Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

[Javaphile]

Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof

Sorry for the slow updates, Im dealing with a bout of major tendonitis in one of my hands so typing has gone from 90wpm to 5wpm using one hand. Ugh!

Anyhoot, onto the refurbing of the little red beauty!

Now, as some of you may not know this about me lets get this right out front. Im an inveterate tinkerer, with an insatiable curiosity, with a magpie very near me in the family tree! It is impossible for me to simply buy something and just plug it in and start using it. This is especially true for a mechanical device. Being a Bright & Shiny makes it even worse! And if an item is used, well there ya go! I now have all the excuse I need to tear it apart to see what makes it tick! ;D

So once the roaster was up on the printer stand I immediately set about giving it the once over. Upon pulling the cord out it immediately became obvious that it was not a 220v unit as Id been told but rather a 120v system. Hhhhmmm....So much for wiring in a 220V circuit! Glad Id waited until I got it before doing so! Going over it while everything was very dirty all its physical functions appeared to work just fine. I could find no obvious problems with it.

The more astute of you may have noticed a PID type looking unit on the right front of the roaster. With this being the brains of the unit and the roaster being effectively lobotomized with-out it functioning it was imperative that it work properly. If it didnt work it would be a very costly repair. So I pulled the controller out of its protective case and gave it a good going over. No visual signs of any burnt out components and no smell of any either. So far so good! With the guts out I was able to pull the model information off of it. Its a Watlow series 93 microprocessor-based temperature controller (http://www.watlow.com/literature/prodtechinfo/files/controllers/series%2093%20retrofit.pdf) with one input and one output (the 2nd output channel on this one is used for alarms rather than control).

With everything having passed the initial going over I wheeled the roaster over to a 20 amp outlet and plugged it in to do a quick check of the Watlow and other electronics. I had a bit of a Oh Sh!t! moment when it didnt light up after being plugged in. This was quickly followed by the thought that maybe they were smart and hooked it into the drum on/off switch. So I flipped that to ON and sure enough after a couple of seconds the displays lit up. 72 on the top and 32 on the bottom. WooHoo!! It appears to have no major problems having passed its power on self-checks and powered up just fine, WooHoo!! Additionally the drum turned and the fan blew. So far so good! The electronics all passed their initial testing so now it was time to delve deeper into the workings of it.

Accordingly I unplugged the roaster and started pulling parts off of it and digging deeper into its internals. Looking down the chute at the bottom of the green bean hopper I spotted what appeared to be mold. So to get a better view I pulled the hopper/vent pipe assembly off.

Hhhhmmm.........I suspect Ive just discovered why the roaster was originally sold! The first pic is of the bean chute/vent pipe assembly looking at it from the drum side. It was indeed mold in there and not just mold but a whole bunch of baked on chaff residue. So much so that it was totally blocking the pipe. Unfortunately due to the angle the pic was taken from you dont really see the area where the pipe connects to the chute. The 2nd pic is about a third of the crud I scrapped out of the chute/pipe area with a AA battery included for scale. The initial large pieces I scraped straight into the garbage.





With all the crud in there there was no air flow through the pipe and hence no chaff or smoke removal, plus the bean dump flap couldnt close all the way which would make for obvious air leak problems.
I can see why the guy I bought it from never put it into production. The first time he plugged it in and did up a roast smoke probably poured from every nook and cranny of it due to the blocked vent pipe!

Heres a couple of pics of the same area cleaned up and almost ready to go back on. Most of the crud was removed by physically scrapping it out with various screw drivers. Chemicals and brushes were used to remove the rest. In the first pic the hopper dump flap is in the open position and in the 2nd it is in the closed position. On the right side you get a better view of the pipe opening and the plate in front of it. The assembly is upside-down for ease of working on.





These next two pics show the entire hopper/pipe assembly, once again upside-down, off of the roaster in a front and then rear view.





Heres the front of the roaster (before cleaning) with the hopper/pipe assembly off:



This next pic shows the interior of the front portion of the roaster under the cooling pan. The opening on the bottom right of the interior is the exhaust vent.



Time for another break here so Ill let yall read and absorb this while I give my hand a rest here. Back later with more!


Java "Crud be gone!" phile

[Javaphile]

Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof

The saga continues:

Once I finished up with the hopper/pipe assembly I pulled the discharge door off and spent several hours cleaning it up. When the vent pipe got blocked (presumably) smoke started venting out around the discharge door and accumulating on the top of the door and on the drums central shaft bearing housing (the area circled in green). Debris also built up on the inside lip of the door which prevented it from sealing tightly no doubt making matters even worse. I cleaned off all the built up hard caked oil and smoke residue on the outside and all the debris off the inside lip of the door (leaving the rest of the seasoning in place) as well as cleaning the glass.

Next I tackled the tryer opening/tube (circled in blue) as it had so much chaff debris built up in it you had to struggle to get the tryer out and back in. The Dremel with a wire brush made quick work of that. I then cleaned up the tryer itself and the solid tryer plug. They both now slide in and out of the opening very easily with no more binding.

I cleaned up what appeared to be baked on oil on the left main bolt (circled in yellow). How the oil came to be on that bolt I havent a clue. Maybe some was accidentally brushed on there at some point and it baked on. The baked on oil was only on the outermost part of the bolt head, clearly it didnt get there from a leaky drum/roast chamber.

Next up on the hit parade was the area where the hopper/pipe assembly attaches (the yellow rectangle) which cleaned up quickly and easily.

At that point my hand was letting me know that it had reached its limit of abuse for the day (Its still in the splint/cast) and so I stopped.

The area circled in pink is a sight glass for viewing the heating element. The roaster uses one long element that snakes its way back and forth around the lower half of the drum. Just in from that sight glass is one of its bends. The inside of the sight glass is heavily smoked over (once again presumably from the blocked pipe). First up tomorrow is to try and clean this glass off with-out resorting to a complete disassembly of the drum housing. There is a heat shield partially blocking access to it on the inside but I think I can get to it with a Q-tip. First Ill try some alcohol and if that doesnt work then Ill move up to some backflush detergent or 409.

While cleaning the heating element sight glass Ill also clean the rest of the compartment where the element is which should only take a few minutes and then Ill move onto the last big item. Cleaning the fan/impeller blades. As the fan doesnt easily come out Im going to try to clean them in situ. At first glance this looks like it will be possible, as long as I dont have to do any really hard scrubbing.

Once the fan is done the only things left to do will be to finish up the cleaning of the exterior (mostly done already) and the cooling pan. Because the cooling pan is heavy gauge stainless and removable that should go relatively quickly as I can use full size tools on it if need be. Then its a simple matter of putting everything back together.

Then it can all sit while I make its new home.

I think at least initially Ill simply use the Gothots exhaust hose for it and put the Primo on top of a heavy duty bookcase thats already in place. The big thing will be running a new 120V/20A circuit to the area that will be dedicated to the Primo.



As it only takes one hand I gave a shot at cleaning the heating element sight glass. Alcohol, as expected, didnt do diddly, but the backflush detergent worked like a charm. The sight glass is once again clear like uuummmm....glass! : ;D

A day passes

Two more areas down!

/me puts a check next to Heating Chamber and Chaff Collector

As expected these areas cleaned up relatively easily. The only hard part was getting into some hard to reach areas.

My main concern in the heating chamber was to make sure all debris and oils were removed as a fire prevention measure. I only lightly scrubbed the surfaces with a nylon scrubbing pad as I didnt want to ruin the protective paint/powder coating/enamel. The small bit of carbonized stuff left behind is no fire hazard and is not visible from the outside so I let it be.

This pic is a general shot of the heating chamber before cleaning.



This one shows the positioning of the heating element.



Here we have the heating chamber after cleaning.



This is looking upwards in the drive chain housing area showing the axle mounting for the drum.



This is the same area cleaned.



Here we have the dirty chaff collector and top plate. Id already cleaned most of the top plate before this pic was taken. The main area left to be cleaned is around the mid-sized hole on the upper right which is where the pipe from the chute/pipe assembly passes through the plate.



And the same area cleaned up. There were a few dings on the top plate by the smaller holes but otherwise it cleaned up nicely. There were a few areas in the chaff collector that would not easily clean up (Mold perhaps?) so rather than ruin the protective coating I let them be. I have not yet cleaned inside the exhaust pipe as that will just get dirty again when I clean the fan/impeller.



These next two pics show the upper angle areas of the chaff collector with the 2nd one also showing the lower part of the Watlow controller.






Java "Starting to look purty!" phile

[GregWormald]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

Thats starting to look like its had only light use--great job!

Please keep the pics coming, Im finding it fascinating. I can watch other people work for hours. :

Greg

[A_M]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

Thats starting to look like its had only light use--great job!

Please keep the pics coming, Im finding it fascinating. I can watch other people work for hours. :

Greg

I agree...  AND I can do it here and not get in to so much trouble...

