This would happen periodically,beans would dribble out as the roasting began.
My usual remedy was to give it a good slap or tilt the machine slightly,not recommended but sometimes effective.
Then the opposite happened,the roast finished and the ejection door refused to open.
Panic stations,drum still turning,beans still roasting,smoke to rival an Icelandic volcano.
Frantically I unplug the machine,remove front cover and spill the beans.
Ouch,hot hot hot!
Hmmm…. nice looking roast.
Anyway,this episode convinced me that the eject mechanism needed some attention.
I catch on quick,eventually.
I stripped down the back of the Hottop and found that the door spring was very slack allowing beans to escape,so I tensioned it slightly.
I still have no idea why it had refused to open as the solenoid was working fine.
I put it all back together and as a fail-safe device I attached a piece of cord to the solenoid piston and fed it through the back plate so now I have a manual means of opening the door should it stick again.
And we all lived happily ever after.
I hope.
Alan