Last leg.
Insulated the boiler, used the heat insulating stuff that is used to line oven gloves and ironing boards. Cut a piece using spare boiler as a template and doubled it over. Very quick and easy job. I didn’t insulate the top of the boiler, steam pipe or OPV as I want to used the top plate as a cup warmer.
Put the covers on and ran the autotune. Steam alarm set at 127c and overshoots to 135c. I am not convinced of the need for a steam SSR. I drink flat whites and I only steam a small amount of milk once I have made the espresso. Once espresso is made I flick the steam switch and watch the temperature rise on the PID display, when it gets to 125c or so, I steam milk then turn steam switch off, let it rise too much and it practically blasts the milk out of the jug. I suppose that you need higher temperature if steaming large volumes of milk, which I never do. There’s no need to wait for the temperature to stabilise before steaming and if you did, the espresso will be cold before it does.
The aluminium PID enclosure wouldn’t stay in place. I used pads that are used for sticking numberplates to cars but they wouldn’t stay stuck for long. I had to drill the bottom of the front cover to use a screw to hold the enclosure in place, handy for attaching an earthing point too, I never liked the fact that the metal enclosure wasn’t earthed.
Gave the panels a good clean, smarten up the cable runs with cable ties and will adjust the SV temperature based on taste when I use it. I have an ACS Evo Leva as my ‘daily driver’ so only use the SBDU machines whenever we go away. So I’m thinking of making a plywood case for this to protect it when travelling.
I think this machine’s a keeper, but then again I’ve said that about quite a few other machines in the past.😄