So there's a lot of people buying Minimas on here at the moment and a few experienced users so I thought a thread dedicated to the Minima with questions / information on the machine would be useful to myself and the others who have recently purchased and are about to take the plunge (and to prevent myself from hijacking other people's threads). One question I have to kick us off is about the brew boiler and PID. For some reason my Minima does not seem to like bring set at 93 degrees. Despite me having it set at 93, the display shows it settling at 94. I'm not sure if this is indicative of an issue or standard behaviour. It occasionally will drop to 93 but then goes up to 94 again

Edit…I've just found the PID Values Explained section at the back of the manual where it explains this is normal.

Mine does the same and I confirmed with other Minima users when I bought the machine.

> @"dutchy101"#p6482 Edit…I’ve just found the PID Values Explained section atvthe back of the manual where it explains this is normal. Very good manual that one…, online version available as well. https://sway.office.com/xofz72xFBgYyiWqi?ref=Link

@"dutchy101"#56 @"HVL87"#57 How have you found the stock filter baskets? I'm already thinking of upgrading, but won't do unecessarily quickly - although that is also partly tamper dependent.

@"PortafilterProcrastinator"#p6679 they are fine. Easier to pull a nice looking bottomless shot - in my opinion that doesn’t mean much. I moved on to a 18g VST to optimise my shots as much as possible.

It's been a bit of a transition for me this week as I've changed from Sage 54mm baskets and didn't have a 58mm tamper until a few days after the machine arrived. I got a new distributor yesterday which has also helped so still finding my feet a bit with the stock baskets, but pretty happy with them so far

Thanks both, if they're a similar ID then I can get a tamper (thinking bravo ATM) first and upgrade the basket later when looking for refinement, rather than just trying to make something palatable!

Yeah - I've got a Nomcore 58.5mm tamper on order and coming this week so will get a better handle on things once that has arrived

@"dutchy101"#p6686 I'd be really interested and grateful to hear how you get on. How are you finding the Minima overall?

Absolutely loving it - so glad I went with it I'm really enjoying using it. How about you? Made my wife a tea using water from the service boiler to drain some water this morning and she commented how much better it looked and tasted (using the zero and remineralised water I've been making up).

The General ACS Minima Thread

jglez3

Hi again,

So… I tried to access to the steam wand valve and it’s impossible to get that out.

I have the service boiler out of the way (there’e just one wire on the bottom that I can unplug if necessary), but I don’t know what to do to get that fitting out of there to add some PTFE.

@DavecUK any tips?

Thanks!

Abcan

I’d say hold the nut at the red arrow and turn using a spanner on the flat on the elbow fitting at the yellow arrow.

Cuprajake

they are super tight, you dont need to hold the nut, just the elbow, its permanent lock tite. you need something that is tight on the fixing or you will damage it, and its a specific acs/italian fitting not available in the uk. use a long spanner, you need leverage, if/once off clean all the threads apply 6-8 or so wraps of ptfe tape and re assemble

DavecUK

As jake said, be very careful with the elbow. As Jake said, be very careful with the elbow. Unless the spanner fits the flats perfectly, you will damage it.

jglez3

Ok… seems like its slowly moving now. Jeez, these italians make things difficult.

Thanks for the tips!

I had to hold like hell the nut on the external part of the steam wand or when trying to unscrew everything was turning around.

jglez3

Finally!! Elbow out, nut out, steam wand out.

There’s a little bit of scale in that elbow 🤯

Now it’s time to clean it up completely, add some PTFE and get everything in place again.

Thank you so much for all the tips, you can’t imagine how much I appreciate it.

DavecUK

jglez3 I went bananas in the factory about permanent threadlock 8 months ago. They should no longer be using it on prosumer machines and are using lorxeal 18 -10 which is expensive, or loctite 542 med strength.

I remind them of it every visit including this one. I also had them move to a food safe silicone lubricant of superior quality 90 euro per Kg (trade price). As you can imagine I’m super popular. Especially as I moaned about something else on the lever slow release system and had all the machines changed. Went down like a lead balloon with Paolo, but the workers building the machines were 100% behind me and just got on with it. Of course if anything goes wrong at the exhibition Paolo will be waiting to pounce. 😉

Abcan

DavecUK at least they listen to your advice. It’s one of the reasons I went for the Minima as they seem to keep developing it where they could just leave it make more money.

P.S thanks for nagging them! 😂

jglez3

Well… my Minima is finally fixed! Thank you again Dave, Jake and Abcan for your help.

The first time has not been easy. I hope I don’t have to open it again, but at least I know how to do it.

Now… Once I had everything PTFEd and assembled, I made a coffee and when I was going to steam… leaking on the external nut that connects to the steam wand. Internal fixed, external leaking…

Apparently, when I was unscrewing the elbow part it unscrewed a little bit that nut too. So… disassemble everything again, put some PTFE on that part and assemble for a second time, start the machine to check if everything is ok… and it is.

DavecUK

Now it’s done with PTFE It should never leak again. Also, it might be worth reading my knowledge base post about that type of compression steam valve and how to use it properly..

Ovidiu

Alexvs my machine only came with one tip (2 wholes) so I am wondering if you could share where/what steam tip works on the minima, and how would I unscrew the old one? It looks so seamless to me, it didn’t even occur that one could change it.

DavecUK

Ovidiu my machine only came with one tip (2 wholes) so I am wondering if you could share where/what steam tip works on the minima, and how would I unscrew the old one? It looks so seamless to me, it didn’t even occur that one could change it.

They do unscrew, a little while back the steam tips were being put on with threadlock by the manufacturers workers, or the wand manufacturer, until I went bananas (because of the utter stupidity), so it might be hard to remove if it’s an older machine.

FadedFrontiers

Would appreciate some advice on an issue I’ve encountered with the Minima’s otherwise great steaming capabilities.

After closing off the steam knob carefully (as per the forum’s own compression valve instructions - thanks @DavecUK), there continues to be a hiss and slight bubbling from the steam tip afterwards for up to a minute or so: Video

I took apart the valve and found a small crack in the side of the pin holding the teflon seal (picture) so swapped in the hot water valve pin in the hope that it would fix it.

While it slightly improved it, the overall problem persists which I assume means the valve seat has become deformed by overtightening from the previous owner (which may well have damaged the end of the pin also). I tried another working steam valve pin to double check it wasn’t just the first two, but this didn’t fix it either.

FWIW I’ve tried my best to take a photo of the inside of the valve but it proved too much for my phone camera and photography skills, apologies for the quality.

Does the valve seat sound like the culprit and should I replace the whole valve / try my luck with a valve seat reamer?

Thanks

DavecUK

FadedFrontiers Does the valve seat sound like the culprit and should I replace the whole valve / try my luck with a valve seat reamer?

Swapping with the water valve should solve the problem, but you need a new valve stem, as the cup holding the teflon has split. This is usually due to closing too hard, which you may have done in the early days?

The stems are inexpensive and fairly standard items. You can use a brass one, the one you have looks like Zero lead brass because of the colour, or perhaps it’s chromed?

FadedFrontiers

DavecUK Swapping with the water valve should solve the problem, but you need a new valve stem, as the cup holding the teflon has split. This is usually due to closing too hard, which you may have done in the early days?

The stems are inexpensive and fairly standard items. You can use a brass one, the one you have looks like Zero lead brass because of the colour, or perhaps it’s chromed?

Thanks for the quick reply - that’s what I thought and I did swap in the hot water stem to test it but the issue is still there (I said pin in my previous post but meant stem).

Edit: just reread your reply - I originally thought you meant just the swapping stems, will swap valves and order a new pin, thanks!

FadedFrontiers

DavecUK Swapping with the water valve should solve the problem

Thanks for convincing me to swap them rather than order a new one to avoid the dreaded red threadlock on the water valve… took a bit of effort but the hot water joint seemed to come away easier than the steam valve did - was still a pita though 😁.

