Please don't be specific. To anyone, but particularly in public as this can scuttle your ability to get a patent. If you need to be specific, e.g. with a patent attorney, make sure you sign a non-disclosure agreement first.
The language used in patents is quite different from that used in most technical reports, which is why most will use a patent attorney to translate from layman to patentese.
Be as general as you can in abstracting your process/apparatus as much as you can. Unlike a technical paper, too much detail can also scuttle your patent if your claims are too narrow (include too many limitations) it becomes easy for someone else to work around it. A too detailed CAD drawing can also reveal details of your idea that may not be essential to this current application that you may not want to reveal so be careful.
I'd recommend considering a provisional patent application
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_application which can be cheap-ish (<$500) in the US and picking up this book
http://www.nolo.com/products/patent-it-yourself-pat.html or something like it at your local library. The provisional application is just a placeholder for the real thing and provides nothing but protection for the invention date.
B