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7Aug/120

99% Invisible – Awesome design podcast by @romanmars

So a colleague of mine knows i'm into anything design related and suggested I gave Roman Mars' 99% invisible podcast a try, and to be honest i'm now hooked.

99% invisible discusses aspects of design and architecture that are very often unnoticed by users, aspects that if not considered would completely change the dynamic and feel of the environments and technologies they exist in.

The podcast itself has very high production values, each episode is no more than 10 minutes long - a perfect amount of time for anybody with an attention span as short as mine. The topics Roman discusses in his shows are really fascinating, his narration style and seamless interjection of important anecdotes really aids the understanding and flow of the production. I was hooked after listening to his first podcast: 99% noise, which discusses the value of of acoustic design, soundscape and enabling noise levels in shared spaces.

I throughly recommend this podcast if you're even the slightest bit interested in design. :)

http://99percentinvisible.org

Roman is currently rasing funds for season 3 on Kickstarter, check it out here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1748303376/99-invisible-season-3

 

Filed under: design, science, technology No Comments
18Mar/120

Introducing the Ghetta (Ghetto Fretta)

A few weeks ago my friend and I got into having Frettas at our regular saturday coffee shop - Coffee Supreme's Customs Brewbar in Wellington. A Fretta is non pressureised coffee brewed directly through ice which rapidly cools down and dilutes the coffee making a very refreshing drink.

Hario make a v60 based ice coffee brewer - the Fretta - of which the average price is NZ$50

 

While i was at Moore Wilson last Saturday afternoon i came across a Klip-It Container:

The next day i presented it to my friend and suggested we filled it with ice and brewed some coffee using our swiss gold filters directly onto the ice and try to replicate the refreshing nature that a Fretta offers.

 

The filter doesn't fit over the container exactly but it was close enough to test the concept.

It worked rather well (though obviously not as clean as you'd get from using the Hario filter papers) Regardless,  it was still pretty damn good.

The fact that the swiss gold didn't sit properly presented a bit of an issue, so using our 3D printer my friend designed an adapter for the container so that we could put the swiss gold onto it and leave room for evaporation:

Design in OpenScad:

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$fn							= 360/2;
 
fudge_factor				= 2;
 
wall_thickness				= 2;
 
vessel_od					= 109 + fudge_factor + wall_thickness;
swissgold_id				= 89 - fudge_factor - wall_thickness;
 
cone_height					= 20;
vessel_lip_height			= 4;
vessel_inner_lip_width		= 7;
vessel_inner_lip_height	= 12;
swissgold_lip_height		= 5;
 
y_max						= 96.5;
 
difference() {
 
	union() {
 
		difference() {
			cylinder( h = swissgold_lip_height, r = swissgold_id/2 );
			cylinder( h = swissgold_lip_height, r = swissgold_id/2 - wall_thickness );
		}
 
		translate( [ 0, 0, swissgold_lip_height ] ) {
			difference() {
				cylinder( h = cone_height, r = swissgold_id/2, r2 = vessel_od/2 );
				cylinder( h = cone_height, r = swissgold_id/2 - wall_thickness, r2 = vessel_od/2 - wall_thickness );
			}
 
			intersection() {
				translate( [ 0, 0, cone_height - vessel_inner_lip_height ] ) {
					difference() {
						cylinder( h = vessel_inner_lip_height, r = vessel_od/2 );
						cylinder( h = vessel_inner_lip_height, r = vessel_od/2 - vessel_inner_lip_width );
					}
				}
 
				cylinder( h = cone_height, r = swissgold_id/2, r2 = vessel_od/2 );
			}
 
			translate( [ 0, 0, cone_height ] ) {
				difference() {
					cylinder( h = vessel_lip_height, r = vessel_od/2 );
					cylinder( h = vessel_lip_height, r = vessel_od/2 - wall_thickness );
				}
			}
		}
 
	}
 
	translate( [ 0, y_max, 0 ] ) {
		cube( [ 100, 100, 100 ], center = true );
	}
 
	translate( [ 0, 0-y_max, 0 ] ) {
		cube( [ 100, 100, 100 ], center = true );
	}
 
	#translate( [ 0, 200/2, swissgold_lip_height + 50 ] ) {
		rotate( [ 90, 0, 0 ] ) {
			cylinder( r = 50, h = 200 );
		}
	}
}

 

After it printed, it looked like this:

 

And finally: the finished product - the adapter cost $0.51 to print, the Klip it container was $3.50. The total cost was $4.01 (I already own a Swiss Gold, so i don't factor that into it, but they cost NZ$39)

Filed under: coffee, fixer, technology, tinker, tools No Comments
6Sep/110

How To: Make a Coffee Dump/Bash Box – on the cheap

So, these past few weeks have been all about Coffee and making things... I make no apologies for that :-) I love both making things and coffee... and in a few days i'll probably have made something else coffee related. The past few things i've made have involved using my 3D printer, but this time i've gone back to the more traditional tools...

