more oil. Then Ill throw together the shields for the rear of the barrels from heavy duty alum, hook up the gas and fire that baby up!

Hhhhmmm...Its almost 5am here. I wonder if Ill get any sleep before my friend swings by in 6 hours to pick me up for the game. : I really should call it a night and get some sleep but dangit! I want to see it all fired up!! ;D Ah well, it wouldnt be the first time Ive passed on sleep for a project. 8-)

Time to dive into some barrels, more news as it occurs.

Java "So close I can smell it!" phile

[Andy]

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

Boy, it doesnt even look like the same roaster.

As much as a pain its been dealing with third paries Im sure you are happy that you have persisted and built the project well.

Looking forward to seeing the whole thing togeher and the results of the first roast.

[robusto]

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

Before you introduce the first beans for their inaugural cremation, might be a good idea to fire it up to evaporate any residual smell in the coatings.

But well done to get everything done before Christmas. Crossing fingers theres no last-minute hitch.

Robusto

[Javaphile]

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

A quick update as I take a smoke/cuppa break here.

As I suspected the driveshaft and its worm gears, collars, and fly wheel were not mounted/assembled correctly when I got the roaster. <Java shakes his head.....Some people!> Its not like its Rocket Science, every piece has a set screw, and for every set screw there is a matching indentation drilled into the drive shaft. Doh! So instead of the drive shaft sticking out from everything else by 10cm or so on the right side it is now basicly flush and no longer quite the hazzard it was.

OK, breaks over, back to it!

Java "Almost ready!" phile

[Javaphile]

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

Looking good, Javaphile. How is the coating standing up to the (test firing) heat?

I only had them fired up for about 5 minutes as the exhaust wasnt hooked up yet and the house is all closed up for winter so all the combustion gases were building up. Looking at the coating on the burners themselves afterwards youd never know theyd been fired up. The real test will be once the barrels are back on and I start pumping out roasts with it running for an hour or more at a time.

Given its rating of 2,000F however I dont expect any problems with it. My main worry was for the coating on the burners themselves and that appears to be a non-issue.

I managed to quell my itchy fingers long enough to get a few hours of sleep and have just returned from what will hopefully be the last run to the hardware store for the project. Ive now got everything I need to set up a vent out of a window for it that should work just fine until I settle on a permanent home for it.

Im going to relax and enjoy another cuppa and then dive back into it. 4 hours or so should see it ready to roast. WooHoo!! ;D ;D ;D

Java "Dem fingers dey be itching" phile

[robusto]

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

Looking good, Javaphile. How is the coating standing up to the (test firing) heat?

[Javaphile]

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

Go with throttles up, Javaphile.....

aahhhh...Roger Houston, this is Roaster Control. We are at T-minus before another day is done and counting.

;D ;D ;D

Java "Clear the launch pad!" phile

[Javaphile]

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

Hi Java,

How close to the drums are those burners?
Is the flame in direct contact with the drum ?
Were your drums solid?


Stephen

Hhhhmmm...I havent actually looked at it with an eye to the distance between the burners and the bottom of the drums. Id guess somewhere in the 3-4cm range. Aw heck, lemme go measure. ;D <Javaphile runs away and returns several minutes later having detoured to refill his cuppa> The outter 2 barrels measure 32mm from the top of the burner to the bottom of the drum. The middle barrel measures in at 39mm.

On high the flames would certainly be in direct contact with the drums. With a high draft (pulling the air from the combustion chamber up around the sides of the drums and then into the drums entering at the front top and exiting them at the rear middle) I would imagine the flames would wrap a pretty good distance up the sides of the drums.

The drums are solid and rotate at around 40-50 rpms. Heres a pic of them in another thread: http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1134349206/3#1

Java "Getting itchy fingers...*again!" phile

[stratford]

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

Go with throttles up, Javaphile.....

[Framey]

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

Hi Java,

How close to the drums are those burners?
Is the flame in direct contact with the drum ?
Were your drums solid?


Stephen

[Javaphile]

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

And here is a picture of the burner test. The righthand barrel had the highest flames with the left burner having slightly lower flames and then the middle barrel with the lowest. The burner in the middle barrel sits lower than the other two so the difference in flame height is exaggerated. This picture was taken with the burners turned up too their maximum.