What would you suggest to improve Aillio Bullet design!?

Thanks. Their “good looks” sort of compensate for my exhaust hose adapter. The shape of that port is so bonkers I ended up tack welding it together while the parts were in the Bullet. Those were clinching moments…

Yeah- a pain. It would help if the face plate were hinged. That way we wouldn’t create a stress point on the wiring.

Bruce

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@bab - totally agree about the stress point on the wiring… it worries me every time I clean!

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Agreed, the face plate is one of the more annoying aspects if you roast for family and neighbors. Because the IBTS has to be clean so often.

The bean probe and front plate could go a bit longer before cleaning, but the bean probe is rather thin, so even a slight residue build up alters the temps a few degrees.

With temps being such a moving target and sliding scale, the IBTS begins to drift within the first ten roasts. The Bean Probe takes a bit longer.

So between the chaff wire basket blocking the airflow every 3+ batches, the IBTS drift every 6 batches, and the bean probe residue build up (maybe 40 batches if you are cleaning it every time you clean the IBTS?).

There is a tolerable amount of drift in IBTS and bean probe, but you just have to be aware of it.

My concern is that the alcohol will possibly remove the lens coating on the IBTS and further cause temp reading changes. Someone here mentioned possibly over cleaning their IBTS and had temps change dramatically. anecdotal, but a question worth asking.

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lab,

I’d just as soon get rid of the chaff plug. it can come loose and cause major airflow variation. very bad.

The top opening empties the chaff almost more efficiently anyway. So i just use that and don’t mess with the chaff plug anymore. it is horrible. The whole chaff situation is very much a “home roaster” setup. for home roasting i like it. roast 3x 1lbs batches for the week or month, and then call it a day. But I roast weekly, and wish Aillio would at least approve a 3rd party chaff solution. as is the fire hazard and liability issues of working with unapproved designs is not fun.

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An automatic complete shutdown after the machine cooled down enough.

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deivl’s advocate here, i love that idea, but also, if anyone were to have employee’s on the clock, they might leave the room or even building before total shutdown to save time, so it might be nice to have a password override to that feature to prevent someone from leaving the roaster unattended before it full shutdown, or have button to press that will allow the last part of cool and shut down. Similar to how they have the safety button during the roast.

though i completely agree with whoever suggested having a power switch. having to plug and unplug is very much a hack, and not a solution. and putting a switch inline runs warranty concerns or fire hazards if something ends up being out of spec. So, the power switch is really important.

One more thumbs up for making cleaning the front plate easier!

My suggestion would be, instead of having the wiring come out the back of the control panel, have it come out the left side on an external cable that is connectorized to plug into the electronics enclosure, ala the cooling tray. This allows the front plat to be completely removed so it can be cleaned on the bench/sink.

-Gray

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All of this. my only change would be a mobile version instead of raspberry version because there are ways to run windows or osx programs from a pi.

Bluetooth hardware is already present, but disabled by software. In older versions of the firmware bluetooth was enabled and could be seen by a computer of mobile phone, but had no functionality. It’s been many years since the bullet was released, this bt support should already be developed.

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Second that. I always worry that the plug will get dislodged while roasting. It hasn’t happened so far though. :slight_smile:

USB Type C would be a way forward I guess.

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You already CAN do this. When you press the F1 button after dumping beans from one roast, you enter the baC mode (back-to-back roast mode). Once in that mode, you can adjust the PH temp up or down. Once the beans in your cooling tray are cooled, reduce the cooling tray fan speed to zero by pressing the “-” button above F2, then press the PRS button until it comes back around to the PreHeat mode. The PH temp you set when in the baC mode will be used (instead of your default PH temp).

I would suggest that the pressure you want to measure is immaterial to the way your beans are roasting in that the pressures inside the roasting drum would measure in the VERY low inches of water column range (ambient atmospheric pressure + or - 1" or 2" of w.c.). I’d guess that you’d not be able to get any appreciable positive pressure in the drum even if you had dampers. You’d be lucky, with the kind of fan installed (and dampers which aren’t in the current design), to + or -5" w.c., which is less than .2 psi. Pressure inside the drum are essentially VERY slightly below ambient atmospheric pressure and could not be changed much with the addition of inlet and outlet dampers. Any differences you might achieve with dampers would be so small as to be very difficult to measure accurately and also would not change the pressures appreciably (nor the way the beans roast on this machine). I offer this as an informed opinion after working as an engineer in manufacturing plants that have similar kinds of drums with fans and with the kinds of dampers you’re suggesting. I have not measured the pressures in this drum but the size and speeds of the exhaust fan and the quality (or lack thereof) of drum seals give what I’ve used to make my assertions.

Less flimsy and please not micro usb! A traditional USB-A or USB-C would be so much better.

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Hey @christophermsfsouv, looks like someone already responded to this but it looks like there are a few ways to change preheat between roasts! It took me a bit to catch on. I’m on bullet v2 in case that matters and I use the RoastTime software to control the Bullet.

After dumping, hit the button for “bac” to back roasting. Then, before clicking the preheat, cancel your recipe and start from a new recipe.

If you don’t use recipes… start using them if not just for the preheat and drop settings! Once you play your new recipe in the “bac” stage you can click preheat and it will go to your new temp without going to 0.

Hope this helps!

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This has been, BY FAR, the best roaster I have used and I make some great coffee in it! But… :grin:

Wants:

  • Power Switch - or true shutoff after cooling - even a button to “Turn off after cooling”
  • USB C
  • USB come out of the bottom of the machine, not the panel
  • Networkable connection
  • Bluetooth
  • Outbound bean guidance (make sure they all go in the cooling tray)
  • IPAD support (or even android)
  • On Device control (no pc needed)
  • Touch screen panel that you can customize what data you see
  • Better bean input chute + plug (maybe a slider to open a door into the chute)
  • Adjustable feet to make sure it sits level
  • Cheaper (lol)
  • 1 touch buttons in software for “My standard 1lb or 1/2lb” (I use the SAME recipe each time)
  • Simple way to end a roast then preheat for the next - like a “reset and start again button” - (currently have to hit the button to end on the bullet, then end the roast in software)
  • Bigger Window
  • Latch for holding the bean drop door open that is NOT the tryer - or spring based where it stays open AND stays shut via 1 spring
  • Enter data during roast easily
  • Remove A2 warning - prob a legal req - use a motion sensor instead - or show a timer to when it will sound
  • Software controlled dump with door control
  • 1 bean temp instead of 2
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  1. Temp probe on the output of the cooling tray fan to determine when the beans are cool. Couple that with auto cooling fan shut off.
  2. Quieter cooling tray fan
  3. Ability in the software to queue your next roast recipe, which would allow you to start a back to back roast with the right PH temp and recipe, with just 2 button presses.
  4. Ability to change the filtering settings on the IBTS to smooth out the ror curve, if you want ( I realize this will add more lag to the trend, but it may be worth it to remove the guessing about what it will do next).
  5. Add ability in the software to set programmable maintenance reminders such as “Clean your fan” every 30 roasts, so the user gets a reminder that it needs to be cleaned.
  6. Add ability in sw to remind you to reorder beans. For bonus points, use Kanban formulas based on bean usage, safety stocks and lead time of beans.
  7. Better deburring on some of the machined edges. I have cut myself a couple times!
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Or add a connector. But hinge is probably better.

Perhaps add a sensor to do this. It would require some good signal processing to detect the cracks, but should be possible if your ear can hear it. We know about when and what temp the cracks will start so that data could be used to help the signal processing.

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Awesome. I suspected that I was missing something and I’m glad that I was. thank you, folks. I made use of that knowledge quite quickly.

I wish it wouldn’t cycle off the heat when it feels like it.

I know it does because I see a major reduction in watts/etc from my line meter. I bought it just for this purpose to confirm my suspicion. Also, where I roast in the winter its 16-18C sometimes so it’s not “hot”.