it’s a real mystery, neither of the washes contained any items with pockets, we keep all spare and loose keys in a box to save hunting for them when needed, we have contacted everyone that has stayed here in the last six months and nobody has lost any keys.
As Arthur Conan Doyle said “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” Therefore it must have been the Illuminati. 😁
@Norvin Great project, have enjoyed following.
I am also, if I may, going to use this as a ‘well I could always…’ with my family when they tell me my home based set up is getting out of hand!
Snagging.
So I took the Silvia away with us on a three night break, the first time that it had really been used in anger rather than just for testing. It’s a bit of an extravagence but it’s not much trouble to carry it from the car into the accommodation. On the first morning all was well, grinding coffee beans for four cups on an aerospeed wasn’t much of a chore. The coffee was good. The problems started on the second day, there were leaks at the group seal, jets of water were spritzing all over, water was running down into the cup and along the handle onto the floor. No surprise that the coffee was weak. Sometimes the pressure gauge registered about four bar, presumably because of all the leaking water. Things didn’t get any better on the last morning.
When I got home I looked carefully at the setup and didn’t find anything that would obviously cause the leaking but found a few issues which may be of interest;
The ears on the aftermarket bottomless portafilter that came with the machine didn’t quite fit, I could see that they had been filed at some time in an effort to make them fit but were still not right. This made the portafiter hard to locate (hence the misfitting in the picture in my previous post) and perhaps not centralising the basket lip on the seal as the stubs of the filed off ears were stilll protruding a bit. They needed filing to both shorten them to fit the slots and to fit centrally into the grouphead.
The rim of the shower screen wasn’t fitting over the brass block. The metal behind the screen was slightly dished out so instead of the edge of the screen fitting over the block there was a gap, water would flow through this gap rather than go through the screen mesh. I sandwiched the screen between two thick washers and pressed them together in a vice to flatten the screen, It now fits. The old, presumably original, screen that came with the machine was flat. Something to look for in aftermarket screens.
I reduced the OPV to show 9.5 bar on the gauge, which probably translates to about 8.5 at the puck.
I had noticed that the PID was very slow to respond. Placing the sensor of my digital thermometer under a steam thermostat screw next to the PID sensor I noticed that there was a distinct lag between the temp showing on the PID display to that showing on the thermometer. I had fitted a small thin steel washer between the PT100 thermocouple sensor and the top of the boiler, removing the washer got rid of the lag. So the washer was causing the lag and therefore affecting the operation of the PID, slowing down the recovery times after pulling a shot. I had used the autotune to set the PID settings but changed them for some recommended for the Silvia found on the internet. The offset was changed by +2C to get the two sets of temperatures to align.
The next points relate to setting up to use with the aerspeed;
Hopefully, with this setup I can now fill the aerspeed with beans, grind until empty, tip all the grounds directly into the IMS basket, tamp and pull the shot. Handy when you are away from home and want minimum faff.
So it’s all perfect now, right? Well we’ll see. I’m going to leave it out in the kitchen to make at least one coffee per day until I get the settings right and I’m reasonably happy that it won’t let me down next time I go away with it. Latest coffee was made with 18g beans weighed out, which filled the bean chamber in the aerspeed, grounds tipped into the IMS basket (I knew one of those 58mm funnels would come in handy one day), 25 seconds for 37g espresso, no leaks. I’ll try grinding finer tomorrow but if it stays consistent at that, I’ll be happy.
Just a bump for this thread. I fancy an Argos Odyssey as it is smaller and would replace this as a travelling machine. So I am going to list this machine for sale very soon. If anybody here is interested please contact me on the email at the bottom of my signature.
Norvin I’ve tried various parts to divert 3-way flow out into the drip tray and by far the best thing I’ve found is heat shrink tubing. Found a piece that is just large enough to slip onto the pipe and then I cut a notch in the front to force flow out into the tray instead of splashing all over. It’s flexible enough to allow the tray to be removed easily, but I don’t bother with that and prefer to keep a few sponges in the tray that absorb all flow. I simply rinse them out daily and wash often and the drip tray looks/smells like new every day.
I’ve been using this machine over the last week and noticed few issues.
That’s a pretty good solution. I noticed that there was some water under the tray, there is a gap between the tray and the bulkhead that is letting the water past, especially if the tray is fitted at its forwardmost point. I have crimped outlet end of the blue water pipe in a vice so it is now a slot, orientated right to left so all water from the solenoid is directed into the tray. The outlet is still above the lip of the tray so that it can be easily slid out for emptying.
I also noticed that water was still spritzing and running down the portafilter into the cup. after some investigation I found that it was getting past the group gasket at extraction pressure. I replaced the (8.5mm) green silicone gasket with a standard rubber type and the problem is solved.
The pump was louder than I thought it should be, I found that the outlet from the pump to the hose was touching the inner bulkhead. Also, the bottom of the rear case is poorly supported and was rattling against the frame, a bit of foam or rubber would cure that but I bent the case slightly so it’s now pressed against the frame. Sounds much quieter now.
I have decided to keep the machine for now and sell it when the Argos is readily available and has user reviews, which may be some time now.
Norvin I posted this some time ago on another forum and still find that to work quite well. I have added a thin piece of sponge behind the heat shrink tube to prevent any splash back and haven’t had a single issue since setting it up.
