I was very close to buying one of these roasters 6 or so months ago. The roasters are by a gentleman named Kuanho Li. The Huky 500 is a larger / upgraded version of the original Huky 300. It has a larger 500g capacity, a redesigned chaff collection mechanism, modified drum and a welded metal pattern to evenly throw the beans inside the roasting drum. It takes Kuanho 5 days to make the roaster. In late March when I was communicating with him the roasters cost $1020 and shipping was either Express for $145 or Parcel for $108. He requires direct money wire in full before he will start making anything.
Overall I like some of the design better than others. I think it would be fairly easy to replicate the 'chaff collection' mechanism design with copper plumbing pipe. Given you have access to the proper equipment, the sheet metal work would not take a great deal of time either. I think the most time consuming job would be proper drum fabrication. I am not a huge fan of the perforated drum. I am sure the airflow through that drum is not enough to compensate for the beans being in a perforated drum just above the butane heating element. I am not quite sure how I feel about the portable ceramic butane burner as the heating source. I am a huge fan of the pre-roast 500g / 1.1lb capacity!
I think it is a well conceived roaster and Mr. Li definitely looks like a very handy person. For the price of $1165 shipped I think it is one of the best deals on the market with it being able to roast 1.1lbs at a time and it's price-point of $1128-$1165 shipped. If you can make a roaster that compares closely to this I think you would like it quite a bit!
