BobbyS wrote:

Oh yeah, almost forgot. I tested the strength of all of it when rolling it from my garage to the back yard I rolled a wheel off the sidewalk. Yup, it flipped over. I was able to slow the fall but didn't try to hold it off as this thing is heavy. Luckily my neighbor was home and helped me right it up.

Looked it over and ran it, everything was fine. What surprised me is it didn't separate from the stand as it just sits on the angle iron top. It is very close tolerance though and I suppose that kept it on the cart.

oldgrumpus wrote:



SOOO glad it all turned out OK! What a disappointment it would have been if it had been damaged! I've been learning a lot from your photos and choices for your components. So happy you're here on the forum!

Stew wrote:

Nicely done!!!
Can you describe what we are looking at inside your panel?
How are you getting the drum rpm to display as rpm? I have been using voltage, I know what voltage is for what speed but it would be much nicer to actually display rpm.

Stew wrote:

That?s interesting. I?ve been thinking about why that might happen and if that could be leveraged to your advantage. Do you have a way of monitoring air flow? Would be cool to know if it is actually increasing the flow through the drum or just increasing the temp. How much did you increase the RPM to get this effect? What comes to mind is the affect that would have just after 1C on a crashy bean?

baldheadracing wrote:

Perhaps the vanes in your drum are acting as a little bit of a fan? I've heard that happens in some roasters when they are empty.

I put an airflow monitor on my roaster (a Phidget 1136). I'm not really sure what to do with what I'm seeing, except it is nice to record any airflow adjustments I make during a roast. If you want a gauge, used Dwyer Magnehelics are readily found on eBay ...

homeroaster wrote:

This roaster is awesome. I love the workmanship and the thought you put into it.

BobbyS wrote:

Interesting thing I found out about heat in my drum roaster. I have perforated steel as the back of the drum and pull air through in the normal way with a blower.

What I stumbled onto today while preheating for roasting is drum RPM vs temp. On my roaster, drum RPM controls heat through the drum to a certain amount. I am thinking at a higher RPM the holes in the perf steel on the back of the drum become more "open looking" to the heated air going through than when slower.

As the drum ET goes up, to a certain temp, the temp will level off and I can speed the drum up a bit and the heat will then again rise until it levels off.

I find it interesting that I can keep increasing drum RPM and increase heat inside the drum as well at the same gas setting.

homeroaster wrote:


My roaster is much less sophisticated, but when I went from a 32 RPM Motor to a 59, the Roasting time decreased. I just assumed I was adding more energy in the form of agitation, which aided in the process of heat transfer.