When I watch my wife work and offer comment / advice - I get it between the eyes.. Go figure ???

[newbiesnob]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

Spectacular job, keep the installments coming please!

[Javaphile]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

Thats starting to look like its had only light use--great job!

From the amount of chaff and carbon build-up in the tryer, the drum ventilation piping, the exhaust system, and various other places it appears to have gotten pretty heavy usage. I think the ability for it to clean up so nicely is a tribute to the quality of the materials used in its construction, and the careful application of elbow grease.

Next up on the hit parade was to tackle what promised to be one of the tougher jobs. Cleaning the exhaust system. As expected it turned out to be quite a job, taking over 7 hours to complete.

I started by giving the fan and its mounting a good inspection and came to the conclusion that in order to do a good job of cleaning it I would have to remove it from the roaster. Fortunately this turned out to be pretty easy with only one problem, which well get to later. In order to get the fan assembly out the 2 panels on the back of the roaster had to come off. The panels came off very easily and with them off I had full access to the chain housing area so I could clean in the all the little nooks and crannies that I was unable to reach before. Once the panels were removed there was only one bolt holding the fan assembly in place.

Here we have the rear of the roaster with the 2 panels and the fan assembly removed with the area ready for cleaning.



Here we have the motor area with the exhaust assembly removed. Some vacuuming had previously been done of this area but as yet no detail cleaning had been performed.



Here we have the removed exhaust fan assembly.



Looking down the exhaust pipe from the exhaust side.



A close-up showing all the crud that had built up in the impeller housing and on the impeller itself.



The fan assembly broke apart into its various components with no problems and I was able to access all the nooks and crannies of it to give it a thorough scrubbing, which it badly needed! Chaff dust had built up everywhere and the inside of the exhaust pipe and the bottom of the impeller housing had a thick layer of baked on chaff. The dust came off very easily but the baked on smoke/oil and chaff was a different story.

Here is a shot of the rear of the roaster with the two panels and fan assembly removed after cleaning.



Heres a bit of a close-up of the chain housing area with the back panel removed after cleaning.



These next two are of the motor housing area with-out the fan assembly after cleaning.





Cleaning off all the baked on chaff in the impeller housing scuffed up the nice finish on the paint/dry powder coating, as you can see in this pic. Its not as bad as it appears in the pic but theres definite scuffing of it unlike other areas where they cleaned up with no damage to the coating at all.



Here is an external view of the impeller housing after cleaning. The (rigid) flap on the left of it is where the flexible pipe ends up. You can see an area where the coating is burnt enough that to remove the carbon would mean removal of the coating as well.



The cleaned exhaust pipe.



Two shots of the cleaned up fan motor.





Here is the cleaned impeller. Cleaning this was a major project with all the different surfaces all of which had baked on smoke/oils and chaff residue. Plus every edge and corner were very sharp and looking to make you pay for disturbing its rest! The Dremel  (Thank you kiddo!) once again came in very handy!



Here we have all the freshly cleaned parts reassembled and ready to go back into the roaster.



A shot looking down the exhaust pipe after reassembly. Just a bit different looking than the same view a few pics up hey?



The motor area with the fan assembly back in place. Everything all nice and shiny and looking new!



Here we have a view into the motor housing area from the left side of the roaster along with the interior of the wiring box. Theres a panel that is held in place with 4 bolts which you can remove to access the interior of the wiring box. Here you cansee the various protective fuses and the solid state relay used in conjunction with the Watlow Controller.



Removing the fan assembly I came across the only problem with the construction of the roaster that Ive found to date. The power leads to the fan motor are so short that its a real b!tch to disconnect them and an even bigger one to reconnect them as theres only room for one hand in there! There were a few blue words spoken as I worked on them let me tell you! Even with the left side panel removed there is no easy access to these leads. For easy access you have to remove the drum motor or the capacitor.  Simply making the leads a few inches longer would have made life much easier! If I had any high temp wire sitting around here I would have made some extensions for them. Ah well, the next time I have to pull the fan for cleaning Ill be sure to have some on hand!

All in all I must say that so far I am very impressed with the build quality. Everything is solidly built using heavy duty materials with no signs of cheapness anywhere in it that I can see. Almost there! Just a few parts left to clean and the it can all be reassembled!


Java "All excited" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

WooHoo!!! It was a long night but in the end well worth it.

First up in the picture box is the bright and shiny, looking brand new, fresh from the cleaners cooling pan. Amazing what power tools and elbow grease will do!



