SC/TO Profiles / Q&A / Tips & Tricks

[Everett]

Anyone have any updated information on the halogen Rosewill's from Newegg? I'm about to pull the trigger on 2 Suppentown SO-2000's from the manufacturers website (Just the replacement heads) for a total of $155 shipped to me in Canada. I'm only considering getting the second because shipping is only $10 more for 2 than it is for 1, and I may want to increase throughput capacity in the future.


The Halogen Jobbies are $35 each shipped to me, so if those will work, then thats the better option. I read somewhere about the evenness of the roast being not quite as good as with the normal guys.


My only local option that I have found is a Flavorwave Oven Turbo from Canadian tire. (3/5 for reviews, couple people had issues with bulbs burning out) the rest are 4 or 5/5. It's $124.99CAD locally for me.


Opinions?

[peter]

Opinions?

I don't know anyone who's used one, but the general consensus is they suck canal water.

[Everett]

Good Confirmation. Thanks. I have 2 SO-2000's on the way

[Everett]

Double Post!

Update: The Stir Crazy's got here last week and underwent some modification. The heater is on one plug, and the motor on another. The Stainless Steel shaft is on one of them and the motor is mounted properly instead of just sitting properly. Shaft runs pretty straight, and I haven't found the need to JB Weld or cement anything in place yet. I have switch boxes mounted on boards, that still need to be wired up.

My issue so far, is with the stirring arm, modified how I have it, the motor likes to reverse, with 1# green in there. I don't want to have to fuss around with the motor reversing all the time, and this is a project I'm not sparing many expenses on, so I suppose I will need to get a couple replacement motors and just go with that. I have read of people using power window motors from a car, and the like, but a breadmaker motor having speed control not working out good.

I would be looking for 40-60RPM for this motor Correct? I have no issues building a box under it to set the units on top of. I would very much like to get these running properly and well so I can start roasting. I am starting to have a bit of a list of people pile up that want coffee.

My other thought was to PID these with a TC4 Shield. I would like to do it, but maybe in a month or 2, gotta get em going.

Everett

[ScareYourPassenger]

My other thought was to PID these with a TC4 Shield. I would like to do it, but maybe in a month or 2, gotta get em going.

Everett

I was thinking the same thing. I might let you do the research:)

[Everett]

I've done plenty so far It's just the $100 or more extra its going to cost me at the moment. Haha

[sea330]

Drive shaft for the Stir Crazy, if anybody needs one let me know

[peter]

Drive shaft for the Stir Crazy, if anybody needs one let me know

Are you knocking these things out?  How much do you need for it?

[grinderz]

Those look perfect Sea!

[sea330]

Found me a nice little bench lathe, took me a couple of days figuring out the best way to make them, I think I got it down. takes me about an hour right now, but I think I can get it down to 30 min. I am semi retired so I have allot of extra time. When I am called out to consult I get $125.00 Per Hour, but my hobby projects I don't make anything, I just get a kick out of doing this kinda stuff. Playing with hobby coffee roasters is a hoot, the ideas are endless and always room for re inventing the wheel sorta thing. I am guessing  it would be less then $20.00. I think a guy could put a sweet little roaster together for under a $100.00. I have two of the made I will do a couple more tomorrow. Stay in touch and I will send you one to try out. Shouldn't be more then a couple of bucks to ship.
Rich

[Tex]

Besides plenty of heat and the fan, the best thing about this roaster is it's pretty much a blank slate. There are so many mods that work, and it's so simple to work on, that you can keep it as simple, or make it as complex, as you want.

What surprises me most is that no one has capitalized on the idea and built a commercial product along similar lines?

[sea330]

I agree, been working on a roaster on the SC/TO design  principal, DC motor 0 to 80 RPMs, Watlow PID temperature controller. Building up from a 12" X 6" stainless pot, had to purchase a welder to build the enclosure and fabricate 1" exit port with a damper for chaff ejection. I welded two 1/4 20 3" studs to mount the bottom heating element. Not to much more to do to start testing.
Rich

[Tex]

 Well, I've tried PIDs (four) and cascading switches in a TurboCrazy, but I figured out pretty quick that controlling heat is only part of the problem. Trying to manage roast temps using a tstat results in the power being either on or off and the deadband associated with bi-metallic mechanical tstats - not good for roast profiles where one wishes to avoid the rapid rises and declines that result.
 
 A good solution would control power to the heater and manage time. Part of how I'd do it is use a program that varied the voltage at the various stages of a roast profile, much like some of us do using variacs or router speed controls. This would let one draw out the drying stage, the caramelization stage, and the times in and around the crack stages.
 
 So it's not as simple as fabricating a mechanical device that works well enough, and safely enough, to avoid the legal pitfalls of negligence; one must also develop software that can emulate the skill of someone who's used a SC/TO for years. I don't believe it's likely that someone would buy a cobbled together roaster that still required the user to develop the skills of an experienced roaster. That's why the Behmor and Hottop are so attractive; they work right out of the box with minimal user input. Build a roaster that can compete at their price point and you might have something.

And a kit? Forget about it; lawyers would never let you distribute it in this country.

[smico]

I found that profile control implementation in RoastLogger is excellent because it follows the way I think when roasting. 
Before first crack I try to hit temperatures at certain time.  After first crack it's almost all about seconds.

Almost always roast perfectly follows temperature curves from the template.

I think that similar logic should be implemented with SC/TO.

1. Before first crack:   Power changes when at predefined temperatures

First column is temperature in Celsius, second heat, and third is fan:
@actionT1Table
100|90|10
150|20|100
152|65|20
168|85|0
180|55|30
185|65|10
188|55|15
194|45|15
null|null|null
null|null|null


2. After first crack:   Power changes at seconds after first crack

First column is seconds after FC, second heat, and third is fan:
@actionSecsFCTable
10|50|100
12|50|20
14|50|100
18|70|10
40|70|10
90|80|0
180|60|5
210|70|5
null|null|null
null|null|null

[Warrior372]

Is the Supentown SO-2000 preferred over the SO-2002? It looks like the main differences between the two are that the SO-2002 has 2 fans and a digital control over temp / time versus a knob. Opinions?