Hi guys,

even with the wire in place the new (the one I have) versions of the shower screen will flash-boil, but shouldn't spray as much. You can't really do anything about the hissing/spitting but with less overspray it should be safer and less messy.

Regards,
dsc.

I figured I might as well post a quick update. I'm gathering more pieces of my PID kit together. Right now, I am only waiting on the fitting and my project box. The project box should be here early next week; as I mentioned before, the fitting will likely be another couple of weeks. Alas, that's the price of custom made parts. On the plus side, they're only charging me about $15 for the stainless part. I was originally going to just get the brass version for $6, but the wait on that was 7-8 weeks vs. 3-4 for the stainless, so, impatient as I am, I ordered both of them. Hopefully, if the stainless one works well, I won't have any trouble finding a home for the brass one.

Anyway, I've found a dose of the Cuvée Meritage Blend that I like on the Elektra. It's not as wonderful of a shot as I remember on Vetrano, but it makes a sublime cappuccino. Here's a pretty good one in the works, with pants on:



Speaking of getting "pimp" gear, I ordered that La Marzocco open spout from EPNW, along with another battery of supplies. Among them was the classic E61 portafilter assembly, which cost about $15 with the mounting hardware:

one wishes a bit for an end cap of some kind, but it's kind of cool

This was for the spare portafilter body I had after purchasing a new Elektra portafilter body (pictured above). I've repurposed this portafilter to backflush duty.

There's still much to do with this machine before it can qualify as an ULTIMATE ELEKTRA EXTREME ESPRESSO MACHISMO MACHINE, but the 'spro is flowing for now, so my patience is running high. I've just about decided that I want to install a probe in the M4 screw on the brewpath of the grouphead, and I'm contacting Beswick Engineering about getting a few of their miniscule compression fittings designed for just that opening.

PID work sounds interesting. I remember all the things I was going to do, but after polishing all that stainless steel I was more interested in some sweet espresso payback. I guess when they start working on my kitchen (if/when we decide what we want to have done) I'll have some time to think about it.

Which fitting are you using to place the thermocouple?

BTW: Does a PID stop if the thermocouple becomes an open circuit?

Mark

Eric: thanks for the advice, I'll be sure and check with Beswick before I order. I am planning on buying several at this point, depending on the price. I should be able to hook up some other people with a "kit" for the price of the parts, after I finish. I'm getting a spare 1/16" probe as well, though I may keep it (hah, or use it after I break the first one!).

Mark: For the boiler connection, I just ordered Swagelok fitting SS-200-7-4RG-BT (BT=bored through) The bored through part is part of the reason why it's taking quite awhile. I also got B-200-7-4RG-BT, which, you guessed it, is the brass version. This is a 1/4" female BSP fitting that will attach to the boiler at the male 1/4" BSP fitting where the pressurestat normally goes. It's for attaching a 1/8" thermocouple. Eric advised getting a T setup where you could have the both the thermocouple and the pressurestat on, with the latter as a safety device (set it very high so it's always closed unless the pressure hits ~1.3-1.4 bar). I thought this was a good idea, but I don't really trust my old pressurestat. I might look into such an arrangement in the future.

As for the thermocouple mount on the grouphead, I am looking to mount one like this. The part you see there is a modified Beswick fitting, this one, but bored through as Eric mentioned. I believe that is the photostream of our own Brad Seaman, who sadly passed away last year. I believe that most Elektra A3/T1 owners are aware of the mods he did to his machine, in particular the excellent insulation job.

Hi Nicholas,

I see more gear being ordered, nice (being the gear-maniac I am)

What project box did you order if I may ask? I'm planing to get something which will hold two PIDs, one for the group and one for the boiler, I'm just not sure where I will fit it.

Any chance of ordering another SS fitting from Swagelok? I'd love to get one but the idea of waiting 7 weeks for it (probably moire like 8-9 with the shipping to the UK) isn't making me happy. I will do some research here and see how the prices compare to the US ones.

Regards,
dsc.

Tom,

Yeah, I kind of figured that I'd go all out with this project... Even if it is a "crutch" (kind of like how a double boiler is a "crutch?"), I'm missing my PID readout from the grouphead. I guess I enjoyed the decreased attention required to flush to a temperature rather than count off. Ultimate lazy, yes?

I've contacted Swagelok about expanding my order, and I'll get back to you via e-mail. I'll also have a couple of other cheaper brass spares for anyone else who wants to get in on this, though naturally I won't have those till late February, vs. the end of this month for the SS ones. I'm still not sure if the additions to my order will be able to piggyback without additional delay from the original order--I'll find out before long.

My project box is just a Hammond extruded aluminum box, about the smallest I could find that'd still fit the PID comfortably. I've yet to decide if I want to buy a bigger one to house two PIDs, or house them separately. I'm probably going to buy a bigger one and save the single-PID box for, you know, when I get my 1 lb. antique sample roaster... right.

Mark: I realized that I missed your question about PID behavior when the TC malfunctions or is disconnected (either open/short circuit). I believe that you can program the behavior of PIDs when the readings are outside of the "expected" range. I know that you can add alarm devices. If you're clever you could probably hook up something to open the heating element circuit when the temperature reading is below, say, 32F or above 260F. I'm not near my PID manual, but I bet you can simply program it to kill the heater when the TC input is out of range.

shadowfax wrote:Tom,
Yeah, I kind of figured that I'd go all out with this project... Even if it is a "crutch" (kind of like how a double boiler is a "crutch?"), I'm missing my PID readout from the grouphead. I guess I enjoyed the decreased attention required to flush to a temperature rather than count off. Ultimate lazy, yes?

I just use the button on the far right to flush.

shadowfax wrote:I've contacted Swagelok about expanding my order, and I'll get back to you via e-mail. I'll also have a couple of other cheaper brass spares for anyone else who wants to get in on this, though naturally I won't have those till late February, vs. the end of this month for the SS ones. I'm still not sure if the additions to my order will be able to piggyback without additional delay from the original order--I'll find out before long.

I'd be interested in the stainless steel part for the group head and the rest of the stuff too. I wonder if the front hex bolt could be made slightly more accessible and still have it look good.

shadowfax wrote:Mark: I realized that I missed your question about PID behavior when the TC malfunctions or is disconnected (either open/short circuit). I believe that you can program the behavior of PIDs when the readings are outside of the "expected" range. I know that you can add alarm devices. If you're clever you could probably hook up something to open the heating element circuit when the temperature reading is below, say, 32F or above 260F. I'm not near my PID manual, but I bet you can simply program it to kill the heater when the TC input is out of range.

Leaving the pstat in the circuit is sufficient.

mhoy wrote:I just use the button on the far right to flush.

Really? I finally programmed one of the dosing buttons to do a flush from idle, and then programmed another one to do a typical flush for a second or third shot. This seems to work, but I don't trust it, so I still count. My third dosing button is programmed to dose enough to backflush with a blind filter in place. I use the button on the right to brew manually.

mhoy wrote:Leaving the pstat in the circuit is sufficient.

If you are planning on doing this, it's worth noting that the Swagelok fitting (SS or brass) will be of no use to you... You'll need to get a totally different set of fittings.

As for the fitting on the grouphead, yes, I think you could easily route the probe in such a way as to retain easy access to the hex screws that mount the group bell. I certainly plan to, as I quite enjoy that feature of the Elektra grouphead... enhanced serviceability.

I thought I'd post a quick update to my Elektra progress. On Tuesday, the first Swagelok fitting came in, and I was finally ready to install PID control on the machine. For now, the project box is next to the machine, because my tall legs are still under construction--they need to be cut to length and polished.


Boiler on the left, group on the right.

The installation was reasonably easy. The fitting I used was the stainless one, with a 6" probe that's curved down slightly so that it's below the water level in the boiler:



I thought about where to put the SSR for awhile, and I am not entirely sure I am happy with where it is. I was originally going to put it in the "lion's den," i.e. the inside of the machine, but it gets darn hot in there, and I couldn't find a spot to mount it that I liked. Putting the heat sink under the machine would be a good idea, but I don't think that the steel frame would transfer heat well, being extremely thick and powdercoated.

So I put the heat sink on the back of the large project box like so:


It's attached to the heat sink through the aluminum backplate.

My initial impression is that this works fairly well. You can see I've kept my eye on it in the picture above, with the probe set against the backplate of the sink. It gets to about 52C on the plate in the morning when it warms up, which bothers me a bit. On the other hand, it idles at about 30C, which seems alright to me. I am getting a "nicer" Omron SSR (currently using a 25A SSR from Auber) to see if it will work any better. If not, then I'll probably just look into ventilating the box. The box itself seems to be reasonably cool, and I assume the inside temperature is good--it's not cramped at all, and I understand the SSR radiates most of its heat through the bottom.

I've found that a setpoint of 242F on the PID gets me right in the neighborhood of 0.8-0.85 bar on my meter. I am not sure if that's an indicator that the meter is inaccurate or not.


Grouphead idles right around brew temperature at this setting--201-205, depending on the weather (it drops when you blow on it, hah!)



I like the steaming power here alright, and the flushing is tolerable. Speaking of flushing, this thing is certainly handy:


I have a source for a Scace device, so I should be able to figure the rough offset soon.

I think it looks pretty good. Not near as obtrusive on the design as the E61 version. I also routed it to the right immediately out of the fitting, so that I can pull the bell without it getting in my way.

Finally, I got a new steam tip to try out, the "custom" EPNW tip for La Marzoccos. I was curious to try a tip that could slow heating of about 3 oz. of milk to greater than 13-15s, and also something easier to keep clean (I hate the stupid slots in the stock tip). I am not sure if this is the tip I am looking for, but it's alright:



Sorry for the lack of action shots. I've been enjoying it a bit too much to interrupt the zen of it all to take pictures...