  • Hot Knife
  • Scissors
  • File
  • Dremel
  • Silicone sealant
Yeah... pretty basic stuff here :)
So I figured, bashing my portafilter against the side of the sink is probably not an ideal way to get the spent grounds out of the basket... My friend suggested i went to Moore Wilson and buy one of their Dump/Bash Boxes. So I went off to go buy one.
The smallest one (which is all i needed) was $50 - which is a bit much for what is essentially a glorified toilet pipe with a bit of wood through it... and on that thought, I left Moore Wilsons and went to the plumbing section in Bunnings Warehouse.

Slightly related sign that was up when I was entering...

So I spent about $20 all up on a pipe and a tube from bunnings...

Pipe!

Tube! (I already cut it down to size before taking this photo, but it cost about $6 for a metre)

I then marked across the bottom section of the pipe where i wanted the tube to slot into and then used my hot knife to cut out a rough half moon shape. Used a file to clean it up best I could, then finished it off with the dremel to make it smoother

Slot Cut

As you can see below, the tube fits quite nicely into the slot i cut out. Although in it's present form, the tube slides around on the groove.

Getting its groove on

The next picture is just to show you the general idea of how it'll be used.

General Idea...

Obviously the above is a bit rough and bashing spent grind into this will just make it fall out the bottom, so

 

Circle on clear plastic sheet

With it cut out, i needed to attach it to the bottom of the pipe and make sure it was water proof, so this stuff works a treat:

Sealant

Sealant applied

Next, asthetics:

Spray painting it a coppery colour

Find something suitable for a stand (I found an old VESA monitor back) - glue on a grippy material to the grooves to stop the tube sliding around (also helps to hide rough dremel work) and....

Almost done

Last step is to put the tube in place, and set up for a posed shot pretending to use it in action...

Finished!

 

That's all folks!

Filed under: coffee, e61, fixer, maker, me, money, science, technology, tools No Comments
2Sep/114

How To: 3D Print Kitchen Implements

If you're a regular visitor to my blog, you'll know that not too long ago with the money from a competition my friends and I were able to purchase a 3D Printer

You'll also know that just 2 weeks ago I purchased an ex commercial espresso machine for my home

Anyway...I decided that i'd design a couple of handy tools for the Espresso Machine and print them out on the 3D printer. So, I designed a holder that clips onto the side of my Espresso Machine that... holds the Tamper.

I also designed a stand to put the portafilter on as I tamp (with a groove in it for the spout on the portafilter) I designed them in OpenScad - which is a CAD tool for programmatically minded people like myself :)

Tamper Holder

Tamping Stand

I've also uploaded the Source Code to these to Thingiverse under the GNU public license:

  • Tamper Holder on Thingiverse

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    difference() {
 cube(size = [60,65,5], center = true);
 cylinder(h=13, r=29, center = false);
 
}
translate ( [0,32.5,17.5]) {
 cube(size = [60,3,40], center = true);
 translate ( [0,2,18.5]) {
  cube(size = [60,5,3], center = true);
  translate ( [0,3,-3.5]) {
   cube(size = [60,2,10], center = true);
  }
 }
}

     

  • Tamping Stand on Thingiverse

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    difference(){
 cube(size = [50,60,60], center = true);
 translate ( [0,0,-10]) {
  cube(size = [40,50,60], center = true);
 }
 translate ( [0,-20,19]) {
  cylinder (h=13, r=15, center=false);
 }
 translate ( [0,-35,30]) {
  cube(size = [30,30,140], center = true);
 }
}

     

I present to you the finished products:

 

Tamper Holder in the flesh

 

Tamping Stand in the flesh

What do you think? Have any other suggestions for some other kitchen implements I should design?

Filed under: coffee, e61, fixer, internet, maker, me, opinion, science, technology, tinker, tools 4 Comments
28Aug/116

Plumbing in my Expobar Espresso Machine

So, for the love of coffee, my fierce mistress, I got myself an ex-commercial espresso machine from a Coffee Roaster friend of mine:

@MachiattoNZ

 

It's a Spanish-made EXPOBAR with a single e61 grouphead, boiler with pressure stat, heatexchange and a built in burr grinder with doser. It's actually a pretty awesomely spec'd machine. I have no idea what model it is, and i can't find any reference to it on the internet, which is kind of rare. So this post will hopefully also serve to give this machine the web presence it deserves! :)

Obviously it's a machine that requires plumbing in, so after a trip to MasterTrade in Wellington (and $150 later) I had all the parts i needed to plumb it in.

These two pipes go to the mixer faucet on the kitchen sink, I needed to tap into the cold supply.

With one of these Hex's...

