PopLite Coffee Roaster

This is the beginning of a project to convert a PopLite popcorn popper, model #0486001 (1440watts), into a coffee roaster. I'll continue to post parts, build instructions and pictures here as it comes together.

The glass tube is a "Pyrex Bake-A-Round Bread Loaf Mold Baking Tube" I purchased on Ebay. You can also find them on Etsy for $15 - $20. The can was a re-fried bean can with a 101mm OD that fits perfectly inside the screws.

Remaining to do is a control box for an Arduino UNO R3 and SSR to control the AC power and fan speed as well as read a couple of thermal couples for PID.

I also need to make an aluminum funnel inside the roasting chamber to make the coffee side down to the hot air jet at a better angle. Another re-fried bean can and some steel screen will cover the top for a chafe catcher.

UPDATE:
I posted two parts that make up a valve to control air flow from a mini shopvac. Make sure to break out the two areas of grillwork in the center piece. They break easily when printed with PLA and will blow up into the heater of they fail while you are roasting to create a really big mess - trust me!
Run a length of shopvac from the vaccum output to the valve, then from the value output (the longer side of the Y) into the blower base. By using two hoses, you can get vaccum father away and maybe hear 1st crack over the blower sounds.

To figure out how much coffee you can roast, turn the power off on the roaster/heater and turn on the blower/vacuum. Add green beans slowly until just before they stop circulating. When you turn on the heater, the impeller will add a little more lift.

Here is a Youtube video of the roaster in action on my back porch. I didn't have a chafe catcher at this point so was relegated to roasting outdoors.

Print instructions

This is PLA. It isn't directly exposed to the heat of the roaster so it should be safe.