USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

[Andy]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

I expect that pre-modified would cause some trouble with the Australian Standards approval that the roaster has so it would only be a "use at own risk" kit.

Ive been so busy this hasnt moved forward for ages... its about due for another shove though.

[Nav]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

Just curious Andy, any plans to sell Behmors pre-modified or will this only be available in kit form?

[Luke_G]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

I would be willing to beta test at my own risk... i would even be willing to solder the kit up if i had to as my Hottop is out of action with a short in the drum motor and i cant afford to fix it

This makes my Behmor my number 1 roaster right now and funnily enough, has showed no signs of fault other than the rusty screws in the casing lol.

+1 for a kit here!

[TC]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

The interface doesnt really exist, we have the first prototype and after destruction testing will know if this is still worthwhile and at that point can move forward again.

To do this right takes money and time and I dont want to cut corners to get there faster (and get a slap for a half baked product)

Off topic comments have been filed. Andy will no doubt update us here when there are advances to report :

[Dimal]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

its been a month since the last post in here...

whats news Andy?

Andy is pretty darn busy at the moment mate, with the current Site Software Upgrade. A few bugs to sort out as well as doing everything else that goes into keeping our community ticking over - And, his young family and lovely lady to take care of. Very busy is probably an understatement...

Mal.

[ben_neufeld]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

its been a month since the last post in here...

whats news Andy?

[farmroast]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

I like this Andy.  8-)
Using a well placed ET to monitor and drive is the way to go. Controlling the MET and adjusting by the heat transfer consumption. BT is handy to have for dump point but not at all necessary . There are other ways to establish that point. Time, cracks, color, texture and smells. I exclusively use my Dreamroast but sure would like to see Behmor users to have better control and be able to communicate better with those using other roasters. Its hard to help someone who comes at you using Behmor language  P3, .5lb on 1lb max time etc. etc. I do hope you also do a 110v version.
I have done a little playing around with drum speed. I havent got to an ideal speed but did find that speeding up does help evenness and heat transfer rate maintaining a lower ET and/or being able to increase batch size. The speed needs to be offset with the chaff release and where it lands. Chaff singeing is an issue when roasting a little darker and especially for espresso. If the floor had been a little lower it would help but no easy way to do that. There are motors on ebay with pretty much the same design at different rpms. The mounts line up and only had to make a slight mod. to the shaft for the set screw. The nice thing was the gears were metal instead of plastic, helping with motor failure issues.
best,
farm

[Ash]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

Thanks for the good news Andy. I hope the destruction testing goes well. I know there are already a few eager potential customers like me out there watching this thread for updates

[WSullivan]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

There isnt anything like ive commercially available anywhere, it will sell, and sell very well, farmroast and javaphile will take it to the US for coffeesnobs (lets hope), just make a model for 110V and bobs your aunty!

[Dean_Bean]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

FWIW I started roasting 6 months ago for the first time, starting with the Behmor. Already, the need/want to start seeing and controlling temp, ramp rates etc is starting to drive me to start revisiting a coretto setup. Ill happily wait and shell out for one of these for sure!

BTW if this is USB driven, these could be sold quite comfortably to anyone in the world, no? A whole other layer of process to manage international shipping and transactions, Im sure, but a much bigger audience to potentially sell to?

[WSullivan]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

beauty Andy, thanks for the updates, im sure you will sell quite a few of them if it gets to production, and ill be first in line, of that you can be certain! best of luck mate

[Andy]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

any ball parks on cost?

Under a million for sure!

The real answer depends on how many we can sell to offset the design, prototype and production costs but the aim is well under the replacement cost of the roaster (for interface and Datalogger), and obviously cheaper if you already own a Datalogger as you will just need the interface.

If we knew we could sell 1000 of them in a month then the price would be very low, if we sold 10 of them in a year then they would cost about the same as 4 roasters for each kit.


...but all thats just fluff. The interface doesnt really exist, we have the first prototype and after destruction testing will know if this is still worthwhile and at that point can move forward again.

To do this right takes money and time and I dont want to cut corners to get there faster (and get a slap for a half baked product)

The good news is that we are still moving forward and are yet to hit a real hurdle.

[WSullivan]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

Great to hear Andy, i am so looking forward to this mod, any ball parks on cost? if it even makes the shelves that is.....i wont hold you to it...... ;D

[Andy]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

(if the probe was able to be covered)

The probe in the prototype is outside the drum, not in the beans. This isnt too much of an issue as for the same bean and the same heat application profile should yeild the same results.

so a 100g sample roast would be possible

Yep, I have done some of those too. The beauty as you worked out is that you get a larger range or control on the smaller roasts which lets you fiddle more.

An update on the progress. We are about to do some destruction testing, running the board for long periods of time with some Roast Monitor logging to see if we can kill the components. This will give me a better idea what the warranty impact (if any) will be on the roaster.

So things are still moving forward.
8-)

[WSullivan]

Re: USB Behmor - driven by Roast Monitor / Roast Controller

The fact that we will be able to truly control the roast excites me too, not only the gap from fc to sc either, the ramp to fc will be able to be changed, you could(i would imagine) lower your weights too, because the % of heat will be controlled, so a 100g sample roast would be possible (if the probe was able to be covered) you could have that 100g to 190C in 5mins....or 15 mins if you so desired, this is going to be serious fun!