Tom, your roaster sounds fine. The returned roaster, even after getting the bearing seated correctly, still sounds like it is encountering some kind of resistance or mis-alignment. Maybe the bearings on the rear pulley are now "out of round" from running it like that. The very fact that Aillio gives you a set of spacers to "correct" a grinding noise you may encounter (on the drum face and front face) when you set up your new machine, tells me there is a small design/ manufacturing defect that they have not fully resolved. Maybe it's not a big deal as you say, but for $2600.00, I would be more than a little upset with a new machine sounding like that.
r cal I agree there is excess friction going on and that will prematurely cause the bearing to fail. I don’t think it sounds like a tight belt. I work with 100’s of pieces of rotating equipment everyday on a much larger industrial scale and I would have returned that roaster if I paid that much and had that sound when I received it.
Issues like that, and all the many others reported on the Facebook Bullet R1 group convinced to forget buying one. I was on the order list. Bought a Hottop K2+ instead that will be delivered this Wednesday. I want to learn how to roast great beans not work on an expensive piece of equipment that IMO is using customers as beta testers
I received mine with the drive bearing misaligned to the front plate. It made a horrible racket for the 7 seconds I left it on. With help from Facebook group, Thompson and Aillio customer support, it is up and running great and I've had some delicious coffee! It is really fun to use and offers so many control options. It believe it will serve me well as I really learn the finer points of roasting. I believe the tight belt/spring noise issue has improved some over time. I've done the 5 seasoning roasts and 5 more roasts. I'm going to have to find more friends to whom I can give away coffee so I can roast more! I have always feared trying to fix mechanical things and my initial reaction was terror that I was not going to be able to make the thing work, but it ended up not being that difficult once I calmed down and took it a step at a time. What I really want to see is Thompson re-attaching the motor cover. That's the fun part trying to find those holes by braille without dropping the screws! . ;-) So much of it so incredibly easy. Accessing and cleaning the chaff collector is a breeze with a shop vac. Keep a chopstick handy for getting the beans that get stuck between the door and drum when you end the roast. Thompson thank you for the videos! Very helpful.
Ok - totally true - getting the cover back on is harder. For me I needed to get a small LED light in there because my near vision isnt great. I had also just received a new set of T-handle hex wrenches so that made it easy. Seems like the hex screws stay fixed better to fresh new allen wrenches than my old worn out ones...
Tom old boy, this ain’t a moon rocket here, it’s an assembly of simple rotating machinery. It would appear that the manufacturer is having some difficulty maintaining dimensional tolerances from one unit to another. If they don’t address this, then unfortunately the problem lands in your lap when customers are unhappy. Not your fault of course but it does need fixing by the manufacturer.
Hey Team, I used to roast on a Quest M3 and I'm interested in the Bullet, but with the Quest, I had figured out out to "steer" my roasts into the profiles I wanted by monitoring and adjusting MET between the top of the drum and the chassis through one of the screw holes on the front. Is there anyplace to measure this on the R-1?
i love my 1gen roaster - but have to say: this is no "plug&play"-roaster it needs to have a dys-gene to use it. a plug&play-roaster would be the gene and more
Agreed - and in a way I would go further. Even roasters that look simple and have few settings need more input from the human operating it. It's not like a rice cooker or bread machine. If you walk away you could have fire. It's inherent in roasting coffee...
I'm curious what the resolution was for the customer? Was the machine returned to you on his dime? Did you pay shipping back to him? With respect, "sounds fine, I wouldn't worry" may or may not be a guarantee that his (her) machine will have as long a life as it should. If it was shipped with a tight belt and misaligned bearing- well that's fairly serious comment on quality. I LOVE the concept of this machine (between a commercial sampler and a small quantity so-so roaster appliance). I'm beginning to think there's a reason a decent 500g to 1 lb roaster costs $4400 and up- both in terms of CS and initial machine quality. My dream machine doesn't need the computer stuff- just the excellent build quality (preferably domestic or European) Half to one pound, and precise temperature reading and adjusting (heat, drum speed, etc) as well as easy sensory evaluation (sight and sample).
Check out the Cormorant CR600... a true 600g roaster (gas), hand built, top quality for around £2000 if you want all the bells and whistles to run Artisan. If you want a purely manual roaster, no computer logging, it's even cheaper.
Tom, your roaster sounds fine. The returned roaster, even after getting the bearing seated correctly, still sounds like it
is encountering some kind of resistance or mis-alignment. Maybe the bearings on the rear pulley are now "out of round" from running it like that.
