New drum roaster (Rotate Fun 300)

colinwen

I got a friend come from Taiwan to visti me.
She asked me if she can brought anything to me, then I found this drum roaster-Rotate Fun 300.
Their webpage
http://www.siangcyuan.com.tw/

They have two version, with heating element and without heating element.
I pick the basic/cheaper one which I feel it will be more fun by using fire to heat the drum (Seller suggest me the same)

Although end up I ask friend to ship it (to heavy to carry), it just arrive few days ago.
I use the portable stove to heat the drum, but feel its difficult to tone the heat.
I may need to find something better.

Try three different bean for first time, its much easier to tell the first crack compared to the heat gun/breadmaker.

I have not taste the bean yet, I will update the result in the next couple days.

Colin

Koffee_Kosmo

Nifty little roaster Does the 300 in the name mean that it has 300gr capacity? KK

RichardM

Woah, cool. How much did it set you back?

Brett H

Love it Colin  :thumb:

Lacehim

That's a neat little roaster there mate.  Never seen one!  We need more details! Can't wait to hear what the roast it like. RM, this looks a little bit like a smaller version of what you designed?

colinwen

Hi all, Yes, I feel the same thing that its a cute little machine with basic function (rotate and mix the bean). @KK The seller recommend 300g for roast, I tried 350g and 400g, both of them roast pretty even. I will post more photos sooner or later. @Richard. Sorry I am not sure if you ask about how much it cost me. I paid Taiwanese dollars and the RRP is around 300 AU + postage. I am not a expert about roaster, never use similar toaster before (ie Hoptop, M3 etc). The first impression is the bean are pushed back and forward. Its kind of gravity draw it down and the plate in the drum push it back. I found some youtube on line. I hope that explain some detail. Colin

garyw

Hi If you get chance to load some photographs of the actual mechanism of the screw for the roaster, Id like to see how even it is in pulling all the beans to the exit and back again. (A video even). Gary RAVE coffee U.K.

askthecoffeeguy

Wow - what a tidy little unit !  Id be keen to see some footage of the one with the heat element built in Cheers, Pat

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1345294101:

Hi If you get chance to load some photographs of the actual mechanism of the screw for the roaster, Id like to see how even it is in pulling all the beans to the exit and back again. (A video even). Gary RAVE coffee U.K.

Hi Gary welcome to the forum I have found a cut away photo of the element section Also a video of the screw section It actually looks more like a fan blade ( look at 55 seconds into the video) [embed=425,349] KK

garyw

HI Kk Thanks for this. Its something I have seen before but does not give me the detail I require to see how efficiently it works.For the beans to be 'circulated' from the rear of the drum to the front continuously on the same plane via a screw mechanism. The drum rotates, the blades rotate differently. Id love to see it working. If it is as good as it appears, this would be great in a one kilo or more machine, and as such I would be asking them to consider making one for me best wishes g.

garyw

Here is the link to the you tube channel for the manufacturer: http://www.youtube.com/user/loveboee All his production videos are on there. I decided to write and ask him for details of the mechanism. I was in touch with him about a year ago but the 300gram capacity was too limited for the UK market for the cost (UK 650 pounds plus import charges plus tax) at the time.  If it is as efficient as it looks, I will ask if a larger unit can made and check out the durability of it. garyw

Koffee_Kosmo

I was going to suggest not to be shy in contacting  Siangcyuan the manufactures At the time I wanted to purchase a roaster I found the same problem with small batch sizes and anything in the 1 kg range was very expensive due to its commercial build nature So I invented my own roaster that is cheap and roasts 2 to 3 times in green bean weight than whats on the market If you are handy my build plans are freely available KK

garyw

Thanks KK. I have already seen your plans in the past for making a home roaster. Im sure the quality of the beans are excellent. I am looking for something more 'commercial' to import and possibly without the heat source so I dont have to jump through licencing hoops. The Rotate fun fits that category. It was my hope that the originator of this thread had strip down pics or a video pf the mechanism. We use Toper for our business, and as keen home roasters, we use a variety of things Home: breadmaker Toper:

Koffee_Kosmo

The couple that come to mind are Has Garanti has a 1 kg tabletop roaster Coffee Tech has the Tarrefattore and the Solar electric Not sure of price for the UK but it should be less than here in AU KK

garyw

Thanks KK. Is the 700 grams limit on your roaster due to the heat output or due to the size of the bin? Maybe we should start another thread?

