My squeak also returned while roasting last weekend. I tried to re-oil between roasts but had no luck getting it to stop. Will need to do a full teardown before I try again.

Did a full tear down, re-lubed everything and managed to lose (and replace) one of the bearing bushings. The bearing nearest the face was a little dirty, but no other obvious culprits. I took the motor apart (again) and re-lubed that. I managed to put a crack in the sight glass during the teardown process; not sure how. If you're doing a teardown, be gentle with it. Will fire the roaster up again in the next few days and report back.

Note: Couldn't wait so I roasted a batch. Not a single squeak.

Having to grease a moving part could be considered routine maintenance. However, parts that need to be greased shouldn't be difficult to get to and certainly shouldn't require a full tear down. I've had around 80 roasts since I regreased mine and haven't had an issue yet. It seems like there isn't a permanent fix.

Sure there is. Bearings might require repacking but if you use a high quality high temp grease you shouldn't have to do it very often. Any other squeaking noises must be caused by metal to metal contact. Find the source of the noise & fix the contact issue.

Milligan wrote:Having to grease a moving part could be considered routine maintenance. However, parts that need to be greased shouldn't be difficult to get to and certainly shouldn't require a full tear down. I've had around 80 roasts since I regreased mine and haven't had an issue yet. It seems like there isn't a permanent fix.

Just from the limited amount of posts on the internet, it seems like newer machines are the ones having this issue. First, I could be wrong on that but that's what I'm getting from the posts. Two, has production changed or materials being used? That's what my concern is.

Overall it might be nothing. All products can have issues. It's just hard to tell if these are isolated things because there aren't the amount of users online at this point.

The fist thing I though of when I was the video is, does it continue after the roast is finished? If you then stop the drum for a minute and turn it back on is the squeak still there. Can you pull the connector between the motor and the drum in that minute? If you do, does it go away. If so, the squeak is in the drum, otherwise it's in the motor. Have you tried using a small hose as a stethoscope to see if you can pinpoint the location more accurately?

As I've cataloged earlier in the thread, I've taken mine apart and looked extensively at how the roaster works. The motor uses a worm gear driving a normal gear. The worm gear causes an axial force along the shaft. This force is taken up by the plastic gear inside the gear housing on the back of the machine. I think what happens over time is the grease gets wiped away toward the outside of the gear where it doesn't make contact. This in combination with the high heat dried out the original grease that was used. I used high temperature grease made for rotational assemblies so it has more "stick" even at higher heat levels. This remedied it for me, but it won't be forever. I'll need to get back in at some point to regrease it.

That is where my comment comes in about things that need grease should be easy to get to. Unfortunately, the area behind the gear that needs grease can only be accessed by taking the entire motor assembly off the roaster. To get to those bolts the drum has to be removed. There is no easy fix for the accessibility issue as the roaster is currently designed.

For home use, a high quality heat rated grease made for rotational use will likely be enough for years. I think the main problem was the grease from the factory was either inappropriately applied using too little grease or the type of grease was changed. If this assembly was originally used as a wiper motor then it likely wasn't made to take high heat loads. Perhaps the first batches simply got lucky with high heat rated grease being used while the later ones (post pandemic) used grease not appropriate for the conditions of this roaster.

Hi Tim, any chance of you posting pics of where you remediated the noises. I have one of the newer machines and I have started to hear this squeaking noise..Thanks

I documented it earlier in this thread with pictures and such. Let me know if you need any specifics that aren't explained.

Any updates on how the squeaking is going/resolved for those that have encountered this issue?