Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

[martybean]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Dont rush Craig get it right ,these materials [S/Steel] are expensive so shop around get the best price you can with the best advice,some suppliers dont know the mechanical and physical properties of thier products or its weldabilty

[seedlings]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Hi All, Ive been extremely time poor for the last couple of weeks. SS is looking to be the drum material for the prototype.

Just to clear up my motivation for this project.
Im not doing it for the money
Im doing it basically for us coffee snobs and fellow coffee addicts
Some of us like the agressive DIY projects other want a more polished setup.

My plan as shown in my first post it to produce a roaster that is upgradeable over time.
An initial cost of around 1k for the core roaster is probably the limit for most of us, the other bits eg bean cooler and advance control stuff etc can then be purchase later on as needed or $ permits.

I just want to make it solid and as cheap as possiable but with the feel and performance of an 8k drum roaster.

Cheers
Craig A

Craig, you have it all right so be patient yet persistant in your efforts.  Very well done.

CHAD

[Ray_C]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Still watching this thread with great interest!

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Good things come to the ones that wait

We are watching and ready to offer help when and where its needed

KK

[hiker]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Just read this thread with intense interest - congratulations to Craig for his enthusiasm - I only wish I had that sort of expertise - but would love to be on the pre-order list - please! Deposit available if and when required.

all the best - I will stand by for any updates!

cheers all

GKR

[kohi]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

I wish I had the expertise too! I believe theres a huge market for this, including people who currently dont even know that they can roast coffee.

All the best getting this idea off the ground and I too will be watching this thread closely (and saving my pennies).....

[HV_MAN]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Gee time passes quickly....
Thanks for all the support, I feel Im really dragging me heals with this.....problem is I havent allot of free time ATM.. oh well ..

Started to chase up some all the suppliers Ive request info from today.

Found some useful info on SS and temperature LINK

From this article all the grades listed are well within our 300degC requirement so it time to find the cheapest and most freely available.


Yes Im eager to get on with this also, my IMEX is driving me nuts...
Cheers
Craig A

[speleomike]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Hi HV

I did some development in LabView more than 10 years ago. We just used it within the development environment and didnt make distributable executables. Nowadays I use Linux pretty much exclusively and naturally Id like to have the option to use either a Windows VI or a Linux VI.

I see the National Instruments site says:

Question: Can I port existing LabVIEW programs to LabVIEW for Linux?
Answer: Yes, as long as the ported VIs use only the functionality that is available for Linux.

and also says:

"The LabWindows/CVI Run-Time Module for Linux extends the LabWindows/CVI development environment by helping developers create high-performance, stable applications on a Windows system and later compile and run these applications on a Linux target."

Hopefully your development environment will allow you to create both executables for Windows and Linux. I presume what gets shipped to customers is some sort of run time environment for the VI.

The other option also is to have the VI open and available (as opposed to a compiled exe only) so that knowledgeable users who have NI LabView can open up the VI and tweek any component.

Mike

[speleomike]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Hi

One thing that you may wish to consider if you are going for any PC interface is the choice of serial/USB. The use of USB may require you as a vendor to sign up with the USB consortium. Not sure though if you have to sign up if you dont claim that its USB compliant and you dont use the USB logos.
http://www.usb.org/developers/vendor/ <--- expensive
Serial (RS232) is free really easy to program for. For PCs without serial connectors (the norm now) its easy to use a serial<->USB connector.

Mike


Mike

[DickieKnee]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Hi HV

I did some development in LabView more than 10 years ago. We just used it within the development environment and didnt make distributable executables. Nowadays I use Linux pretty much exclusively and naturally Id like to have the option to use either a Windows VI or a Linux VI.

I see the National Instruments site says:

Question: Can I port existing LabVIEW programs to LabVIEW for Linux?
Answer: Yes, as long as the ported VIs use only the functionality that is available for Linux.

and also says:

"The LabWindows/CVI Run-Time Module for Linux extends the LabWindows/CVI development environment by helping developers create high-performance, stable applications on a Windows system and later compile and run these applications on a Linux target."

Hopefully your development environment will allow you to create both executables for Windows and Linux. I presume what gets shipped to customers is some sort of run time environment for the VI.

The other option also is to have the VI open and available (as opposed to a compiled exe only) so that knowledgeable users who have NI LabView can open up the VI and tweek any component.

Mike

You know, this looks a lot like English, but Ill be damned if I understood any of it! ;D ;D


(well maybe a little bit )

[yeeza]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

I was thinking the same thing just quietly LOL

[speleomike]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Hi all

lol. Thats the engineer/physicist showing :-)

Its basically the interface - how will it connect to the outside world? Will it be via a basic LCD panel or connect to a PC? Its one of the things that would be developed much later but its good to bring up "wish" things now i.e. early in the development stage. Craig may say "No way, no time, cant do" or "Yeah, Ill add it to the maybe list".

Mike

[surfdog]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

Hey guys,

I love my coffee and operate a private product development business.

I roast using an IRoast2 but really want to achieve a more like drum result. I have spent many hours thinking about a small drum roaster.

I offer a few comments...

I use an "off the shelf" programmable PLC for many small volume products. They are complete with LCDs, RS232 interface, power supply, input buttons etc... An easy cheap way to control this type of machine. Programming is easy.

Stainless steel is a good material choice. I have thought about using quartz glass. It is not easily worked unless you have the specific skills BUT you can see the beans and watch the roasing process. It is also great at high temeratures.

Consider electrical heating elements. Combined with the quatz glass, these is would provide very responsive temperature management system.

Has anyone drawn up sketches of the proposed unit?

I have a custom fabrication company I use in China for fiddly proto types (many of these skills are lost in Australia now!)

[mobbarley]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

quick question to the people who drum roast - how do you evacuate the husks? Do they roast with the coffee? With some air movement will they blow out through a mesh drum?

[fatboy_1999]

Re: Is there a market for a 1kg DIY drum roaster?

I find that wet processed beans, whatever chaff there is pretty much burns off during roasting.
With dry processed beans, there is still quite a lot in the drum at the time of dumping.
I dump to a mesh sieve with a fan under it blowing upwards.
I stir or shake the beans with the fan on and all remaining chaff is blown away (and over me in the case of Brazil Cerrado).