Roaster got a new gas jet

This is my first roaster improvement project on the lathe. I had started to turn an existing (cast)

4" flange into an air control shutter index, but the existing bolt circle was so far eccentric from the OD that it never got past facing, when I realized it wasn't going to work without a lot more effort than I wanted to put into it. (Next time I think about this seriously, I'll probably do it from scratch in brass plate.)

Of course, the first thing I did on the lathe was to remove the bottom of a portafilter... I'm sure it would have been quicker with a hole saw on the drill press, but there's something more satisfying about grinding a trepanning tool and doing it on the lathe.

In neither the coffee world, nor the metalworking world, would this have probably evoked more than a mild shoulder shrug... so you never heard about it, or saw pictures. ;-)

Many years ago, I made parts that ended up in reactor compartments of submarines... ground shafts to tolerances of +/-.0000" and did a lot of really amazing stuff... but what's really amazing is how much satisfaction comes from a stupid little project like this.

formatting link

Reply to
Steve Ackman
Loading thread data ...

Nice work, thanks Steve! {:-D Will you show us a pic of the new nice bright blue flame on the burner? {;-) Do you have a pic on the old yellowish flame? I posted some info almost 4 years ago. The Specific Gravity (S.G) of Propane is 1.53, Natural gas 0.60 There is a great chart & all technical info posted on my post here from Mon Jul 14, 2003:

formatting link
Craig.

Reply to
Craig Andrews

That URL on my post to the "Definitions & Technical Data for LPG, Natural Gas & LPG/Air Mixtures" is out of date., I'm going to update it on the post & here it is here:

formatting link

Reply to
Craig Andrews

On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 21:26:50 -0400, Steve Ackman wrote: but what's really amazing is how much

Good story! It *is* satisfying to make stuff that fits and works, even if it isn't "haute machining." Maybe especially when it isn't!

This evening I made a little tool to pull a pressed-on bushing off the

5mm shaft of a stepper motor without stressing the bearings. Bits of turning, threading, milling and welding, whole thing didn't take an hour and certainly isn't worth a photo. But it worked!

The steppermotor (and drive elex that I made yesterday) is intended for an automated powder trickler. This definitely does not need doing ... but it's fun. I learned some about steppermotors along the way.

Reply to
Don Foreman

Nice work. You need to build the Open Column Launch Engine mentioned on the lathe page. Then get a launch. African Queen time. Karl

Reply to
kfvorwerk

(posted to RCM only)

On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 21:26:50 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, Steve Ackman quickly quoth:

Yes, isn't the satisfaction amazing? Making something we need from wood, metal, plastic, rope, or anything else can be mighty rewarding to tool-toters like us, especially on nights/holidays/weekends and without having to pay someone an arm and a leg to do it for us.

Good call on converting the flare nut cap to a jet. Yeah, they probably gave you the wrong jets in the first place.

I miss my old DeVille stove which ran on propane. It had a chrome griddle, 4 burners (one thermostatic), an adjustable-height broiler, a flip-up glass shelf, and the oven. I think that old 1930s bastid weighed 400 lbs.

Lookin' good; clean and pure blue now!

I'm out of beans and am making the trek to the Medford COSTCO today for Seattle's Best SUMATRAN beans, the best I've ever found commercially. Mixed 50/50 with decaf, they make a great cuppa and one which never fails to get compliments here at me humble abode. My neighbor says I've spoiled her and she can't drink coffee in restaurants any more. (Nor can I. Feh!) Are you burning beans just for yourself or have you gone commercial yet?

- Metaphors Be With You -

Reply to
Larry Jaques

On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 21:26:50 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, Steve Ackman quickly quoth:

Ah, had I gone to the root dir, I'd have seen that you aren't commercial yet for roasted beans. Let me know when you are, please. I'm having trouble finding a nice dark roast which isn't also bitter. The Sumatran beans brewed very close to the perfect cup for me but I haven't tried them since the tsunamis.

I recently read _The Devil's Cup_, the hilarious journey of a coffee afficionado to find the truth about the history of the bean. It was a fun read. Pain (any pain--emotional, physical, mental) has a message. The information it has about our life can be remarkably specific, but it usually falls into one of two categories: "We would be more alive if we did more of this," and, "Life would be more lovely if we did less of that." Once we get the pain's message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away. -- Peter McWilliams, Life 101

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Thanks.

The engine is sized for a launch about 24" long... maybe. African Queen Bee, maybe.

Reply to
Steve Ackman

Larry,

It is not difficult to roast your own beans. Common DIY techniques are using a heat gun and a dog bowl and stirring with a wooden spoon, others have had great success with Popcorn poppers picked up at a thrift store for about $5.

I use a salvaged gas bar-b-que grill that I made a stainless drum that I can roast up to 5lbs at a time.

Doing it yourself lets you get coffee at it's peek of flavor. Of course once you start down this road, you tend to find most commercial offerings to be stale and of poor quality by comparison.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

Thanks.

I think the satisfaction comes when it's your problem and your solution and your implementation... instead of someone else's prints, bar stock, and machine.

