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Yet another Coffee Roaster restoration project

Mick

Mick

Jim said:
Mick were you able to salvage all the relays and wiring? Looks fantastic!
Click to expand...

All was fine except for the heater rheostats which were replacements (not correct and not HD enough so burned up... they were light fixture dimmers and not up to the 14 amp X 2 draw of the heating elements).

I've ordered an 80 amp 10kw rheostat that is 220V but I can feed 220 in and take both lines out separately to each heater (110). That one should be MORE than HD enough to get the roaster started using manual controls I am hoping to get some thermocouples into the face of the roaster for BT (bean mass temp) and ET (roasting basket ambient temp), then feed these to another Artisan interface board like I did on my hottop roaster.

I don't want to canalize the hottop as it works so nicely so I need another set of cards and a housing for the new "bits"
 
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Jim

Jim

turtle said:
All was fine except for the heater rheostats which were replacements (not correct and not HD enough so burned up... they were light fixture dimmers and not up to the 14 amp X 2 draw of the heating elements).

I've ordered an 80 amp 10kw rheostat that is 220V but I can feed 220 in and take both lines out separately to each heater (110). That one should be MORE than HD enough to get the roaster started using manual controls I am hoping to get some thermocouples into the face of the roaster for BT (bean mass temp) and ET (roasting basket ambient temp), then feed these to another Artisan interface board like I did on my hottop roaster.

I don't want to canalize the hottop as it works so nicely so I need another set of cards and a housing for the new "bits"
Click to expand...

Outstanding plan! Keep us updated.
 
Mick

Mick

The repaired roasting chamber came back a few days ago so today I started in on the wiring of the new burners.

I can say that the welds on the repaired chamber are something else. I doubt I could find someone who would do 1/10 as good a job as the folks at San Franciscan did on this repair

Things are starting to move forward.

The returned/repaired roasting chamber

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The two 1,000 watt burners.

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Hooked up to the 40kw controller

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ltjaw

ltjaw

I'm so glad to see you restoring one of these, Mick. Ever since I saw an SF-1 at a local roaster a year ago, I have been planning to replace my Hottop with one (when the Hottop dies). The roasters described the SF-1 as "the heart and soul" of their operation.
 
Mick

Mick

gearchow said:
I just looked the SF-1 up and they show it uses gas?

-jim
Click to expand...

The current models are only available in Natural gas or Propane. This is an early 1 pound batch roaster that the founder of the company made on special request. He made 4 of them from what I have been able to find out so it is not easy going back and making it work again as I have no info to go on and I am having to "reinvent the wheel" to get the burners running the way I want them to run. The current owners of the company have not seen one of these and they have no records on it to help me out with so I am on my own :sad:

I can toss in the towel any time and switch it over to gas as the basic carcass is the same (has the stand offs for the gas burners already in the machine).

I really want to get this working on electric as I want to keep it portable and I don't want to mess with hooking up gas lines every time I want to roast. MUCH easier to plug in and start toasting.

ltjaw said:
I'm so glad to see you restoring one of these, Mick. Ever since I saw an SF-1 at a local roaster a year ago, I have been planning to replace my Hottop with one (when the Hottop dies). The roasters described the SF-1 as "the heart and soul" of their operation.
Click to expand...

Fighting with the burner controls now.

The burners are not doing what I want them to do so I'm going to try another way of controlling them.... i.e. spend more money and see if it works better <sigh>

It looks like I will have more than enough heat with the two 1,000º 1750 watt burners. I just need to "tame them" so that things do not get out of control in the burner chamber.

I've got 2 K-type thermocouples I am going to put in to monitor the roast and I'm thinking I may have to put a 3rd in the burner chamber to keep an eye on that too.

I have a feeling this is going to be a work in progress for a number of years to come.

It is a very well built roaster I just need to get it working the way I want it to work.
 
gearchow

gearchow

turtle said:
The current models are only available in Natural gas or Propane. This is an early 1 pound batch roaster that the founder of the company made on special request. He made 4 of them from what I have been able to find out so it is not easy going back and making it work again as I have no info to go on and I am having to "reinvent the wheel" to get the burners running the way I want them to run. The current owners of the company have not seen one of these and they have no records on it to help me out with so I am on my own :sad:

I can toss in the towel any time and switch it over to gas as the basic carcass is the same (has the stand offs for the gas burners already in the machine).

I really want to get this working on electric as I want to keep it portable and I don't want to mess with hooking up gas lines every time I want to roast. MUCH easier to plug in and start toasting.



Fighting with the burner controls now.

The burners are not doing what I want them to do so I'm going to try another way of controlling them.... i.e. spend more money and see if it works better <sigh>

It looks like I will have more than enough heat with the two 1,000º 1750 watt burners. I just need to "tame them" so that things do not get out of control in the burner chamber.

