insects and Coffee

So…

Pretty strapped for time of late, I know, excuses, but I have been telling some you all out there that I would get this up on the site soon. So, without dragging on further here it is …no directions, no photos, nothing but “here it is.”

>>> the ROBUR dosing MOD template. (Took Off Line —making adjustment to Template).

I’ll get some photos of an install up later this week, or rather early next week. And when I get the time I’ll write up some instructions on the PDF file as well. The photos of an Older version are up on FLICKR, pretty much the same idea, only this MOD is much, much better.

>>>basically,

• print template at 100%
• use template to cut a plastic MOD
• remove doser
• remove lever plate
• bend plastic MOD into shape
• replace lever plate (putting screws thru MOD holes to secure)
• replace doser.

For now, enjoy.

Made a major revision of my first doser(dosing) MOD… Going to post a
template and photos here shortly… but tonight, heading to bed, for
it is late and I have to be at the Cafe bright’n early.

Pretty excited about how well it works… so much better than the
early model… great distribution, tiny, tiny bit of waste(mostly due
to static).

elvin iPod message

Yes! The digital timer Mod works great. But… turns out, just as I had suspected, I need a tighter grip on the delay. The MDL grinds 16.5 grams of coffee in 2 seconds, and 23.3 in 3 seconds. And so, looks as tho I do really need to order the new IC for my circuit board.

Then, maybe I’ll rip in to the MDL or maybe take the Timer over to the Dancing Goats Espresso Bar and install it in the ROBUR (with the ROBUR I’ll have to bypass the switch, it has a starter mechanism in there that I am not familiar with yet—have not ripped a ROBUR switch apart yet).

Meanwhile, got a message from Roberto at NUOVA, he has a different Timing mechanism in his warehouse that may meet my needs with the MDL.

Here is what the current Timer MOD and box looks like (the external model that is, if I keep it as an external type I’ll have to trick it out in some retro-futuristic style) >>>

<<<

Not very pretty, but hey, it works!

The most obvious is this web site, if you’ve been check’n it out in the past few days. I’ve been trying to tweak the CSS, not much luck yet. WordPress has so many little files and I’ve yet to figure out which ids and classes go to what, and how.

On to good things, I have not gotten the go ahead quite yet to rip in to and install a digital timer Mod on Nuova’s MDL (the grinder in on loan from them), and so I’ve made this external timer Modual that I can plug the MDL in to, or any thing for that matter.

I’ll be trying this out tomorrow, in spite of not having my newly programmed IC yet. The IC in my timer Mod has 1 second delays, I want 0.1 second delays (more control). I need to order the part from the original programmer… and well… he lives in Australia. It is going to take a little time. Maybe I’ll have it when I get back from Mexico. Yep!Heading to Mexico for a week, out of the dark wet Northwest for a bit.

We’ll, i’ve moved things to a new host… and so, starting over with the blog.

Going to jump straight into things and if i find any thing from the old site that may be interesting i’ll try and move it over into the archives at some point.

On to the exciting things!

I just got a new grinder from the folks at NUOVA Simonelli, the MDL… at first I thought that it might be too much of a machine for me to handle: on, off and that is it — 19 grams in 3-4 seconds, or there abouts.

The first stumbling block with this grinder was all the coffee spraying out into the dosing chamber leaving all the fine particulate stuck to the sides of the chamber, every once in awhile dropping to the bottom effectively changing up the grind on me. With NUOVA’s MDM the same thing happens. This is easily fixed on the MDM by holding your fingers in front of the throat of the grinder until the it clogs up and starts dropping the grounds straight down in to the doser. This was not the case with the faster MDL. With the MDL this clog would blow out very quickly. I messed around with a lot of ideas and finally came up with this…

I modified the throat of the grinder with this bit of plastic (from a milk jug) to stop the coffee from spraying out of the burrs, now the coffee drops straight down; no more static, no more spray.

Hands down my new favorite grinder.

Fast. Very fast. Too fast. I am now working on installing a digital timer.

—elvin