...a T-Junction & some Teflon Tape... we have:

A T-Junction with 2 males and a female, with the Female (Hex end) ready to go on:

A Teflon wrapped mains supply pipe (which until recently was connected directly to the faucet mixer)

ProTip #1: Before removing the braided hose leading to the supply pipe, it would help to turn the water mains off first... that is unless you are a hippo and enjoy wallowing in water ^_^ - it'll look something like this:

Supply Control

So, connect it all together and what have you got?!:

This is the final setup, bottom is the water supply, top leads to mixer and middle goes to the Expobar's pump

ProTip #2: Tighten it all really really well to make the rubber seals in the braided hoses serve their purpose, otherwise you'll end up with a leak, something like this:

The braided hose connection to the machine was not tight enough at first so there were a few drips :)

 

So that's the supply done, we also need to connect up the waste water...

Waste

 

The waste pipes under the sink had an empty header so connecting it in was an easy job... no pressure ;) (ha pun!)

 

Warming up a rubber adapter pipe to help it fit snugly into the spare waste header...

 

and it's connected :)

 

A shot of it all finished and plumbed in ^_^

 

And now some shots of accessories, and some of the first extractions i did:

 

Nice wooden handled Tamper ^_^

 

 

Naked/Crotchless Portafilter

Portafilter with some coffee in it ready to extract

One of my first extractions, wasn't bad, regardless it was one of my first so ^^

Latte Art: Not my forte... Practice makes perfect ;)

Since taking these above photos, i went into Moore Wilson on Tory Street and found some nice looking cups and saucers:

Moore Wilson's Cups and Saucers

 

So i bought a couple ^_^

 

That's about all I have for now, feel free to comment and ask questions as you please ^_^

Filed under: coffee, e61, fixer, maker, technology, tinker, tools 6 Comments
21Mar/116

My adventure fixing a Jura Impressa F50 Espresso Machine

My friend Vince  gave me this (very) broken Espresso Machine last Saturday.

The machine - looks alright on the surface, huh?

He said he believed it to be dropped at his work and whoever did it wouldn't own up to it. I gave it a test and sure enough... coffee leaked out of everywhere else but the nozzle.

When removing top cover, I noticed a couple of floating bits of plastic inside that should latch onto the chassis were broken off (the black plastic had turned white from sheering) coffee had spilled out into the machine and was sitting on the circuit boards (including the 240v power in) I quickly turned to removing these boards, cleaning, drying out and coating in a moisture protecting spray.

The hoses for both the steam wand and the espresso were blocked and had caused them to rupture under pressure.

The machine is: http://www.jura.com/home_x/products_home_use/f_line/impressa_f50n.htm

The following set of pictures document my fixing of the machine.

though close up you can see there has been a big dilemma... coffee... everywhere.

and inside the machine...

And I suppose when it was dropped, the coffee that was already ground exploded inside the machine in a cloud

Pretty sure there shouldn't be a pool of coffee sitting around inside the machine ;)

A shot from above

I initially tried cleaning out the compartment where the coffee goes before it hits the nozzle... slightly better but it's dribbling and going sideways with inconsistent pressure and still leaking out all over

Opening it up a bit further i find that there is coffee all over the circuit boards and wires..

including the 240v input source - coated in a corrosive... coffee and getting wet with all the leakage going on...

I decided to give the nozzle head a good clean as i had to remove it to get to the electronics anyway...

actually i cleaned half the machine ;)

After all that cleaning i got to tracing the problems in the machine... i got a bit bored of taking photos.. essentially the problems had stemmed from kinks in the hoses that grab water and espresso. The kinks caused the hoses to rupture, meaning pressure drops at end or hose and the ruptures caused coffee and water to leak out inside the machine. Managed to cut the hoses a bit shorter and it still had enough hose left :) - you'll also note i've added the steam/water nozzle holders on the right hand side of the machine.

 

first test after fixing. 2 x 30ml doses of espresso in this mug

 

On Sunday afternoon I had my friend and Coffee Aficionado, Matt over for his professional opinion on the machine now it has been restored to working condition... his response:

"The F50 is basically a suped-up home espresso machine with some serious advantages. It has an internal conical burr grinder (way better than the blades on a spice-mill), total one-button operation for espresso, no messy grinds coating your benchtop, and no portafilter to tamp or empty wet grounds out of. The steam production is what you'd expect from any thermoblock machine. It includes an auto-frother attachment which completes the super-automatic package. All in all it's a great machine for someone who has no budget for making great coffee at home and would rather drink freshly-ground over instant shit."

 

The steam wand also works now too ;) - stretched half a cup of milk and finished off... - hey presto - a working Super Automatic Espresso Machine :-) - though it's pretty evident that i suck at Latte Art ;)

Overall i'm pretty pleased with this little machine :) The down side (debatable) is i'm going to be drinking a lot more coffee now! ;)

Future upgrade ideas:

  • Planning on making an adapter for the steam wand to pump milk into it automatically.
  • Once the above works, do a CNC-style etcher that runs on GCode.

Any more ideas?

Filed under: coffee, fixer, maker, me, money, opinion, science, technology, tinker, tools 6 Comments
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