It’s been a week since I received and put together my new 6Lb DIY combo and in short, I’m thrilled! I had a few small challenges with the installation but engineering the solutions was part of the fun.
With this 10 year old Weber grill, the square tubes were about 3/4 inch too low for the base plate-motor mount combo at the highest position so I cut a pair of 1×2 shims to sit between the base plate and the tubes and got some 3-inch bolts for the muffler clamps–just right! The rotisserie cutouts in this grill were tiny and wanting to avoid using the Charbroil mounting brackets, I used my Dremel to cut those slots in the grill deep enough to accomodate some extra bearing-bushings that I bought at a grill parts supplier.
Now the rotisserie spit is strongly supported on each side of the grill and I think it makes the motor’s job easier since the spit and drum aren’t hanging on the coupler. By the way, the motor , motor mount and baseplate is very well made and I especially appreciate the holes being pre-threaded for the electrical boxes. I chose to mount an unswitched duplex outlet on the back position to give me a place to conveniently plug in a fan to blow on the motor when I start doing big long roast sessions. To make the grill more efficient on gas, I blocked off about 70% of the rear vent with a piece of carpet threshold that fit perfectly and already had a slight bend which makes it press against the grill base nicely when the hood is closed.
Enough tech-stuff–forgive me, I’m an engineer–the drum is a work of art and the motor and mounts are terrific and the whole kit is well thought-out and it makes GREAT COFFEE! I’ve done several roasts using your
suggested profile for 1lb batches and I’m getting the hang of it! I will graduate to larger batches when I decide what kind of beans I want to order in quantity. The only bad thing about this setup is that I want to roast all the time and you need lots of beans in your inventory to have all that fun! The picture attached is Guatemala–Villa Herminia at a very even roast…delicious.
Thanks for your great products, and even more for your superb customer service! Keep up the good work!
About RK Drums
RK Drums has been providing roasting advice for coffee aficionados and small business owners for over 15 years. We specialize in making coffee roasting accessible to anyone who wants to roast, and sell complete solutions to roast coffee using a barbecue grill.
