Too Much Coffee

the filters on the back cost £10. you could use an old filter and replace the white concertina sheet and the black filter. has anyone tried this and if so, where might one get hold of the filters? Perhaps others are less stingy than me.

I never change the filters, so I have no experience with this, but a lot of people have mentioned that they buy filters for exhaust hoods and cut the replacements out of those. For a couple of quid you get enough material for many replacements, apparently.

Is it not risky not changing the filters ever? i would have thought they wd become so gunked up that no air can pass through? Perhaps not.

I have done over 1000 roasts, more than 600 with the first filter and the rest with a second filter that I changed just because I had it. I did two test roasts using the same batch of beans with a new and a used filter and both the temperature profile and the results were indistinguishable, so I just never bothered changing. I found it much more important to completely disassemble the machine after a few hundred roasts and blow it out with compressed air as it had filled with chaf and a fine "fur."

That's a lotta roasts! thanks Bruce

I'll second what Bruce said, the drum motor on my machine seems to do more filtering than the filter. I use a small sheet of the mentioned oven filter, doubled over. I lift it up towards the end of the roast to increase airflow/drop temp. Never changed it.
My top filter is blanked ( with tin foil) I prefer the roaster to get it's inlet air from somewhere closer to the element, and find it gives better heating.

OK I'll give it that a try. I was using no filter and putting it outside the back door because my wife was getting irritated with the smell/smoke, but the frosty temp out there was depressing the temp of the roast, so I've got hold of the filter paper which I'll try now. I did open the machine up to change the control panel, but some difficulty getting all the screws back in without mashing their heads with the screw driver.