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Skywalker, the ALM chinese one pound roaster
billsey
Looks like it's a branded version, that's not the ITOP logo on the front. I'd guess it's otherwise identical.
 
kazozero

Quote

billsey wrote:

Looks like it's a branded version, that's not the ITOP logo on the front. I'd guess it's otherwise identical.


Ya. Seem like another company took the oem and rebranding in white colour. Too bad, they still don’t package with artisan or ‘artisan like’ features

Now I’m trying to get Arduino to make my own. Try to follow the guide in this forum.
 
renatoa
ITOP does not mean genuine, is just one of the sellers, they are more quoted than other as first on Alibaba with this machine.
Later having claims they will issue their own improved version, but there is no evidence they are equipment manufacturers.
 
billsey
So I got low enough on coffee that today was the day to roast a new batch so I could have some for next week. Rolled the ITOP into the kitchen, plugged it in and the display shows an E1 code. :( I've sent the ITOP store a message and will do one more batch with the Behmor. I'm not going to open it up until I hear from them, I expect there is a wire loose rather than a bad sensor, but I've been wrong before...
 
renatoa
A somewhat new model popped up in searches on Aliexpress, exhibiting some notable news/changes:
- first time clear info about manufacturer:

Quote

Richy (Foshan) Industries and Investments Co., Ltd established in 2007 with 16 years experience in coffee and water related products.
Foshan Akimita Household Appliances Co.,Ltd belong to Richy's OEM/ODM manufacturer of coffee equipments.


- patents claims... but without evidence, just some certificate pictures small enough to be illegible.

- a redesigned, more streamlined beans loading chute, but still without the ability to accommodate a full load, like a hopper.

- a CGI of power board, without any evidence of an improvement of the main issue we all know.

- a drawing showing a back to back production style roasting that seems very strange for me... claiming that you can preheat machine for next roast, while cooling the actual roasted batch... crazy !
See attached image.

... and a lot of pictures from inside the manufacturing facility.

https://vi.aliexp...49408.html
~~~
renatoa attached the following image:
image_2024-06-10_160907218.png
 
billsey
That link shows up for me as "no longer available" and at over $600 with shipping to the USA.
 
renatoa
Big Brother... Shock

For my area, eastern EU, shipping is about $100, could be a regional warehouse, not mainland.
 
Dan N
Last week's roast didn't have the usual 1 completely charred bean that got stuck somewhere.. I thought that was a good thing, maybe it doesn't always happen. WRONG, it's a very bad thing!

This week after dumping the roast I had 1 bean ON FIRE in the cooling tray. I used the metal scoop to toss it onto the concrete floor and it broke open. It was glowing bright red all the way through like a piece of charcoal. I think that bean got stuck last week and turned into charcoal, then this week it was still stuck and caught on fire.

I'd really like to know where these beans keep getting stuck and fix it before causing major damage.
 
billsey
I've had a couple of roasts with a small handful of very blackened beans in each. I haven't tried taking things apart to remove stuck beans yet, but IIRC there were posts about issues with the clearance between the drum and the front of the roaster that could cause beans to get stuck. Someone was doing some shimming on the bearing to hold it fully forward, I believe.
 
HarryDog
I think we have a few issues.
1. One person showed a pic of a bean on fire atop the lamp.
I think a wider slightly higher peak lamp cover could stop that.

2. Beans are allowed to pool in the front of the roaster, about 1/2 inch space on 2 fins one is slightly closer.
Not sure if all this space is required?

3. I have seen beans stay on the front panel, I think this is causing facing issues.
Would a couple of vertical bumps stop this?

Some beans get stuck in the Drum, not so many to worry about?
 
renatoa
Those who did the bean chute opening mod from this post: https://homeroast...post_78302
...have noticed how much area is the lamp in the path of the beans loading flow... almost half of the beans flows on top of the lamp.
The attached image tells the whole story.

My take on this issue would be to build a baffle, from a small piece of tin, to force the entire stream of beans to flow to the left side, bypassing the lamp.
The simplest way to do this is to make a copy of the loading door piece, from tin or cardboard plated with Alu tape, that has an opening only on the left half side.
~~~
renatoa attached the following image:
img-3494.jpg
 
billsey
Might be better to put a V baffle in to split the beans to both right and left, so you still get close to the same total bean flow. I don't seem to have any issue with the stock opening at 12oz of beans.
 
renatoa
Not even one charcoal bean every roast ?
 
billsey
I do get a few charcoal, though not every roast. I assume they get stuck on the edge of the drum. I thought the issue with the chute was not being able to get beans in fast enough without overflowing...
 
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