During a spring clean in my garage, I came across a cylinder vacuum cleaner that I’d forgotten about. The only reason it hadn’t been chucked out is that we received it brand new as a gift and had never used it. You sometimes find a use for junk if you keep it long enough and this is a prime example. On with the modifications:
Firstly, I removed the top hinged part that the hose attaches to and also holds the dust bag in place. This simply involved removing a couple of pins. The dustbag also got binned as it just impedes airflow. There was a plastic carrying handle sticking up which prevented the sieve from seating down fully but a few strokes with a panel saw cured that problem.
Pros: Several minutes saved doing the colander to colander shuffle, 20 seconds in the vacuum bean cooler and the beans are cool enough for bagging up (approximately body temp.) Less washing up to do – aforementioned colanders and cooling tray. You can stop the roast closer to the point you require due to the faster cooling facility.
Cons: Uses electricity. Noisier than the colander shuffle.
That's about it.
Ian