Reply to
Steve Ackman

On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 13:55:52 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, "Roger Shoaf" quickly quoth:

I may have to do that after all. Those bastids at COSTCO didn't have half the items I wanted today, including NO SUMATRAN BEANS!

- Metaphors Be With You -

Reply to
Larry Jaques

You would probably love to drive into Utrecht in Holland by one of the main southern access roads, Douwe Egbert have a roasting plant there and you can smell it for a mile or more when downwind, you don't need to drink it, it's a stimulating smell.

Reply to
David Billington

Unless you are down wind while they are roasting. The smoke that comes off during roasting is similar to somebody burning a pile of half dry grass (as in lawn grass). It only smells wonderful after the coffee is roasted.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

I've been looking up orifice sizes and the roaster specs, and something doesn't fit. The one table I found with such info said that a 1/8" orifice feeding propane at 11"wc will be putting out

117,000 BTU. The OEM orifice was just over 1/8" (maybe a #30) but the roaster spec says 50,000 to 225,000 BTU for that burner. Hmmm... I'm thinking maybe the orifice was the "correct" size, but that there may be other problems that are somehow not allowing enough air to be drawn in.

An optical illusion; trick of the camera; just plain good luck on that shot. Actually it still shoots a few licks of yellow, but the photo is how I wish it would look all the time. ;-) At any rate, it's a lot better now than it was.

I can't say I have a favorite bean. I like variety too much I guess. As a general rule, I like the Africans, but even with the variety there, I still need some Central/South Americans on occasion.

Of the Indonesians, I find Papua New Guineas generally more balanced than the Sumatrans, though I really like the Sulawesis... yeah, my favorites from the region.

I don't do much decaf, but the Mexican Esmerelda Decaf isn't bad at all.

Nor can I. Diet Pepsi works in that case.

I roast for a few wholesale accounts, but the roaster is still sort of "temporarily situated" here. I need a good solid (preferably fireproof) outbuilding, or maybe a shipping container to set it up in to get going like I'd really like... hopefully later this summer.

Reply to
Steve Ackman

It's more a matter of not doing much retail due to a variety of reasons mostly having to do with ensuring freshness.

Sure thing.

Dark roasts mute the varietal characteristics that differentiate one bean from another. (Then again, dark roasts also help cover up faults.) In order to stand up to a dark roast, a bean's got to be really dense. I haven't really seen many Sumatrans that do well past a Vienna roast. IMO, taking most of them to French Roast is past their sweet spot.

It's been mentioned on alt.coffee several times. One of these days I'll get around to it. Hey, I've got a copy of "The Perfect Cup" by Tim Castle that wouldn't mind being traded for it. ;-)

Reply to
Steve Ackman

On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 20:23:53 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, Steve Ackman quickly quoth:

Yeah, they need some sort of ducting to regulate it, too.

And that's A Good Thing(tm)!

Where can I get a quick course in coffee taste evaluations? I like a full-bodied bean without the bitterness but don't know all the lingo to describe precisely what I like.

I can't handle the caffeine like I used to. I just hate to pee and pee and pee and pee from two cups of coffee AFTER the fibrillations stop.

I take bottled water, TYVM. (No chlorine, please.)

Let me know, eh?

- Metaphors Be With You -

Reply to
Larry Jaques

On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 21:09:06 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, Steve Ackman quickly quoth:

I wish I had some Seattle's Best for you to try. Hmm, on their website, it says "light to medium roast" for the whole bean Sumatrans. Maybe it was Seattle Mountain Grown coffee, but I thought it was a dark roast. It was a very dark looking bean, that's for sure, and at $9.50 for 3 pounds (when I first started buying it, now $13), it was a great value.

I wonder if I could rig up a roaster from an HF weed burner... I almost bought one today.

Sorry, it was a loaner from the library.

- Metaphors Be With You -

Reply to
Larry Jaques

xx?}SÑN1|ÏWl_@BÇõ @@PÕ6?J+©?½?óyó^Óü}×Nh£¦å??ûà;?Îáó?&p2??'Ów8®ÆUUÀ#ã?;?*?®Ý??°Û??ãù§ÙcÉ+òD!jªkÄRS{°ä+XõÄ8½~ënF¹S°Y?DP=_èów\Õh?.´¾ì|ÿT??uk4VË8 ·cõó?¨

0°?êìÐ?¥==V??K}?D¿???hÞU±­Þ}g¡? D¦~ýà?s«BËW©f G.ATìb½va L?eÀP×ÀV1?#¨``E}?=±7?«Á1¸?â+«F!ÓÖa.7(Àµ^ `ìP;åýV6õo?ÿÚ?çÖÅ
Reply to
Don Foreman

formatting link
Tom stocks interesting coffee from around the world and he buys only that which is at the top of the taste chain.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

On Thu, 7 Jun 2007 00:18:30 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, "Roger Shoaf" quickly quoth:

Well, I see another computer-glued morning coming on...if I don't get the call to go play with a pressure washer.

Danke mucho, monsieur.

-- There's the country of America, which you have to defend, but there's also the idea of America. America is more than just a country, it's an idea. An idea that's supposed to be contagious. -- Bono, Oprah Winfrey Show, 2002

Reply to
Larry Jaques

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.