What would you suggest to improve Aillio Bullet design!?

what power level are you at when the heat gets cut back? have you checked the IGBT temps; that’s what determines when to limit current IIRC

Hello Brian,

I noticed such things occurred during my roasts, and I am not roasting back to back. I solved it by putting a fan under the board where we connect cables. Now the roaster’s performance is stabilized. Try out.

It is a little ironic, because the Bullet roasts the best when the surrounding air is hot. But that causes the boards to overheat. So it is really crucial to have RoasTime when roasting so you can ride the line so to speak.

I just received my Bullet, seasoned the drum and roasted one batch for consumption, so I have much to learn about the unit. After the seasoning I did a deep clean (except for the drum, of course) and have some thoughts about improvements. In no particular order:

  1. Switch from micro-USB to a USB-C connector.
  2. The cooling box collection bowl could be a heavier gauge stainless steel. If works, just feels cheap.
  3. The front panel wire should have a connector on it so the front panel would be completely detachable.
  4. Either make the parallelogram shaped exhaust tube that runs along the top removable or make it round and include a “wad button” to clean it, much like you clean a rifle barrel.
  5. Locate all the connections along one side of the unit; power, cooling box fan, usb, etc. Makes for a cleaner presentation and less clutter.
  6. Maybe spring-load the door with a latch to keep it closed or have a better way to keep it open when emptying the roaster. Using the tryer is awkward.
  7. On my unit the rubber door at the bottom of the chaff collector doesn’t close well.
  8. Easy way to clean the IBTS.
  9. Use consistent terms in the manual. I was trying to figure out what the “X Light” does because that’s what it’s called on page 10 of the manual. A search for “X light” yields no results because it’s called the “X-LED” on page 18.
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Bean Probe design has a bolt head nearby, which may or may not effect the Bean probe, but if nothing else, it could cause an odd bean to end up in your next batch.

I recommend changing this bolt if you are so inclined to diy. I’ve not gotten around to modifications until i know if i’ll be using this professionally or not.

see image.

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Rear plastic chaff container should have a heat vent or hole towards the top, so that excess heat can escape naturally (heat rises). Seems this part warps. not sure what that does to the airflow. so far seems ok. but not an attractive look.

warped plastic? I’ve never seen anything like that (unless you mean 3d printed exhaust adapter)

It sort of pulled back from the seem and rose up a few mm.

But now it has sort of made its own air gap and have not see any further issue. Natura finds a way. Heat rises.

see image.

I can see a little bit of that on mine, but not enough to create an airgap. Maybe it’s off by thickness of my fingernail.

It warped under heat from running a few batches. It no longer traps as much heat because the air gap is wide enough now.

going by fingernails as a measurement, the seam on the fan compartment is a little wider than two thumbnails, but the chaff compartment is two or three times that. And it wasn’t like that when i first got it. One can easily say “user error”, but we’re still talking about a lot of heat and a lot of plastic coexisting.

Plastic and roasting temps were probably never a match made in heaven. Like if you are going to design a roaster, plastic at the exhaust exit is not typically the first thing that comes to mind.

This is great, will be giving it a go for sure!

Have you trailed e-mailing Aillio support to get their thoughts ? Mine does not do that and I’ve had days with 15 back to back roasts charged at 290. Only other thing I can think of that would do that is dropping it while emptying it.

I have one suggestion that came up today. Sometimes, likely due to room temperature and or humidity, my IBTS charge temp is reached however my Bean Probe Temperature is lower than I have previously charged on other roasts of the same bean. I would like to be able to push a button that, while in “CHARGE” mode, will give it a burst of heat for 15 seconds so that I can get the BT to rise to my desired temperature. Conversely, I wonder if a burst of fan at say F5 for 10 seconds could have the opposite effect? I’ve noticed that while I may have a consistent IBTS charge temperature, if my BT is + or - 5 degrees Celcius that will effect the time it takes to reach first crack, and therefore roast consistency between batches.

Well we have resolved this issue. :slight_smile:

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Perhaps the solution is to let the unit preheat somewhat beyond the the “Charge” announcement, especially on the first roast - maybe to the Beran Probe temp you’re used to.

Alternatively, you could press the PRS button to send it into Roast mode before charging, which would allow you to adjust the Power and Fan levels to your heart’s content. Then use it to cycle back around to PH, charge your beans and go to Roast mode.

-Gray

Hi guys.
It will be nice if the name of the roast would be included when you export graph.
RT3 User

Hi Gray,

Depending on the ambient temperature in my roastery, on some days even after letting it sit at charge and pre-heat for 40 minutes to an hour it will simply never reach a BT it had on a previous day. You’re right there are work arounds, and your suggestion would work as well, I was just hoping for a more graceful solution that would involve a little less guesswork and attention. I’ve done pre-heats to a higher charge temperature and then reset it to my desired temp, but you have to go through charging an actual roast and passing quickly through the cool down phase where the fan turns on…which isn’t that big of a deal it’s just less than elegant. Cheers!

Yeah - I’m really glad my set up, inside, lets me roast with an ambient temp of 70°F every time.

If you follow the ways of Morten Munchow, you can derive a bit of solace from the idea that time to FC is pretty insignificant in the final taste, and the more significant (but still fairly small) contribution of time from FC to dump can usually be managed fairly well on the fly.

-Gray

My usual batch size is 1,05Kgs and I do 5 B2B roasts in every session. That translates to having to do a faceplate clean after every two sessions. As someone suggested, a hinge on one side, attached to the main body with a locking mechanism on the other side would be so great. The six screws and the dainty wire connecting the faceplate with the main body is quite a hassle when you have to do frequent clean ups.

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The stupid bean chute plug is becoming a frustration already! I think I’ve knocked it off at least once every time I’ve roasted. Is it supposed to not actually fit in the hole??? Mine doesn’t even come close, it just sits over the top of it, doesn’t snap in or anything. Very annoying! :roll_eyes: