Just thinking aloud here, but… if the piston is full or partially full of water and the spring compressed… in order to decompress fully and the lever go all the way up in a split second, all the water needs to leave the piston immediately. If the venting hole is, say, 5mm in diameter (I don’t know how wide it is, but maybe it’s half of that!) he water will escape slowly, and consequently the lever won’t ever give you a kick in the teeth?

I could provide you with some mathematical formulae to calculate the flow rate and rate of decompression, but it would take me months as I’d need to re-read my physics books…. 🤣

Now, imagine what would happen if the portafilter on the group (54mm diameter hole) disengages all of a sudden… 😬

    Cuprajake

    Sorry are u referring to the what happens when the left paddle is actuated or what happens if the lever hamdle is pulled down on an empty portsfilter and then accidentally the lever handle is released ?

    tompoland Hi Tom, thank you for sharing. I liked the video very much, the Western music was a nice touch 😀. I am sure you have seen it, but it is ironic (and might be a bit negligent) to have such a technology beast and the coffee coming out to be so thin. I would expect something viscous to come out down the spouts.
    I wonder how this machine can be serviced but by a qualified engineer. I doubt they will go for a single group, as most likely not many would go for it, as I suspect it would be cost prohibitive for home use.
    It seems the lever trend goes from strong to stronger. Happy days 😀

    Current setup: ACS Vesuvius, Nuova Simonelli Mythos One. Past experience, Nuova Simonelli Apia 1 gr., San Remo Capri 1 gr., Bezzera BZ 35e, Fracino Heavenly. Anfim Super Lusso.

    Contact me at: john_yossarian11@yahoo.com

      MediumRoastSteam you make a very good point. Water is incompressible, at least up to 300 bars, so it has to leave the building and it would take time trough, as you say let’s assume 5 mm in diameter vent hole.

      Current setup: ACS Vesuvius, Nuova Simonelli Mythos One. Past experience, Nuova Simonelli Apia 1 gr., San Remo Capri 1 gr., Bezzera BZ 35e, Fracino Heavenly. Anfim Super Lusso.

      Contact me at: john_yossarian11@yahoo.com

      yeah accident,

      so pull the lever down, infuse press wrong paddle/button and vent the group

      i too think it will be a vent hole size to allow only so much flow

      Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

        John_Yossarian

        Apparently kees van der westen has announced that they will not be making a single group lever machine of any kind not even of the speedster nor of the idrocompresso. The former was due to the fact that the speedster chassis would tip over if the lever is pulled ansld the latter is evidently due to the very design of rhe idrocompresso itself.

        Cuprajake

        If the lever is pulled down and water fills the grouphead, this must mean that there is a portwfilter locked in with ground coffee inside to provide the backstop to have that pressurised state. Because otherwise water will just flow straight into the drip tray and the grouphead cannot fill up. If that is the case and if the left paddle is accidentally pulled, then the nurri lever arm will safely rise and the grouphead will vent.

        Having said that, I cannot envision a situation where the left paddle can accidentally be pulled. The paddle is quite high up on the groiphead and one’s hand is usually never anywhere near the paddle at any time unless one wants to actuate it. On top of that the action is pulling and not pushing and so that is rvne more difficult to do accidentally or so it appears to me…

        you cant account for stupid though, we once had a cleaner who washed a plugged in toaster in a bucket of water,

        so you have to cater for every eventuality how ever stupid lol,

        Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

          tompoland

          The aesthetics of the slim jim look better than a lot of other lever machines that’s for sure. However I may be nitpicking but it does not seem to be as cohesive design wise as it could have been especially when compared to my favourite KvDW design, the original Speedster with all the embossed circles. This is all subjective of course and it still looks better than most of the espresso machines out there of any type…

          Cuprajake

          I think the only situation where one could be in danger for any lever is if one pulls down the lever of any machine out there on an empty portafilter - the one big no no of spring lever practice. Unless the lever happens to be the slim Jim idiocompresso, a La San Marco lever machine equipped with their patented CLASS system, or the LM LEVA X, releasing the lever in those circs will result in rhe lever violently flying upwards with all the force of rhe springs. But this is true of any other spring lever in the world…

          Using the paddles as part of one’s daily practice should however make that accident more unlikely because that means that there is no need to ever touch rhe lever handle let alone pull it down unless one has filled the portafiltrr with coffee grounds and locked it in the grouphead. I believe that was part of Antonio’s original purpose for coming out with the paddles.

            Cuprajake if there are grounds in the basket and the lever is pulled down and the left paddle is activated, all that is going to happen is that the water that is under pressure will end up in the drip tray.

            The only danger that I can see, is the same as any other sprung lever which is the lever being released with no grinds in the basket and whammo, broken jaw,

            Even allowing for your people who wash toasters in buckets, I can’t see how they could have an accident by venting the group head, with or without coffee grinds.

            Unless I am missing something…

            Yeah I know just thinking out loud about the feature not the machine,

            As its something I can see coming to more modern levers as they progress

            Like was say now on the vostok, prob work it’s way to the Evo too,

            Easiest way to check what it does is to choke the lever and press the paddle , any volunteers 🤣

            I think we all presume the same thing.

            I’ve only let go of a lever once in my life on the londinuim, I does make you think haha

            Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

              It seems to me that the best solution to make levers safe is what LSM did, basically a one-way damper which limits the speed at which the lever can move upwards. This way, whenever pressure is drops quickly in the brew chamber, voluntarily or accidentally, nothing serious happens. I presume LSM has a patent on this idea unfortunately, as implementing it can be done fairly easily using various approaches (yes, this might change the aesthetics slightly and add a few parts, but not that much)

                Cuprajake asiest way to check what it does is to choke the lever and press the paddle , any volunteers 🤣

                I already answered this in post 111.

                Viernes The release paddle was created to end the shot, the possibility to backflush a lever and also vent pressure in case of choking and avoid portafilter sneezing which splashes hot water.

                Lever goes back smoothly to the start position.

                @Cuprajake

                As viernes said, releasing pressure if the machine is choked is precisely one of the reasons why the left paddle solution was invented by nurri.

                  Eiffel

                  Wouldn’t the LSM CLASS patented damping system make it impossible to ‘force’ the lever to increase pressure by pushing on the lever handle to speed its ascent?

                  Frankly I am not sure why there seems so much anxiety over the lever handle whipping up. The only way this will happen is if the lever is pulled down on an empty portafilter or no portafilter and then released. The best way to prevent that from happening is to never even touch or pull down on the lever to the cocked position when there is no portafilter loaded or there is nothing in that portafilter. In the past when I owned an izzo the only time when I had to break that rule was when I needed to repeatedly flush the grouphead to raise temperature but I was always conscious of the danger the lever posed because it took real effort to keep pulling it down and then retarding its progress upwards when I flushed it. I sure do not miss that exercise routine nowadays with the nurri whe i can just set the temp I want by using the pid!

                  • LMSC replied to this.

                    chlorox I know 🤦😃

                    Giphy - homer simpson spinning GIF

                    Think we’re mixing the conversation, I understand the system, and is use

                    But I’ve not seen anyone purpose choke a nurri/Vostok and then vent.

                    As @MediumRoastSteam said we’re looking at the mechanism of the leva returning

                    As easy you are around the machine doesn’t mean everyone would be, and imagine in a commercial settings where you are mid shot and someone reaches for a cup of the top warmer and hits the paddle, as far fetched as that seems, that’s why they call them accidents.

                    Any way let’s move one

                    Can we have some more vids please.

                    Giphy - star trek data GIF by HULU

                    Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                      I don’t know how the LSM CLASS system works, but one could imagine a system similar to the dampers on a car. With these, small amplitude movements can happen at fairly high frequencies/fast, but compressing or releasing fully the shocks takes longer due to the dampening effect of oil going through narrow passages and/or valves.

                      It seems to me that the main danger with spring levers coffee machines is that the lever can swing back very quickly if there is nothing to slow it down, such as a coffee puck. Reducing the maximum release rate would reduce the risk of injuries. I would still make for a messy scene with hot water, coffee grounds or even potentially broken cups in some situations

                        Cuprajake

                        In all the years I have used levers I have only choked my machine once from my recollection. Not yet with the nurri even at nearly max fineness setting on my grinder. So not so easy for me anyway to find myself in that situation!

                        In any event, there is no need to actually do that in order to be assured that the lever won’t smack you - because there isn’t any difference between that situation and when we end a shot with the paddle. On fact there would be more water left in the grouphead if the paddle is accidentally triggered at the start of the shot and so the speed of the lever going up should be even slower…