I bought a used Quest M3, took it apart as far as I could, put it back together and in two or three roasts I begin to discover that chaff and sometimes beans manage slip through and fall into the outer drum, right where the heating elements are. The chaff has turned to ashes and I think the beans are all black. Is it normal for chaff and beans to fall into that gap frequently?

A bit of chaff always finds its way down there but beans are not supposed to. I don't even get peaberries or poorly screened small beans down there.

If properly assembled, the gap between the front plate and the drum is too narrow for even the smallest beans to fall through (although a bit of chaff will).

Here's a few things to check: -- the outer three posts to see they are straight and completely screwed in -- the four screws that attach the inner part of the face plate. -- Finally, there may be some gunk on the front or rear couplings of the drum itself.

There's probably other things that can cause the problem, I hope other owners can chime in if these checks don't show anything amiss.

Thanks for the replies. I tried re-assembling it, did 2 roasts, and found some chaff and one bean in the gap; huge improvement from before, when some beans were even falling out from the bottom hole at the back of the drum. I think I didn't fit the shaft of the drum in properly; I didn't notice there is a slot at the end tip, and that I was supposed to align it properly when putting in the drum (although it's puzzling how it managed to rotate the drum if I really failed to slot it in properly).

Previously, after cooling down the roaster, I tried tumbling a few beans in the drum to see what was going on, and found a bean getting stuck in the gap between the drum and the back plate. After a while it dropped to the bottom.

I have to add that the previous owner dropped the roaster before. The rear panels for the cooling fan area are dented, as is the outer "cage" (not sure what that's called) surrounding the drum. No damage to the drum, although I have had some difficulty sitting the outer drum (thinner sheet) on the back plate before putting in the drum and front plate. Could that potentially be a problem?

As far as I can tell, the critical alignments are the drum to the front bearing and the motor shaft, along with the front and rear plates to the three support poles. The sheet metal just needs to be free of gaps (to contain the airflow).

I havnt roasted on the quest for a couple years now. But from memory, I think if the outer shell wasnt seating correctly it would leave room for the drum to slide forward or backwards. I remember when would take mine apart it was always tricky to get the shell to seat properly(and I never dropped mine). So its possible that the shell is the issue.

I have been roasting on a Quest since it was new a year or so ago. Before I ever took it apart for a cleaning I would get an occasional bean down there and I just used a vacuum to extract it.

I have disassembled it several times since and the operation is the same when I put it back together so looking for the random stray bean and dealing with it between roasts is a good idea.