Do cacao beans blend well?
That looks like a lot of work.
After your cocoa beans have been roasted, and possibly cracked and winnowed , the next step in chocolate making is to grind them until they liquefy into cocoa liqueur. Again, I have found many pieces of equipment that just are not up to this task. To name a few, general food processors, Vita-Mix, coffee grinders (burr and blade), meat grinders (manual and electric) and mortar & pestles (we are talking alchemy here after all) are just are not sufficient to the job at hand. I have heard that a Cuisinart juicer attachment can work, but most juicers will not work.
What does work remarkably well is the Champion Juicer. It grinds and separates the husks rather nicely. It does take a few of passes, and care must be taken not rush, as the cocoa mass can become too hot, and flavor can be impacted. I have successfully done a 4 pound batch of cocoa beans in 1/2 hour. This may seem like a long time, but it really is not. After you hit a routine, you can even be cleanup and have your chocolate into your Santha and refining within an hour.
The Champion works best with the cocoa beans in nib form. If you have a Crankandstein Cocoa mill, crack and winnow your cocoa beans. You do not need all of the husk removed. Try and get rid of 90% or so. The remaining 10% makes a fine filter bed in the Champion and will not show up in your finished chocolate.
http://www.chocolatealchemy.com/grinding.php