I've got 2 K-type thermocouples I am going to put in to monitor the roast and I'm thinking I may have to put a 3rd in the burner chamber to keep an eye on that too.

I have a feeling this is going to be a work in progress for a number of years to come.

It is a very well built roaster I just need to get it working the way I want it to work.
Click to expand...


Ah, 1 of 4 machines is an order of magnitude harder to repair I would think. I would bet that at least one of those machines had slightly different electronic guts. No wonder they don't have documentation. I got to say Mick, your idea of portable is different then mine. How many 220 outlets you got? :wink:

All electric is pretty neat, hope you can surmount the problems.

-jim
 
Mick

Mick

gearchow said:
Ah, 1 of 4 machines is an order of magnitude harder to repair I would think. I would bet that at least one of those machines had slightly different electronic guts. No wonder they don't have documentation. I got to say Mick, your idea of portable is different then mine. How many 220 outlets you got? :wink:

All electric is pretty neat, hope you can surmount the problems.

-jim
Click to expand...

I have a electric service cabinet right on the other side of the wall from where I now roast.

I put in a dedicated 110v 20 amp circuit for my Hottop roaster. I'll drill above that one and shove another conduit through the wall with a water proof 220v outlet right above the 110 that is already there. 3-4 feet of 10 gauge romex is all I am missing, Already have the breaker, the outlet and plug for the end of the roast cable which I am changing over to 10 gauge stranded welding cable

This is where I roast . You can see the outlet on the wall behind the roaster cart.

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The roasting cart comes in and out of the door behind it. That door leads into a bathroom then through into the basement where I store the roaster when it is not in use

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This is the service cabinet right behind the wall

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I will be using an industrial machinery plug and socket to connect the roaster up with. Little over kill, yea maybe, but what the hay, eh? the connectors are large copper pins about the size of a finger and it all screws together for a solid connection AND it is water proof / weather proof so it fits all of my needs for outside use. Since it is a pin socket there will be no issues with someone not knowing what goes in it in the future as NOTHING in this world will fit in that socket.

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Mick

Mick

A little switch up in plans. Decided to feed both burners with their own SSR and use an infinitely variable control unit.

Found out the main relay is toasted so waiting on another more "robust" 30amp relay to replace the toasted 10 amp one. Got the 10 gauge stranded 4 wire cord for the roaster today so maybe I can do something while I wait for the replacement relay.

This is how the SSR/heatsink and controller will look when mounted. Not enough room in the main cabinet for the controller :sad:

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Mick

Mick

gearchow said:
go big or go home!

look at all those beans stacking up - better get that roaster going! :lol:

-jim
Click to expand...

I still have the Hottop roaster. It is a bit of a pain to set up since it is not on the cart any longer. Have to drag a card table outside then carry the roaster and all of the other "bits" out in separate trips (temp meter or interface and computer, green coffee, colander, funnels, roast record pages, and other misc necessities).

I am down to close to 100# of green now as I have been roasting a couple times a week.

Jim said:
Mick is my hero!
Click to expand...

Aw gee fellas.... $hat-tip.gif
 
Mick

Mick

The restoration is progressing. A little each day.

I now have the cord and plug on. The relay connected. The fan and drum motor are hooked up. The emergency push to shut down burner switch and pilot light are mounted. More progress today than in a while.

80 amp heat sink for the SSRs is off to a machine shop to have about 1" removed so that it fits better as is the front plate of the roaster to get a 7/16 hole and 1/4" npt threading for the thermocouple.... Tried to do it free hand but the plate is too thick so need a drill press :(

Once the SSR heat sink gets cut down the last bit of wiring can be finished and I can see if this newer "idea" will fly or not.

No 250vac box on the house yet to plug it in but...

As Scarlett said... "Tomorrow is another day"

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dosco

dosco

Cool project. In one of my previous lives I worked in an engineering test lab where we used high power cartridge heaters, high pressure breathing air, pneumatic devices, etc. etc.

We had 6 SSRs for the same purpose as your roaster. To me the direction you've taken is exactly what I would have done based on my prior experience.

The welding on the box looks pretty good - if you need that sort of help in the future, take a look around for shops that perform aerospace-grade TIG welding. Looks like your box is either mild steel or stainless, which any of those shops should be able to weld with ease. You might be able to pay a small fee and then barter some coffee (or beer) for the job.

Good stuff ... I hope to see the completed project soon!

Cheers-
Dave
 
Mick

Mick

Yesterday's testing went very well until one of the SSRs went rogue on me and latched, sending full voltage to one burner.

Got another SSR on order but I am stopped until it gets here.

Glad this happened in a way as it showed me a flaw in my design as I could not shut down using the emergency switch as the failed SSR was not in the switch loop, only the controller.

SO...

A little rewiring and now the emergency shut down kills power at the main relay and is external to the rest of the electrics.

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