Here we have the little beauty all reassembled and ready to roast!



And now a test power up to make sure everything got reconnected properly!



And we have heat!



And heater off. The Watlow is working!



And now tis time to move it to its new home to be. At least for a while.


Java "Next up, first roast!" phile

[Epic76]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

Simply outstanding!

[Paolo]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

Javaphile....you have done a FABULOUS job reclaiming your new babys lost looks. From my computer screen it looks like a NEW roaster!!!!
WELL DONE!!!!

But now the acid test.....how does it ROAST????

[redzone121]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

Now even more jealous. Absolutlely awesome work

[shawty]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

What a fantastic piece of equipment... it looks like a piece of art.

Hope it works as good as it looks.

[mrseca]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

My goodness, that machine if a work of art.
There would be nothing more enjoyable than getting such a dirty machine and bringing it up to that standard.

Top work to you.
Also super jealous!!!

Mrseca

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

If the fellow that sold it to you sees this thread he will be kicking himself for letting it go

Just a clean was needed
You took the risk and you came out on top ;D

KK

[newbiesnob]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

That is truly amazing, it looks brand new! Go the Dremel! I think I need a Dremel!
Looking forward to the taste test installment 8-)

[Javaphile]

Re: Javas new roaster and the refurbing thereof-Renamed from: Its just a little crate....or is it?!

Thank you one and all for the compliments. I must say Ive been very impressed with how well its cleaned up myself. A little care and careful polishing and it came out shining bright. A real testament to the build quality. A real industrially built roaster. A far cry from some the other other models Ive seen out there. And now onto the continuation of the telling of the tale!

After taking a break and recovering a bit I ran the new dedicated 20 amp circuit for the Primo, set up a heavy duty bookcase to hold it (at least temporarily), and got a friend to give me a hand moving it into its new home. Where-upon I swapped the exhaust vent over from the Gothot to the Primo, plugged it in, grabbed some beans, and fired it up!

Here we have a close-up of the 2 pounds of Colombian ready to be sacrificed to the Roaster gods.



A wider angle view of the roaster heating up getting ready for the first roast in half a decade!



Upon first powering it up I left the Watlow in automatic mode and put a stopwatch on it to see how fast it warmed up. It took 9 minutes to increase 100F (Ill have to look at its settings tomorrow to see what its set too). So once it hit 300F I dumped the 2 lbs of Colombian I had sitting in the hopper and turned the controller to manual mode and set it at 100%.

It quickly became obvious why they had the solid plug to swap with the tryer. The beans movement in the drum pushed the tryer around and partially out of its opening. Plus the beans would not/could not dump out of it when you pulled a sample. Clearly the solid plug is to be in place while roasting with the tryer used only when you wish to pull a sample with the beans in the sample either being tossed or dumped back in via the hopper.

Here we have the first batch in the drum shortly after they were dropped.



The roaster had enough power/heat to bring all 3: 2 lbs batches I did to first crack in 12-14 minutes. The varieties were a Colombian, an El Salvadorian, and a Costa Rican Tarrazu. In all 3 cases there was an 18F over-run. i.e. The temp of the beans increased a further 18F when the heat was turned off at the beginning of 1st crack. The Colombian hit 1st crack at 368F, The El Salvadorian at 397F and the Tarrazu at 394F. The first 2 batches were planned throw aways. By the 3rd batch I had a better idea of what was happening with the heat rise and was able to produce a pretty nice batch taken to the start of rolling 2nd.

The roaster is extremely quiet. My cooling bucket with its 5 inch computer fan is louder than the roaster! First and Second crack were both audible over the noise of the roaster running. On the down side it is clear that I will have to get an external chaff collector. The fan in the Primo just didnt have the power to overcome the resistance of the venting and provide adequate chaff removal or bean cooling. With-out a vent hooked to it I think it would be OK, but a bit slower on the cooling side than Id like to see. Another added bonus of an external chaff collector with speed/airflow control would be to help cool down the drum/roasting chamber at the end of a batch. It has a lot of latent heat and takes a long time to cool down even 100F.

All-in-all a very capable little roaster it seems that with the addition of an external chaff collector will do pretty much anything you want.

A bit dirtier than an hour previously but a very happy camper!



And finally we have the first keeper batch of beans, Costa Rican Tarrazu taken to CS8-9 and smelling really good! In my rush to roast Id forgotten Id run out of my coffee bags so I made do with a Ziplok.



So now the hunt for an external chaff collector begins!


Java "Happy Roaster" phile