How tall is your chimney? I also agree with what has already been said, fill the fire box to the top of the brick then fill the Hopper. A hotter fire will give you better draft but will also cook you out of your home; open some window stats.
One thing I don't see in your pics is a manometer, many of us use the Dwyer Model 25 (Mark II ), look on EBay, you can usually get them fairly cheap. DS Machines recommends draft settings to be between .03"-.06"; at least on my DSM DS-1600 that's what it is, so I'm assuming it's the same for all their stoves. Also, add some magnetic thermometers to the top of the stove, just after the stove outlet (before your MPD) and a third one about 12"-24" after your MPD. This way you can get a better sense of what your stove is doing.
One thing I don't do is open the ash door to let the fire "warm" up before shaking down. I just let the bimetallic thermostat do all the work.