The very fact that Aillio gives you a set of spacers to "correct" a grinding noise you may encounter (on the drum face and front face) when you set up your new machine, tells me there is
a small design/ manufacturing defect that they have not fully resolved. Maybe it's not a big deal as you say, but for $2600.00,
I would be more than a little upset with a new machine sounding like that.
r cal I agree there is excess friction going on and that will prematurely cause the bearing to fail. I don’t think it sounds like a tight belt. I work with 100’s of pieces of rotating equipment everyday on a much larger industrial scale and I would have returned that roaster if I paid that much and had that sound when I received it.
Issues like that, and all the many others reported on the Facebook Bullet R1 group convinced to forget buying one. I was on the order list. Bought a Hottop K2+ instead that will be delivered this Wednesday. I want to learn how to roast great beans not work on an expensive piece of equipment that IMO is using customers as beta testers
riccosx 2600 is a lot of money
I received mine with the drive bearing misaligned to the front plate. It made a horrible racket for the 7 seconds I left it on. With help from Facebook group, Thompson and Aillio customer support, it is up and running great and I've had some delicious coffee! It is really fun to use and offers so many control options. It believe it will serve me well as I really learn the finer points of roasting. I believe the tight belt/spring noise issue has improved some over time. I've done the 5 seasoning roasts and 5 more roasts. I'm going to have to find more friends to whom I can give away coffee so I can roast more! I have always feared trying to fix mechanical things and my initial reaction was terror that I was not going to be able to make the thing work, but it ended up not being that difficult once I calmed down and took it a step at a time. What I really want to see is Thompson re-attaching the motor cover. That's the fun part trying to find those holes by braille without dropping the screws! . ;-) So much of it so incredibly easy. Accessing and cleaning the chaff collector is a breeze with a shop vac. Keep a chopstick handy for getting the beans that get stuck between the door and drum when you end the roast. Thompson thank you for the videos! Very helpful.
Ok - totally true - getting the cover back on is harder. For me I needed to get a small LED light in there because my near vision isnt great. I had also just received a new set of T-handle hex wrenches so that made it easy. Seems like the hex screws stay fixed better to fresh new allen wrenches than my old worn out ones...
Tom old boy, this ain’t a moon rocket here, it’s an assembly of simple rotating machinery. It would appear that the manufacturer is having some difficulty maintaining dimensional tolerances from one unit to another. If they don’t address this, then unfortunately the problem lands in your lap when customers are unhappy. Not your fault of course but it does need fixing by the manufacturer.
T. Howard I agree 100%. This would not be acceptable to me if paid $3k
The more I see these new roasters, the more I think I'll just keep my old GeneCafe a while longer.
The Gene is a great machine. Best visibility of the roast too
If I paid almost $3k I would be worried about that sound in the back.
Hey Team, I used to roast on a Quest M3 and I'm interested in the Bullet, but with the Quest, I had figured out out to "steer" my roasts into the profiles I wanted by monitoring and adjusting MET between the top of the drum and the chassis through one of the screw holes on the front. Is there anyplace to measure this on the R-1?
Sounds like a bad bearing. I would not be happy if I bought one of these and had this sound.
i love my 1gen roaster - but have to say: this is no "plug&play"-roaster
it needs to have a dys-gene to use it.
a plug&play-roaster would be the gene and more
Agreed - and in a way I would go further. Even roasters that look simple and have few settings need more input from the human operating it. It's not like a rice cooker or bread machine. If you walk away you could have fire. It's inherent in roasting coffee...
I'm curious what the resolution was for the customer? Was the machine returned to you on his dime? Did you pay shipping back to him? With respect, "sounds fine, I wouldn't worry" may or may not be a guarantee that his (her) machine will have as long a life as it should. If it was shipped with a tight belt and misaligned bearing- well that's fairly serious comment on quality. I LOVE the concept of this machine (between a commercial sampler and a small quantity so-so roaster appliance). I'm beginning to think there's a reason a decent 500g to 1 lb roaster costs $4400 and up- both in terms of CS and initial machine quality. My dream machine doesn't need the computer stuff- just the excellent build quality (preferably domestic or European) Half to one pound, and precise temperature reading and adjusting (heat, drum speed, etc) as well as easy sensory evaluation (sight and sample).
Check out the Cormorant CR600... a true 600g roaster (gas), hand built, top quality for around £2000 if you want all the bells and whistles to run Artisan. If you want a purely manual roaster, no computer logging, it's even cheaper.
Um, not listed on your site, where do u sell these?
They are already sold out. They expect more in the near future.
Is there an option for gas?