Unfortunately the ET probe is the only one not melting. I ordered two new 24" probes today from Omega and should be back in business shortly on the internal drum measurements. If I get those two going reliably, you are right that I probably will not need the ET probe at all, its irrelevant to the beans.

Scott

A photo of probe locations would be great

Its really hard to shoot teeny wires down in a dark drum, but heres a picture.. This is shot through the opened end of the drum. Its hard to see the depth but the probes are halfway down the drum. The lighter one is the MID probe and the darker one is the MET one.



While I was shooting I took a couple other shots of the setup I was using -- one probe is attached to a slip ring and one with the readout taped to the rod. I now need a 4-lead slip ring to run two probes though it; I was originally planning on using only one internal probe. I think I can get a ground current through the metal grill frame and am going to see if I can run each probe off of a slip ring lead and share the ground. Also check out those melted ceramic ends.





Scott

Just did 6, 1.5lb roasts with my Necchi convection top(Galloping Gourmet CO with Necchi 5700rpm adjustable sewing machine motor on the fan). I had just been using the split GG top(single fan speed w/variac on element) while I was learning how to drive With the Necchi I boosted convection(adjustable, also with a high and low range switch) at about 290-300F and was able to keep a good 20+degrees/min rise with a much lower ET by 10-20degress. 460f just before first, 465F MET. Merely adjusted convection during and after first to control advance rate. Fortunately adjusting convection didn't change the ET as the circulation is contained.
Ed