hey Guys and Gals,
I’m wondering if anyone came up with a way to hook up the chaff collector to say a shop vac? that way you don’t have to physically remove the collector between 1kg batches, but run the shop vac for a few seconds to clear it out. I think the small collector is one of the weak points, for me personally. not a big deal, but it is a production machine and we do back to back roasts on it for hrs at a time.
Gary
I think the idea has been thought about. There is a lot of variables in the question you pose. In actuality though, the bullet would suffer tremendous heat loss issues and very doubtful if it would be able to effectively roast. You can read other posts here concerning the exhaust vent tube extension and using an inline fan with those, affecting the roast in a very negative fashion. The volume of air being moved by an inline fan, isn’t nearly as forceful as the suction created by a shopvac. It would be fantastic if there was an acceptable way to increase the chaff collection and decrease the chance for catching it on fire with say a modded cyclone collector. Easier way to remove the chaff maybe, but how the Bullet is right now isn’t terrible. I will roast 25 maybe 30 pounds in 1 session, so I am very well versed with hours spent. After a roast finishes, it takes about 15 or 20 seconds to grab the shopvac hose, open the quick access flap and clear chaff. After a few of those, I strongly suggest to take the 2 minutes required to remove the collector from the Bullet and do a more thorough cleaning. It isn’t that demanding of a task. I would love to have more options, but I don’t have the shop capable of making something like that.
Ruint,
Thanks for your input. I have to agree with your opinion, that heat loss may be an issue, and therefore counter productive.
-Gary
In addition to what Ruint mentioned, you also need to periodically remove the chaff collector to access the mesh filter for cleaning.
good point!!
If you aren’t running the shopvac during an actual roast run, then your airflow shouldn’t be a problem. What I’ve mentioned before, it would be nice if someone could model an adaptor for that little trap door to connect to the shopvac in much the same way we have cooling tray adaptors…