SC/TO Build Is Off To A Great Start!

[ScooterDog]

I should have said that website is what I based my design on. I don't want to take credit for for it. Somebody was nice enough to to document it and keep the website up.

I did make a copper cap, but forgot to slide it over the stir arms before I crimped the copper stir paddles to the arm. I drilled a small hole on one side and a slot on the other side. That way it would stay on when I dumped the beans, but could also lift it up on one side and slide it over to access the shaft.

I'll try to get pictures of it.

Dan

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Thanks again Dan,

I am off to the metal store to get a piece of aluminum to make the spacer. Then I'm going to a real cool hardware store that sells a lot of really odd things you don't find in traditional hardware stores. Have some specific things to check out, and hopefully will post later. The copper stir paddles were made from flexible copper tubing??

Cheers,

Doug

 

[ScooterDog]

Correct, I used 1/4 inch copper tubing. I think Lowes/Home Depot has a 2 foot section for a few bucks.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

What optimum orientation of the agitator arms works best? Considering the slow speed of the OEM motor, I'm concerned about optimizing the effectiveness of this feature. I've seen a few different builds, but just wanting to find out if anyone has others they would like to share.

 

[peterjschmidt]

Optimizing the stirring arms is dependent on your batch size. And I think the motor is the weak link in the chain. If you replace the motor with a faster one, the arm mods become much less important... I haven't swapped out the motor, but if you're ambitious, that's the place to focus.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Thanks Peter. Of course you're right. I'm thinking my next trip will be to an electronics surplus store near my home. They have all kinds of stuff, and likely will have a motor worthy of this project!!

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

So Peter, I went to the electronics store looking to find maybe some thermocouples. but they don't carry them. I did, however, find a 115V motor. I'm not sure how to determine wattage, so I'll be Googling that, but perhaps you would have some thoughts on how to size a dimmer switch to control this beast. Don't want to have a meltdown on the dimmer switch if this motor packs too much of a load. Also, I'm considering doing an indirect vs. a direct drive...any thoughts on that?



I suppose I should have put something like a coin in the picture so you could get an idea of the size.

 

[peterjschmidt]

I take it you're afraid it spins too fast? I don't know what the ideal rpm is, but think you'd do well to get it mounted and do a dry run before deciding to slow it down. If you can figure a way to mount it to the SC base, I'd go direct.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

That's correct...I was assuming that the motor would rotate at a higher than needed rpm. It would be grand if I didn't have to step it down. I thing I'll slap a bar clamp on it for testing to see just what it is. I may just wire a three prong cord to it, and go grab a cheap router control from Harbor Freight if needed. I found out that dimmer switches are not safe to use as motor control devices! Isn't the internet wonderful?

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

So yesterday I went to Harbor Freight to get the router speed control for this motor I bought. After wiring up the motor, I found that the axle spins pretty fast. When I hooked up the router speed control, I found that the lower limit of the control does not slow the motor enough make it useful for my roaster. Before I write this off and move in a different direction, I'm hoping maybe someone...an electrical engineer perhaps...can shed some light on a possible work around. I thought that using a dimmer switch to power down the speed control might be possible, and maybe even safe since it is only indirectly acting through the speed control to step down the power to this motor.

Any insight would be appreciated!

 

[peterjschmidt]

I was at HF on Wed, and bought the same router speed control for my cigar lounge exhaust fan. It says that certain motor don't do well with these controllers, and my fan will only go to about 2/3 and below that it just hums and cuts out. Maybe your motor is the same type. You could try a dimmer switch; might work, and if not, just return it.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Yes I think that's what I'm going to do Peter.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Okay, so trip to Home Depot yielded a configuration that allows me to control more than one motor at a time, which isn't really the point, I just wanted an on off switch, and the power strip also offers 6 outlets, plus surge protection...I think . This will control the motor speed down to a very slow rotation. I took a video which I will post to Youtube and provide a link. Just running out of time today.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Okay, so trip to Home Depot yielded a configuration that allows me to control more than one motor at a time, which isn't really the point, I just wanted an on off switch, and the power strip also offers 6 outlets, plus surge protection...I think . This will control the motor speed down to a very slow rotation. I took a video which I will post to Youtube and provide a link. Just running out of time today.

View attachment 5133

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Sorry about the duplicate post. Here is the link to the motor control video.