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Thanks for the comments and encouragement! I only get bits of time to work on this on weekends, so it may go a little slower than I like.

Regarding the colander capacity... Since my stock pot is significantly deeper than the colander, I don't see why I couldn't rivet on some perforated s/s/sheeting around the lip to make it a higher capacity. I would love to get it to 1 kg, just so one could compare it with the commercial 1 kg roasters out there.

renatoa: The colander/roasting drum is positioned on the threaded rod/shaft so that it is VERY close to the underside of the lid. Closer than the smallest green bean diameter, so as not to lose any. The step I am working on now is to make the front shaft support for the colander/roasting drum. It will use three 8-32 brass threaded rods that will screw into every other face of a s/s threaded connector (that has been drilled and tapped 8-32 in every other face of the hex). That will give support to the open end of the colander every 120 degrees.

Also, I got an 11x14" piece of plexiglass. This is going to serve as a transparent "lid" for me to see how the beans toss when I make & place my stir paddles, and also to hopefully fine tune the RPM needed for efficient agitation. Note: The 11x14" does not cover the whole stock pot, but it doesn't have to... it just needs to cover the colander/drum. The shaft and bearing will be temporarily affixed to the plexiglas during this part of the testing.

Another design feature that I am considering (since I have the room around the drum/colander) is to incorporate another wrap of s/s/ mesh or perforated sheeting to make it a pseudo-double-wall drum. Besides moderating any hot spots, I'm hoping that it would serve as a sort of flame arrest feature also. More pics when I get to the point of assembly on this.

Does anyone have any tips on constructing a trier port to bolt onto the lid?

I'm also going to be curious about the hardware needed to hold my cheap thermocouples through the S/S, when I get to that point.