roaster control widget

[milowebailey]

So I was following a rabbit trail from BoldJava and happened upon a home roasting forum where they were talking about a new widget (fancy name for a microcontroller) called a arduino.  I had never hear of this widget so I started doing some research.  It's pretty much an I/O controller that has 16 digital and 8 analog I/O's for about $30.... simple to program and open source code...

About 5 years ago I had an alpenrost which I build a new control board so I could change the roast profile.  It worked ok, but I had to burn a new EPROM (memory chip) whenever I wanted to change the profile.  My re-design was better than the original but still too much work.  I always wanted something I could hook my laptop to and reprogram... the arduino is such a widget.

So this arduino is like a PID, but way more generic and linux-like in the open source coding.  In fact they have PID code written for it.

So I ordered one this week.  My new quest is to design a new controller for the twins.... what twins you say... well.  My old sonofresco and the new one sir TEX just scored me in Houston :wav:... that's why I wanted the additional sonofresco... one to roast on and one to redesign...

since I've owned the sonofresco that's the only part I've never liked.... the limited selection of roast profiles...

the new widget (arduino) has a USB interface so I plan to develop a software interface so you can program any profile into the sonofresco... imagine a fully programmable sample roaster...

Wish me luck... offer some advise.... name the twins (Jeckle and hyde are taken).

[mp]

Hey Milo ... that sounds great! 

Well ... if you can do it for the Sonofresco why could you not port it to any other roaster out there on the market?  You can start work on the Sonofresco and adapt this technology to all home roasters out there.  You could offer mod kits with instructions or offer to do the work on the other roasters (for a fee of course).  Imagine the power of a professional roaster in a home model.

You go Milo!!!

 :wav:

[milowebailey]

Imagine the power of a professional roaster in a home model.

exactly... get your I-roast for $179.... and the controller for an additional $250....

So I'm an engineer not a marketing guy... but for the mid end folks.... $250 might not be a bad deal for an add-on to say a hottop, sonofresco, or say a IR-3...

[peter]

Wish me luck... offer some advise.... name the twins (Jeckle and hyde are taken).

You've heard of Son of Frankenstein.  Now we have Son of Fresco.  <groan>

[J.Jirehs Roaster]

well.. how much more would it be $30 for widget plus ? I have laptop, relay that I use with my PID and thermal couples.... to replace the PID in the electronic chain?? 

My problem with the PID is I have yet to get it to not blast past a set temp on manual profiling and when I program it to run a set of ramp holds it starts changing the target temp on its own???

my goal is to have plug and play PID or milowwidget set up that I can plug a hot air popper or turbo oven or ? into and light it up, the principle is the same just turning a different heater off and on at the same temp..

[Dante]

Larry, I'm with you on this! I love my Sonofresco but the limited tweakability of the roast profiles puts me off a very tiny bit about the machine. If you can develop something that will make the Sonofresco as responsive to user control as the Hottop, for example, then that would be really cool!

[mp]

exactly... get your I-roast for $179.... and the controller for an additional $250....

So I'm an engineer not a marketing guy... but for the mid end folks.... $250 might not be a bad deal for an add-on to say a hottop, sonofresco, or say a IR-3...

Hmmm ... I was thinking smaller capacity like the FreshRoast 8 Plus ... $100 roaster with $200 controller to have more and better profiling than the Hottop!  Maybe instruction kit for installation to air poppers.  The possibilities are endless!

 

[milowebailey]

Both of you's guys..... we all know what we want... and JJ you are absolutely correct... there are 2 or 3 variables...

1) heat control
2) heat sensing (this is the critical part... I think)
3) some sort of blower... maybe (sonofresco has one... alpenrost had one)

I like the milowidget because it has the USB interface... that was the part with my alpenrost that I couldn't do easily... and I haven't really done a lot of circuit design in about ....... 18 years (when I was in grade school)

but I think the software side will be fun to tinker with....

JJ.... I'm thinkin... under $50 in parts for you....the software should be the same....

Dante... the widget can either be programmed or controlled via a USB, so an infinite # of profiles are possible.

[milowebailey]

exactly... get your I-roast for $179.... and the controller for an additional $250....

So I'm an engineer not a marketing guy... but for the mid end folks.... $250 might not be a bad deal for an add-on to say a hottop, sonofresco, or say a IR-3...

Hmmm ... I was thinking smaller capacity like the FreshRoast 8 Plus ... $100 roaster with $200 controller to have more and better profiling than the Hottop!  Maybe instruction kit for installation to air poppers.  The possibilities are endless!

 

Imagine a digital air popper for under $100 including the popper :headbang:

[mp]

exactly... get your I-roast for $179.... and the controller for an additional $250....

So I'm an engineer not a marketing guy... but for the mid end folks.... $250 might not be a bad deal for an add-on to say a hottop, sonofresco, or say a IR-3...

Hmmm ... I was thinking smaller capacity like the FreshRoast 8 Plus ... $100 roaster with $200 controller to have more and better profiling than the Hottop!  Maybe instruction kit for installation to air poppers.  The possibilities are endless!

 

Imagine a digital air popper for under $100 including the popper :headbang:

Yes ... that would be the bomb!

 :icon_thumleft:

[milowebailey]

exactly... get your I-roast for $179.... and the controller for an additional $250....

So I'm an engineer not a marketing guy... but for the mid end folks.... $250 might not be a bad deal for an add-on to say a hottop, sonofresco, or say a IR-3...

Hmmm ... I was thinking smaller capacity like the FreshRoast 8 Plus ... $100 roaster with $200 controller to have more and better profiling than the Hottop!  Maybe instruction kit for installation to air poppers.  The possibilities are endless!

 

Imagine a digital air popper for under $100 including the popper :headbang:

Yes ... that would be the bomb!

 :icon_thumleft:

The cool part is you wouldn't even need a computer to program it if you got one pre-programmed....  it would definitely have some limitations that way but still as good as the current sonofresco...

[mp]

The cool part is you wouldn't even need a computer to program it if you got one pre-programmed....  it would definitely have some limitations that way but still as good as the current sonofresco...

For a kit that would probably be the way to go.  The simpler for the end user the better.

 

[J.Jirehs Roaster]

I think GCBC member ira could be helpful in this dream BehmorThing program

thinking of database of roasts and after a while you have stock starting point roast profiles (SSPRP) for each coffee region or even crop you pull up the notes from last years Harrar and up load the data to the milowidget pour in some beans and just push play...

[grinderz]

If the program developed to control the widget could use/store profile data in XML format, we could even develop a web service which could allow people to share their favorite roast profiles by posting them to a web site.

[milowebailey]

1) heat control
2) heat sensing (this is the critical part... I think)
3) some sort of blower... maybe (sonofresco has one... alpenrost had one)

I assume the Arduino has some way to talk SPI, a Maxim MAX6675 would be an easy way to get temperature input. It's likely not the best but it repeats well which is really what you need. It's $7 or so which is absurd, but it solves the problem with 1 chip.

Ira

Ira

I'm going to use an AD595 ($11) and thermocouple ($10) to get the temp.  There is a fair amount of code written for the AD595 for the Arduino so it should be easy to breadboard and test.  I'm hoping to start reading temp next week on my current Sonofresco and start seeing how they really programmed the ramp... once I get an idea of how they control the heat now... then it's just developing a few heat control subroutines, a little re-wire and I should have it...

BTW I'm using som solid state relays ($4 ea) for the blower and  the heater.... simple... one could always add another relay for the drum motor if the roaster has one...

I will keep folks updated on the progress.