Bean trap partial resolved, advice on final step

[day]

So, I have been having about 12g retention. More than just irritating as it is ruining my ability to weigh output. I found that a major source of retention is when dropping the beans many of them sling over into the tpipe and even with a serious of tips and shakes they wont dislodge on command. To avoid this I have taken some cardstock, wrapped it in aluminum foil and use it to block the tpipe off when I drop. That has cut retention down about 6 g.

However, the actual main tube running into the drum has a nice flat area with some goves in it that beans are just chilling out and sitting. Even on turnnig the whole unit about 60degree tilt they still wont come out until they expand and then randomly fall out when shaking after the roast. Really irritating. Thus, I am thinking that I could get some sheet metal, cut it, bend it, and then jbweld it to try to improve the slope of the ramp angle.

Anybdy have a better suggestion? I can shoot some pictures tomorrow of that spot, my cheapo mod1 can be seen below.

"mod "1-cardstock

[hankua]

Need some photos for an explanation. There is a flat oval tab spot welded in the lower curve of the main pipe attached to the roaster faceplate. This was a modification done after users were complaining about beans getting stuck. Someone needs to ask Mr. Li if it's an improvement or not?

I like the removable screen idea; at least for J-Pipe users. There is a variety of wire gauges and screen sizes for stainless mesh. 3-5mm would probably work fine and still have plenty of air flow.

Update; just ordered some #4 stainless mesh on EBay; and will try to make a fitted screen.
 http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=112075992538&globalID=EBAY-US

[day]

Well it can't be there during the roast due to chaff:( ideally mr li would change the flap design so that it opens from one side and completely closes the t pipe when open, but I don't suppose it will help me any. The beans are getting stuck in the groves of the oval. It is a fail.

[hankua]

Are you saying the oval flap is the problem?

[day]

Yea, even with the t closed off the lip on the drop was holding 8.9 g  today...

[rodraguirre]

I always had issues with beans trapped when charging. Got that 100% addressed with a very simple and cheap workaround: aluminum foil.

I've folded 4 or 5 times a small piece of foil, until it was hard enough for shaping it into a half pipe wide enough so I can easily insert it down through the funnel, while charging, so it covers the T-diversion. Easier to understand with pictures. please let me know if anyone is interested, I can try to explain it better.

Now I have max 1-2g (less than 10 beans) left behind after each roast.

[rodraguirre]

A couple more pictures

[day]

Unfortunately whatever change he made to the tube on entering the drum is really not working...got to email him tonight and let him know

[rodraguirre]

sorry for that, just now realized the solution that worked for me, didn't work for you. anyway, have you tried making your foil device longer/wider? mine goes down until touching the bottom of the pipe. It has worked fine and I don't mind using that device every time I charge.

[day]

Thanks, yea my current one runs all the way to the bottom, but doesn't help. Can't even picke the entire roaster up off the stove and shook it violently, beans still didn't come out of the grove till end of the roast on shaking it the same again. None in the tpipe though.

[edtbjon]

I had some small problems with a few beans getting stuck up by the damper in the T connector. Nothing even close to the 10g per roast as OP day describes. I just came back from a session of four 400g roasts and lost some 7 beans in total! (I guess that those were floaters anyhow.)
Part of this "success" is a similar solution as Rodaguirre described. I.e a strip of aluminium foil to block the exhaust during charge. I also lean over and puff down the exhaust (into the drum) after charging.
Now, I very seldom had problems in the magnitude described by user day, but I believe the main part is how I use the fan. I seldom go over 50-60% on my Variac and start out the roast up to DE with just very little negative pressure in the drum. If memory serves me, "day" have custom-built the exhaust system with some extra care in regards of keeping the whole system air-tight, which does make the system more efficient. Maybe that affects both the "zero" point and how efficient the fan is above that setting.
For me it's possible that I use too little air, but that is part of coming experiments...

[day]

It does seem that after blocking the t pipe (ironiccally my solution was originally the same as those suggested great minds thinking alike) I am in fact using too much air flow. I cut it down 10Volts and ended up at 60 with about 5g stuck between the trier and drop.

I did in fact physically see some of the green beans stuck in the pipe when doing inital cold run testing to identify the problem, but it looks like they usually do not get stuck, and the main source of problem, after the tpipe diversion, is the air flow. After sealing everything my new minimum airflow is 35Volts, where as it was 50 before and was playing a role in the magnitude of the problem.

[navystan]

Ha!  So, my problems were not uncommon.  After doing my first 30 roasts, I too had backup into the t-pipe and beans/chaff getting stuck on the pipe entering the main roasting chamber.

So, I like the simple foil idea to temporarily block the airflow section.

How about using a wire pipe brush commonly used for cleaning espresso parts?  Can get on Amazon.  I attached one picture and a whole set is $13.  Maybe part of the routine is use the foil, then use the wire pipe cleaner to make sure any lingering beans are pushed down into the drum.  The wire brush can also be bent to better work the curve of the roaster pipe.

[AK]

How about using a wire pipe brush commonly used for cleaning espresso parts?  Can get on Amazon.  I attached one picture and a whole set is $13.  Maybe part of the routine is use the foil, then use the wire pipe cleaner to make sure any lingering beans are pushed down into the drum.  The wire brush can also be bent to better work the curve of the roaster pipe.

This is what I use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AGJ2IG

[jeffgsd]

I took the idea of sing the folded tin foil to make something to block beans from entering the "T" when charging the machine.  It made a big difference in the amount of "Stuck" Beans.  Didn't solve it but reduced by probably half Deoendent on the type of bean I am still getting between 3 and 9g of roasted beans coming out of the pipe after finishing the roast (getting them out with the tilt back method).  I was getting a considerable amount of Green beans falling out of the machine before I used the tin foil to block the T-pipe.