Abstracted

I’m very sad/frustrated/angry to report that my Minima has been delivered to some guy, with my same name, in Florida.

Meanwhile I sit here in California wondering what the hell happened…

🤬😭

Abcan

Abstracted

oh no! Hopefully you’ll get it sorted out. Good luck!

Cuprajake

Abstracted what the actual fcuk how does that even happen

DavecUK

Abstracted I’m very sad/frustrated/angry to report that my Minima has been delivered to some guy, with my same name, in Florida.

Meanwhile I sit here in California wondering what the hell happened…

Any more news on this?

MediumRoastSteam

Hi dfk, some context:

dfk41 ou have to ask how popular the Lucca is, especially in the UK and where you would source one from.

Abstracted lives in California, USA.

Abstracted I’m very sad/frustrated/angry to report that my Minima has been delivered to some guy, with my same name, in Florida.

Meanwhile I sit here in California wondering what the hell happened…

Lucca is not a machine: It’s a collection of machines by Clive Coffee. They seem to be specially made or re-badged coffee machines and grinders from different manufacturers:

https://luccaespresso.com/

I think Clive Coffee is quite a reputable seller in the USA, from what I hear.

https://clivecoffee.com/collections/lucca

I can imagine the frustration from @Abstracted - imagine having an expensive item ordered from overseas, delivered to a totally different address thousands of miles away. Insane. Who knows what happened there, and I hope it gets sorted out soon.

Once a similar thing happened to me, with a Kinu M68 grinder. It simply got “lost” in transit. No where to be seen. The resolution was different: Christian (main person behind Kinu, a tiny german company back then in 2017) sent me another one straight away and said that, if it does turn up, to just contact him and he will have it collected from me. It never turned up. After talking to him a few weeks afterwards, he told me not to worry and he would take that with the courier - DHL in that case. Now, that’s service.

DavecUK

Oh crap

PortafilterProcrastinator

So I’ve been looking around at toggle legend options and think it is going to be tricky, so any other ideas welcome! @Verion

The main custom options seem to be for vintage cars, e.g. https://www.classicgent.co.uk/products/toggle-switch-tag-tab-labels-classic-car-boat-land-rover-any-text?variant=41171843580043&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=CjwKCAjw15eqBhBZEiwAbDomEoNOvtCisG8DAEdPbGevOzc6b9WVBXW-wFJFioIw-YJngiyNE5b4cBoCLqQQAvD_BwE

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1301463529/classic-car-toggle-switch-label-tags-any?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=toggle+switch+labels&ref=sc_gallery-1-1&frs=1&sts=1&plkey=20baa813d99781cce3a4f3b152de7374bb767a73%3A1301463529

There are also the more traditional ones, but these won’t be specific to boilers and brewing.

https://mt.rsdelivers.com/browse/electrical-automation-cables/switches/toggle-switches-slide-switches/toggle-switch-legends

Im wondering if there might be somewhere that would stamp some blank metal plates, but then they would likely want a min order etc etc.

Verion

PortafilterProcrastinator I was thinking something like a custom Les Paul switch plate.

Les Paul switch plate

I’ll have a look around and see if anyone does customs. If they do and the hole is the right size, then it’s a case of deciding on the wording and the colour.

Abcan

I quite like the ones in the first link. I’ve found a place that will laser cut the same shape that is currently on the machine in 2mm thick aluminium. The cost is around £15 for 2. I’m in the process of seeing if a friends laser etcher will etch the aluminium. I’m also going to try spraying the ally black and etching the paint. I’ll order once I find a solution to marking the ally. Any suggestions welcome!

This place will make them.

http://jienco.co.uk/

PortafilterProcrastinator

Abcan That’s really interesting.

Will they cut any shape? Given the angles of the machine, there could be a shape that matches better?

Also, have you thought about anodizing the aluminium? Various videos on YouTube, looks relatively simple.

I’d be interested in exploring further with you.

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