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1345358704:

Thanks KK. Is the 700 grams limit on your roaster due to the heat output or due to the size of the bin? Maybe we should start another thread?

I think mechanically and the design was based on the correct volume ( not to much and to to little ) to to the available heat from the Turbo Oven I have over 20 variants including a twin TO drum and agitator model I have combined lots of features from all the variants and have drawn up a KKTO Version 2 So if you want to start a new thread I wil help with your ideas KK

colinwen

Sorry guys, I was busying on finishing my thesis and barely check the forum for a while. For response the request. I am loving this roaster so far. Only small problem I have is the noise and stuck some time. For some reason when I use  smaller bean, they will get stuck in the middle of some where and the drum stopped. I have to shake the whole machine. And also there is a weird vibration happen when I put the drum on my camping stove. The vibration from the motor of drum will pass through the grill and produce some annoying noise. I have to put some thick paper (wont melt) under the grill legs. I have contact with the maker about the noise, but no reply so far. Probably he think that is rare case. That is the facebook page for the maker. http://www.facebook.com/RotateFun300 I believe he can reply in English. About what Gary asked regarding the efficiency. I always use more than 300g for the roaster. 350-400g, 400g is the maximum. It will have problem to mix properly when over 450g (twice in my experience). Some part will burn, and some part still unroasted. Otherwise is fine. Small thing happen here is the heating method I use is fire. Its quite difficult to maintain and duplicate the heating progress. I plan to put a heat gun which I use for my previous breadmaker/heatgun home roaster. It is easy to duplicate the result. I will post the link to maker's facebook. To see if he can response officially. Colin

Koffee_Kosmo

Thanks for the update Colin  :thumb: Is it possible to take a few close up photos of the inside of the drum and agitator blades and post them KK

garyw

I received an answer from the manufacturers, which is: Rotate Fun 300 ??????? Friday, August 17 at 10:48am

colinwen

I will post some photo or video this week. And before that, people probably can check the maker's facebook. http://www.facebook.com/RotateFun300 There are few other users post their working condition. I have to say I were just impatient with the 300g loading, so I start to experiment 350, 400, and 450g. 400g is my standard roast load, which I did not see any problem with this roaster. The reason of uneven roast after 450g, I will say its the mix problem. From what I can see when I overload this machine, the bean from outside (which design for observing bean's appearance) wont come back into the middle of roaster. And the bean in the middle can not come out or only small amount could come out. That makes the beans in the middle reach the 2nd crack, the outside one is still under roast. I can post some video too (without fire on, of course). About the inconsistent roasting profile, I will say its my stove's issue. I thought its quite common for home roaster without air circulation? So the only way I can adjust the power is the tune of stove. Then I could not keep the same heat with the basic camping stove. That is why I have try the heat gun few times, and the result is better and consistent. The downside part for heat gun is no place to fix the heat gun from top, only from bottom. However, the problem for the second one is few of the heatgun's air intake is blocked (on the floor). And its difficult to adjust heat gun either. I will say for people live far from Taiwan probably not worth to buy it until it has been commercially produced. But it definitely a small handy roaster for my experience. Colin

garyw

HI Colin Instead of placing you gun like you do, there is an attachment you can use to deflect the heat into the chamber whilst having the gun 90 degrees to the drum. If you dont have anything suitable in the kit, use the fish tail and add a piece of metal on the outside lip at a 90 degree angle so that the air hits the metal and is directed up toward the drum. It will work fine. Failing that, make a small metal box that fits tight on the bottom of the RF300 and cut a hole in the side and insert the gun in there from the side. The heat will be more than enough and the air flow adequate. garyw

Koffee_Kosmo

As Gary noted To incorporate the heat gun as a heat source Adding a box will act as a heat sink and instead of heat escaping to the envoronment will be used more economically My thoughts are for the box to run the length of the outer drum for best results Small exit holes need to also be incorporated for escaping air  KK

garyw

Guess Colin got a little busy over the weekend. Just sayin'. We will wait on your time schedule for when you can fit in the video. Much appreciated whenever. gary

colinwen

Sorry guys again. I was not able to get the video first time because its too dark. Then I had my field trip, so no roasting for me. I tried another roasting again last week, I video something. But because its too bright (day time), the contrast is too much to see what really happening. I will post the video later this week, but I doubt it will help too much. Cheers Colin