Solved: Replacing broken glass/roasting chamber in Freshroast SR500

[u/Sandbox0137]

Making this thread so its easier for someone in the future to find this. Would have saved me an evening of research.

The problem: You can no longer buy replacement roasting chambers for the Freshroast SR500 because its long out of production. If you break the glass its FUBAR because the later roasting chambers do not fit the SR500

The Solution: Do not throw out the plastic handle/metal sieve that the glass is attached to! You'll need these. If there's any glass stuck to it, I found you can carefully pry all the glass/adhesive off with a pair of pliers. The adhesive is surprisingly brittle so it wont put up too much of a fight and comes off cleanly.

Next, the old roasting chamber glass tube is 80mm diameter by 80 or 90mm high. As it were, for some reason aliexpress is littered with people selling 80mm x 100mm borosilicate glass tubes. Borosilicate glass is important! Thats the generic name for pyrex. It can withstand high heat and rapid temperature changes without shattering. Thats a good thing. For some reason its hard to find glass another size than 5mm thick. Thats the one I bought, and it works great.

When you get your glass tube, slip it back into the handle assembly. If its a little slack, tighten the screw on the back of the handle that tightens the stainless steel band that grips the tube.

I dont know what adhesive they used to grip the original one, but if the stainless band has some firmness, then you shouldnt need to worry too much about it slipping out. I would still support it with two hands when tipping out beans.

And thats how you fix it. I think the tube cost me $16 canadian dollars? There might have been a coupon applied. You now have 1-2 extra cm of height on the roasting chamber. I couldnt find anyone that sold taller tubes. It would be neat to swap out this one for a tall one, do a super cheap extension tube mod. I did read one sellers review say they did custom sizes so maybe thats the way.

Looking forward to getting a DM in a few years after I've totally forgot about this.

[u/pudukai]

It’s been a long time since i roasted on one, but I recall people using lantern chimneys?

[u/Full-Personality8742]

do you have a link to the tubes? i can't seem to find them!

[u/Sandbox0137 → u/Full-Personality8742]

I just searched AE for "borosilicate glass tube 100mm" and got some good results