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

[wattgn]

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

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers espresso machines"

Thomas J. Watson

Fifty years ago no one would have believed that it could be possible for there to be an espresso machine on every benchtop.

In fact no one would have known what an espresso machine was!

;D

Grant

[Javaphile]

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

"A hundred and twenty eight thousand bytes of RAM!" I said in disbelief. "No-one is EVER going to need that much memory."

Famous last words.

Which makes me think of Billy Boy Gates 1981 (purported) comment: "640 kilobytes of computer memory ought to be enough for anybody."

I have my own motto: Theres no such thing as too much memory!!

Java "And you can quote me on that!" phile

[Mdub]

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

Javaphile,

How are things going, weve not heard a lot from you in the roaster forum, its a lot more interesting when you are giving updates on the roaster reno.

Mdub

[Javaphile]

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

Hey Mdub,

Sorry about the dearth of updates but not much has happened since the last one. I have been continuing my search for someone with-in reasonable driving distance to put a porcelain enamel coating on the roaster with absolutely no luck. The closest one I can find with the capabilities I need is halfway accross the country.

As a result I have decided this last week to go with the back-up plan of having the main box and the exhaust channels chrome plated. Then, depending on its cost (rough quotes so far range from $500-$1,000USD), either having the remaining parts powdercoated immediately or reassymbling it and putting it to work to earn me the money to powdercoat it later.

I have decided to leave the barrel assymblies intact and alone for now and see how they deal. If need be I can always take them apart at a later date and have them plated.

Life has been interesting here (in the ancient Chinese curse manner) with major renovations, both bathrooms and the kitchen, still underway and winter now settling in. I hope to have the one bathroom all sheetrocked in this weekend (its walls and ceiling are bare down to the lathe currently) complete with new outlets and a switched ceiling and vanity light. Hopefully then Ill have enough breathing room next week to get the roaster off to the platers and get that process started. I still hope to have it up and running in time to do the Christmas present roast, but time is getting tight so we shall see.

The next few weeks should prove very interesting.

Java "Why is that Chinese Dragon dive-bombing me?" phile

[Javaphile]

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

GGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR #$($^&*$%&(@*#&$%&$@*#($#&^@

I am SO farking POed!! I just got back from bringing the main box in to be plated, only to be told once there that it cant be plated due to its complex design!! So now Im right back at square one and using it to roast up Christmas presents is now looking very unlikely.

Due to all the inner corners any electro application process appears to be out of the question leaving a liquid dipping process using liquid metal or porcelain enamel as the only remaining alternative. Back to the phones to try and find a local company that does hot dipping. GGGGgggrrrrrrrrr......

Java "The PISSED" phile

[Javaphile]

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

WooHoo!!!!

<Javaphile does the Happy Happy Joy Joy Dance>

My persistance finally paid off and I found a company who will coat my roaster in a 2,000F rated ceramic!! WooHoo!! And even better theyre a local company and quite reasonably priced! Total cost of the coating is expected to be between $300 and $400USD. Right in the range I was hoping to pay and well below the cost of what I had resigned myself to paying.

Yesterday I received a call back from a manufacturer of coatings that I had called about 2 months ago asking for help locating a local company who did high temp coatings. They gave me the name and number of a company about 40km from me that specializes in doing high temp ceramic coatings. I immediately called them up and of course got voicemail.

Bright and early this morning I got a call back from them and after a lengthy discussion about what needed to be done and the potential problems they told me they saw no reason why they couldnt do it! So I told them I would immediately load up the van with all the various parts and see them in an hour to go over all the details in person.

So out I went into the blizzard that was blowing up here and loaded my baby in all its sundry pieces into the van and headed north right into the teeth of the blizzard.

Nothing was going stop me!! Id found a coater who could do the work I needed after months of searching and could get right to it. Nothing was going to stop me from getting the roaster to them *today! Not tomorrow or next week but NOW!!

After taking twice as long as it normally would due to the nasty weather conditions I arrived at their site and spent 10 minutes or so unloading all the various pieces and carrying them into their shop.

I then spent the next 2 hours going over the project with the owner and deciding on what type and color of coating to put where and addressing areas of special concerns or potential problems as well as giving them some coffee education.

