DavecUK

I have no idea what he is planning, he will really only get some production models built this week and I don’t think any of his three prototypes have gone to anyone.
Anyhow machines should hit some owners in a couple of weeks and we will start to get some feedback.

I’m pretty bummed I did not put the kickstarter deposit, I would like to have one now. Anyone want’s to resale? :D

I’ve decided to try to buy one when the next round of machines become available. I’ll be putting my much modified Silvia (the subject of a restoration thread on this forum) up for sale soon to partially fund it.

    Norvin - Makes sense. As for me, I’m sure it will be a lovely machine. But at the moment (let alone back when the campaign started) I am (was) not comfortable in putting any money down. Far too many unknowns and not a great deal of feedback from users without vested interests.

    Same for the Schuma counter top water distiller, and the Londinium Vectis.

    So yeah, whenever the real thing shows up and people start using and reporting back (hopefully on an open forum rather than a closed one) I’ll then decide whether it’s something for me.

      DavecUK - the point being here is not about the talk and the marketing. It’s about demonstrating what the product can do to their prospective buyers, beyond the glossy video with background music.

      The Niche Zero was the exception, where, prior to the funding campaign, the grinder was dissected (literally) by you, with lots of videos showing in great detail what that grinder was capable off - The only reason why I was a Super Early Bird supporter.

      Unfortunately I haven’t seen this for the items I mentioned above.

        MediumRoastSteam The Niche Zero was the exception, where, prior to the funding campaign, the grinder was dissected (literally) by you, with lots of videos showing in great detail what that grinder was capable off - The only reason why I was a Super Early Bird supporter.

        Well there was literally “nothing” at all to hide….far better to show the product how it really is. Plus I knew the grinder inside out and had tested it for close to 7 months or more.

        it didn’t need to be bigged up in any special way….just does what it says on the tin.

        4 months later

        Just received this update from Odyssey.

        A noticed a reference to an Aussi buyer. Is this your bench, @tompoland 😁

        Odyssey Espresso

        Odyssey Espresso Argos Update: August 1, 2023

        Hello All,

        We’ve gotten behind on updates but wanted to start by saying despite the delays, there are no serious issues. We’re just trying to figure this whole hand built small batch production thing out.

        Quality Control Bottleneck

        The last few weeks of assembly have not been going as smoothly as hoped. Our original quality control procedure involved pulling 4 shots through the Scace unit to verify output temperature was matching the brew set temperature within our expected tolerances. We found that all of the machines that were operating correctly were staying within our 2C tolerance band. The bigger issue we ran into was machines being built incorrectly and having miscellaneous fit or function problems. Those machines had to go back to the build process to be torn apart, corrected, and re-tested.

        This took time to not only figure out how we could modify our assembly process for better success but also modify our QC process to focus more on longevity instead of a single set of shot pulls. We have also modified our assembly procedure to now require each tech to perform an initial test run after they build each machine. If any issue arises, that particular technician will then be able to see the problem and fix it immediately before continuing on to the next build. This previously created a bottleneck for us where a technician would continue building machines that were failing QC then being sent back to rework which prevented us from actually shipping any units out. Our current goal is to have a completely finished and QC’d machine packaged up and ready to ship before a technician can continue on to the next.

        Technician Assembly

        We’re still working on hiring more technicians. Unfortunately we are now down to 2 technicians. We’re very happy with the work that these two are putting out and look forward to continuing to grow our team. We know attention to detail is a must for this role and are still refining our interview process to find technicians that are most likely to succeed in this environment.

        Resolving Issues

        After we sent the initial machines out, we came across a few cases with grounding issues. We’ve since found solutions for all of those which included adding washers to space our PCBs off from the mounting plate more and ensuring that the electrically resistive tape between the PCB and mounting plate fully covers all solder points on the back of the board.

        Updated Quality Control Process

        We have an ever evolving QC process. As we continue to build and test we find new things to add to the list to improve quality and consistency. We’ve started blowing out any residual water from the fill tube and steam wand lines before shipping. This is a simple process but adds an additional step that we think is necessary for general product cleanliness.

        General

        Due to the dynamic nature of a small shop startup we will always continue to try things out, learn, and adapt. We thought that a Launch Checklist with an Order Progress Log would be helpful for customers to track orders as they’re built, QC’d, and shipped out. Unfortunately because we’ve had optimistic projections on our build efficiency and been wrong, we’ve decided to remove this progress log and include what’s been shipped out in our newsletter updates. This way we avoid giving false hope and can aim to do a better job at keeping people up to date with actual progress.

        We know people will continue to ask and make assumptions about when their orders will ship but there is realistically no way to know this information. We have proven that at our current stage, nothing is consistent from week to week in the current build process. We will continue to improve our efficiency and build as many machines as possible but there’s no way to know when exactly you’ll hire new shop techs or lose some. We’re working to make things stable so that projections can be made but cannot promise when that will happen.

        We currently have 8 machines in boxes that have been QC’d multiple times due to our changing and added processes. The only thing left for these machines is the shipping label and dropping them off at FedEx.

        9 more machines need the final stage of water blown out of the lines then are ready to go into boxes.

        Our two shop techs will be back to building new machines this week.

        Ross is taking some time off from his day job to focus on getting the shop organized and working with our techs to implement a streamlined method of going from build all the way to packaged and ready to ship before moving on to the next machine.

        Videos

        A video showing how to swap between springs and from spring to direct has been filmed and is being edited for YouTube.

        A video showing how to install the analog pressure gauge, transducer, or both has also been filmed.

          JHCCoffee not mine JHC. I did order one way back when but onsold my order with permission to another Aussie.

            tompoland

            Yeah but you were still #700 or something weren’t you Tom?
            I’m #114 (44) and hoping to be built soon.
            I ordered as soon as it opened and can only think that the folks ahead of me had some sort of AI program sorted to order in microseconds.

              Amberale

              I am so close I can nearly taste it.

              Of course I have the Vostok to ease any concerns but I am really looking forward to seeing how Ross’s little machine performs.

                Amberale I am as well. I hope to be at Host Milan in October and should be at a lever evening event. Same one I met Ross at in 2019, hopefully he will bring along a production machine.

                To me, it seems a nice, innovative, small lever machine that looks good and also doesn’t cost a ridiculous price. The reason for the attractive price is because presumably he is manufacturing himself directly and not having to have another company make it for him.

                  DavecUK

                  Yes, unsurprisingly, his latest problems are around staff and their attention to detail.
                  It must be frustrating when he is working full time off-site.
                  He is apparently taking some time off his day job to sort out the process.
                  I can see parallels with Wouter, the Strietmen and $$.
                  While Ross wants this to be a sub 1k usd machine it may end up closer to the CT2 if he can’t find techs with opposable thumbs.

                  a month later

                  My latest email update from Ross indicates that he has shipped 22 units. And still struggling with QC issues. As I’m now heavily invested in Decent (ouch) I doubt that I’d consider acquiring an Argos for quite some time. But I continue to follow his adventure. I’d love to read about some actual user experiences, especially anyone here.

                  a year later

                  Anyone eventually buy one of these? What was your user experience? Feel free to write a real world review.

                    Pre orders are shocking this is definitely on my list . Of you buy it now be good. He had some boiler issues then something else be a while yet

                    It’s very difficult to produce a totally new machine and there are always issues you didn’t anticipate. I hope he sent it to lots of people like me and not influencers, to try and get some of the bugs identified and worked out.

                      JHCCoffee I have one arriving in next month or two. Batch one is complete
                      And batch two starts shipping this week.

                      DavecUK

                      Most issues were supplier parts quality related and have been resolved. There was one real design issue, requiring an OPV re-design and retrofit, now done. The rest was being new to production manufacturing; shop floor routing and its inherent QA was eventually worked out, and hiring, always tough.

                      After some bumps and a year-plus delay now over 500 units shipped and volume ramping up. No influencers received it. Supply is strictly based on order date and only real orders. Influencers had to purchase and then wait in line like everyone else.

                      In hindsight, hiring a consulting engineer for independent testing, would have speeded things up as it is too easy to get blind to quirks when one is designing a product and seeing it daily. Also hiring a consulting MRP-certified manufacturing engineer, would have helped tighten up supplier qualifications and shop floor routing at the start. Of course, if the Niche team was doing this they already have a substantial experience curve including pre-Niche, but Ross is certainly getting there.

                      What was remarkable was the transparency and frequent clear communication, which is to my knowledge only equalled by John at Decent. This really kept the Argos community highly positive, despite any bumps. Odyssey is rapidly becoming a very good success story.