Eric had me order an extra plug and he machined one of his custom made adapters and TC to it. I'm lucky enough to have Erics relatively close to home so he came by, installed it, and than did some passes with his Scace device. He also tweaked the pressurestat and the Faema's adjustable thermal balancing system. I learned a lot about my machine and how it handles temperature. Really made a huge difference! The machine is much more "tamed" and we took at least one of the many variables out of the espresso equation.

Bests,

Looks very clean! Congratulations.

Have you gotten the hang of using it yet? Is it similar to the E61 thermo adaptor in that the displayed group temp is about 4 or 5 degrees higher than the temp at the puck?

Thank you! We noticed around 2 degrees higher at the group than at the puck but you have to take into account that we lowered the thermal balancing system from default "8" to a little less than "5"

Great job ! You are fortunate to have Eric so close to home.

Are you considering using a PID for the temp readout and placing it under the machine?


Joe

Hi, I don't think a PID is very practical on a HX machine. Others might think otherwise. Knowing the group temperature allows me to pull consistent shots. A smaller thermometer would be nice though.

I believe that Joe is suggesting to use the display from a PID controller, not the temperature controller functionality itself. Some go for as little as $25, which makes for a pretty cheap type T readout.

Oh, That is a great idea! Any guidance to a specific PID that will take a type T thermocouple? Thanks

tribe3 wrote:Hi, I don't think a PID is very practical on a HX machine. Others might think otherwise. Knowing the group temperature allows me to pull consistent shots. A smaller thermometer would be nice though.

A few reasons why a PID works nicely even on an HX - mine is a PID'd QM Anita that also uses and would not do without Eric's grouphead thermometer probe.

1- I can change boiler temperatures as I wish and temperatures are stable without the large fluctuations seen with pstats. This stability also allows me to lower the boiler temperatures and pull straight shots without any flush at all. So long as I don't need to steam and I allow enough time in between shots the temperature stability is remarkably good.

2- from what I understand pstats break frequently requiring replacement. The pid I am told is much more reliable. It cost me about $50 more then the pstat controlled Anita would have so cost was not a great concern and the reliability alone seems to be worth the price.

Others may disagree but this home espresso rookie is pleased so far.

tribe3 wrote:Oh, That is a great idea! Any guidance to a specific PID that will take a type T thermocouple? Thanks

An inexpensive one would be from Auber Instruments along with their black box.

Shadowfax used a similar set up on his Vetrano which I thought was a great idea. See a pic of his previous setup at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nalu...029233050/sizes/l/

Hopefully he can chime in and give you some more information, or else Eric should be able to give you your best options.

Joe

Is all of the plumbing stainless? I'm surprised no one commented on that!