At the end of it all it seemed like they fully understood not only what needed to be done but just how important and valuable this roaster was too me. I climbed back behind the wheel for the trip back through the blizzard with a very good feeling about them and their product and with the expectation of having my baby back to me ready for reassembly and its first roast in about 10 days. Just in time for the big Christmas Present roasting marathon! WooHoo!!

At last it all seems to be pulling together! In two weeks I should be tossing my first green beans into my baby and turning them into brown gold! Yay!! Can you tell Im head over heels in happiness? ;D

Java "Walking on Sunshine" phile

[robusto]

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

Fingers crossed Santa and his ceramic-plating elves will be kind to you and your roaster, Javaphile. Hate the whole thing to go pear-shaped from Santa to Grinch.

[Javaphile]

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

Indeed Robusto. No Grinchs allowed!

My big worry now is the possibility of them loosing parts. All torn down like it is theres plenty of small parts to fall through the cracks. While theyve done a lot of different items over the years it appeared from my discussion with them that this was probably the most complex project theyve taken on to date. With-out referring to my list Id guess there are approximately 50 different parts (not counting all the various nuts and bolts) ranging in size from the very tiny to the very large and encompassing a wide variety of metals such as brass, mild sheet steel, aluminum, rolled steel, cast iron, and stainless steel. Each requiring its own method for the application of the ceramic. Not to mention all the 90 degree internal corners, lips, and hidden channels. They were quite impressed with the complexity of the roaster as a whole and of the main box in particular. In all their years of being in business they said theyd never seen such a thing.

The roaster will be a bit more chromey looking than Id like as making the main box in multiple colors would have been almost impossible so the entire main box will be what they call their Aluminum coating. Which looks like polished aluminum when done so its not quite as bright as a chrome finish, but is *far from a matte finish. The only other options in the 2,000F rated coating was a flat black or a flat grey.

To try and offset the all chrome look Im coating most of the other parts that are not subjected to high heat in a glossy red. Its not quite a Fire Engine/Cherry Red but not far from it. More of what I think of as a Chinese Red. wiith a few external parts that are potentially subjected to high temps slotted to be done up in the satin black. Even so with the entire main box being chrome it may be a bit over the top but between the one end (the motor and turbine end) and the top and back having the red parts and doing up the name plate and the indicator plate for the gas valve adjustment levers in black and with the entire base plate being the red Im hoping the chrome wont overpower the rest.

I havent made up the replacement cooling trays or the heat/air shields over the rear of the roasting chamber assemblies yet as I want to wait until the unit is completely back together in operational condition so that I can be sure of having an accurate for for the shields. Initially Ill be using the one cooling tray that I got with the roaster and if I need to dump more than one load at a time Ill use my Bean Bucket Cooler.

Im still shopping around for an inexpensive IR thermometer so that I can have at least a general idea of the temp inside the barrels and am debating hooking up a thermocouple to my multimeter to monitor the temp in the exhaust ducting. Ill also be picking up 3 digital timers so I can have a different one for each barrel.

Also on the shopping list is an appropriatly sized scoop or funnel for putting the beans in and Ill probably make a sample puller out of something I have sitting around here and possibly the fill funnel as well.

It will be most interesting to see it all done and reassembled.

Java "Walking on clouds and needles" phile

[Javaphile]

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

Just a quick update for yall.

I GOT THE ROASTER BACK FROM THE COATERS TODAY!!!! WooHoo!!

<Java does the Happy Happy Joy Joy Dance>

On first inspection everything looks pretty good on it, one missed spot weld and a valve that wasnt rotated as asked for but in the big scheme of things theyre minor anoyances. Ill know more when I can safely handle all the parts in two days. The high temp ceramic coating has to sit for 48 hours after baking to complete its cure. If you handle it prior to that any oils gotten on it will cause a permanent stain.

The red powdercoat (done on the non-high temp parts) looks awesome and the silver ceramic coating while not chrome looks pretty darn good. The silver looks better than I feared it would turn out and it may look even better once the curing is finished and it can be polished up.

Now its going to sit there and tease me for 2 days before I can put it all back together and actually try to use it for the first time! :-/ ;D

Java "Doing the Happy Happy Joy Joy Dance" 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

[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

[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

[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

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

[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