So after making my first batch of home roasted coffee in a popcorn popper: http://hubski.com/pub?id=72859 I discovered that the thermostat wasn't letting the unit get hot enough to roast the beans to second crack. This is pretty common with these units, and so is modding them to get around that problem. Attached is a pictorial guide I made to modding a West Bend Air Crazy popper for home roasting. The units are $20 at Target, and a pretty cheap way to try out home roasting.
After modification, the popper produced beans that were far darker. Success: