06/21/12 Thursday 02:00 eastern standard time:

I just pulled my THIRD shot after the twist took about a 15 to 20 minute rest. Prior (30 to minutes beforehand) I pulled two shots that also had great color and pressure profile.

I used 18.5 grams of stumptown hairbender it was about a 1.2 to 1.5 oz ristretto (thick and rich but intense that is adjustable by grind and other stuff but the twist is definatly capable of fist class shots) grinder used was Versalab M3.

One more to go before I certify it capable for at least this day (or is it rated for 3 shots making already certified for the day ???) Oh well I will pull till the cartride runs out. Then I will stick another one in and leave it overnight. I will then repeat my experiment (pulling shots until the cartridge runs out) and see if it performs the same (which would mean no slow leaks.)

That would make it good enough according to my standards then maybe sometime I will leave a cartridge in a few days or maybe a week and see what happens. Doing the fix myself I am by the way very very optomistic however time will tell.

I am glad to chuck out those old corroded rubber bands I was using as shims inside the cap.

02:23 PM EST

I just pulled SHOT NUMBER 4 excellent no problems this is looking good


02:35 PM EST

SHOT NUMBER 5 WITH NO HITCHES AT ALL (a record for me.) I am estatic this is officially certified by me to be at least usable and probably fully sealed. All of these shots are quite good.

If this works out Portapresso has a serious competitor due to low price and capability.

Officially USED UP AFTER SHOT NUMBER 5. I attempted to pull a 6th shot but after a long while (15 to 20 seconds) some drops started forming before becomming totally choked.

This is excellent 5 shots of high quality espresso out an N20 cartridge without any hitches.

Consistancy has been achieved. I hope it's not too late. Now for a reload but I think I will sign off for now.

Well, it's definitely "user-servicable" now, isn't it? Well, except for no parts being available.

Does anyone have a broken one? I'd like the end cap to drill a hole into and put a brass fitting to use for a refillable paintball CO2 tank. I was SERIOUSLY thinking of contacting Espressi (like days away from doing it) about this-- but I don't want to drill out my only one!

Nice one on the wife guys. I do appreciate good sarcasm!

The wife is ACTUALLY okay -- she actually lets me roast coffee in the house, and encourages the hobby! $80 boxes from Burmans and Sweet Marias and even Prima Coffee just get sighs and not dirty looks anymore...Trust me it could be much worse. She agreed to let me use the MyPressi when I really crave it, too. I think if I cut her drinks with more milk it'll work out!

I actually do milk drinks with it. I use an old "steam toy" with .. okay, don't laugh.. a lid from a "Flintstones" vitamin jar pushed into the portafilter. Then it just gives me steam. There is a video out on YouTube from a member here where he blows the steam into the MyPressi and I find doing that pulls better shots. I also heat up the ring. The whole happy dance.

Now I have to be more careful though.. no spare parts. Bummer.

Anyway.. after about 6 days of use, I had that O-ring in the handle pull out. It was never seated correctly from Taiwan (apparently). It's easy to fix if you have the correct tools-- an C-ring extractor set from Harbor Freight. You need 2/3 of the tools in the set.. but once you pull that clip out then there is enough room to get the seal back in. I have no leaking issue as I greased it down with Canola Oil before put it back and every 3rd N2O. I imagine it is POSSIBLE to put it back in without the C-clip extractor, but OMG would it be tough. I'm amazed at the dude who pulled it off in this thread!

Damn, no spare parts. Well except for O-rings. Harbor Freight and Ace Hardware locally have all the sizes the thing uses.

Oh well. I guess I'm gonna start to look for a used, maybe needing some refurbishing, Silvia again. I can't afford a HX or DB.. it'd cost me a new wife!

P.S. Since I "lubed" the seal, I can get 5 (double) shots 100% of the time and 6 about 60% per N2O.

Fred

I didn't know this even existed and now it gone, looked like a good option for an emergency.
Hope they come back.

You can still by them from many places like Prima Coffee, but you risk no warranty.

I actually expect that the value of these units initially will go up.. so if you want one, I'd jump on it.

Fred

w0fms wrote:Geeze, can we PLEASE get a usable Espresso unit for <$400?

I'm really rooting for the "Nocturn" project from ZPM Espresso (the "Kickstarter espresso machine" project). Of course, it remains to be seen how the machine actually performs, but if they are truly able to get programmable temperature and pressure profiles for $400 they have the potential to revolutionize the "real" home espresso market.

I am also rooting for ZPM but have decided not to pre-order because I have serious doubts if their current design will be adequate. I understand the direction they are taking (I'm an Electrical Engineer) -- but a single thermoblock is a bit questionable the way they are trying to use it. It could work. The feedback control of the pump is clever though and should work.

My other fear is that they won't make $400 with the design. Much more than that, then you are at the cost of a Gaggia or Silvia and, well the Gaggia is established and the Silvia is built like a "tank" by comparison. And the steam ability will be no better than either, also.

So yeah, if they pull it off, I'll be there. It's actually a part of the reason I decided to go MyPressi first. We will see -- if they have it working by Christmas 2012, I'll probably buy one myself. If not, probably something else-- more expensive than I want to pay-- but life is short.

I do need to state that the MyPressi was worth it just for the educational value. I think I'll pull off much better shots with a "real" machine because of learning on the MyPressi with naked shots and doing EVERYTHING manually. It's sad, really when it was only 2x the cost of a "naked" 58mm Rancilio Portafilter for the entire unit. I am sad to see it go even though honestly it was a Love-Hate in every respect when using it. I hated the effort, loved the results. What else can I say? But we live in a time that people think Keurigs are a good idea even though the coffee out of them tastes rancid. The MyPressi was just too much effort for the average lazy American.

But for me I did pull off a "God Shot" or two with a Baratza Encore (and in one case a Hario MSS-1) and a $129 My Pressi. Roasted at the time on a $14 Air Popper (I now have a Behmor 1600 which I've been underwhelmed with, but I'm not ready to fight that fight here yet). So yup <$300 and I hit Nirvana a couple of times. It's hard not to love those little buggers because of that fact alone. Lets hope the MyPressi doesn't die forever.

Fred

The pavoni stiff steam valve seal split, it was slightly too small and too stiff. Before it split it worked no bubbles appeared in glass of water but after I torqued it extra tight a bad omen happened the next N20 seated to full depth way too easy and fast to attribute to break in. It still held charge with the broken seal but not overnight and barely pulled three test shots.

I now replaced it with a red O-ring that is much more pliable and not as tall (it's an O Ring after all) I do not anticipate this one splitting at all.

With the steam valve hard seal the possibility of splitting did cross my mind and it indeed did happen.

I think this red O-Ring is made for lever machine sight glasses such as the Pavoni and Sama export.

After replacing the ring I submerged the unit in water and saw some bubbles. I took it apart again and readjusted the ring by putting the wide THIN metal washer [middle washer] on top of the O-Ring, left the original bottom washer where it usually goes and topped it off with the big wide washer that goes on top of everything.

You do not need spring clip removers to remove the spring clip it slides out of it's channel when you unscrew (two screws) and unsandwich the tip of the regulator (where the N20 nozzle goes.) I used an empty N20 cartridge to assist me in lining everything up.

I then retested and viola no bubbles in my glass of water.


The original seal is flimsy and thin I am glad to have removed it.

The new O-Ring is much thicker and beefier than the original mypressi O-Ring. So far it seals fine. This one is not stiff and the cartridge slips in easier than with the other steam valve seal I used and extracting the N20 cartridge is much easier.

Keep in mind I am winging it with what I happen to have on hand and if I had a seal kit with lots of different size seals I could probably solved the problem once and for all much more quickly.

I guess time will tell.


I just pulled another great shot of stumptown.

I just pulled a shot today (Saturday June 23 at ~ 9:50 am)

I put the cartridge in yesterday pulled a shot cleaned it and let it sit overnight before pulling shot number 2. I am thrilled to say for the first time this thing has pulled a shot after the N20 cartridge was left in overnight this is good enough for me but I will see how many more I can pull.

It seems so far the new seal I put in works and will hopefully continue to work. I see no reason why it should but I am still keeping my fingers crossed (a figure of speech only.)


Shot number 3 out this N20 cartridge at ~ 10:15 am almost pulled but did not make it. It choked and the cartridge was almost expired. As far as I am concerned this is good enough for me since it is no longer fizzing out.

I can expect it to last long enough for me to pull my shots (about 4 or 5 of them) throughout an average day (I think.)

I would have liked it to hold its charge indefinitely or have gotten at least 3 shots total instead of 2 out this cartridge after letting it sit overnight but I find this level of charge retention reasonable.

I just put another charger (N20) in let us see.


Okay it seems that a portion of my beans have soaked up some moisture due to the past couple of highly humid days. My first pull after just putting in a spanking new cartridge choked as well taking about 1 minute to pull a little over 1 oz using 17.5 grams of stumptown hairbender coffee.

I loosened the grind up by a couple of notches and shot number 2 came out great.

Could be all sorts of reasons for suspending operations, but the most likely one is they've run out of cash.

Getting a device like this to profitability is no easy feat, especially since it's targeted at a very small market: espresso aficionados. Retail price needs to be 4x-5x manufacturing cost, which is probably impossible in small volume for any device that deals with gas or liquid under pressure -- precision valves are expensive and difficult to make. Further, it sounds like there are enough quality and usability issues with the product that it's really not ready for a broader market. Double whammy.

I've looked at it from time to time, and the problem I always had with the concept is all the other stuff I have to take along to make great espresso in a hotel room: namely, a quality grinder and a water heater. Before the Pharos came along, I didn't believe a hand grinder would satisfy my desire for the highest quality. Now that it's here, it looks like a lot of kit to haul around, especially when traveling by air.

The other huge problem for MyPressi is that competition is coming. Others have already posted about the Handpresso. Some of you may have seen the episode of Food Network's Invention Hunters where they select the Travesso portable espresso maker for a pitch to Lifetime Brands. From their web page, that product isn't ready for the market yet. But it does run off CO2 or N2O cartridges. One model uses a separate heater and the other has an integrated heater.

It looks like the Handpresso and the Travesso both require pods. That's unfortunate for us, but the fact is that the masses are much more likely to buy into the convenience of the pods -- no grinder and easy cleanup -- and will sacrifice quality for it. That's probably the future of portable espresso makers, I'm afraid.

These factors, and undoubtedly others, may be giving potential investors in MyPressi pause...

I've got a couple TWISTs and although they both ended up leaking, I really liked the devices. A good dab of molykote grease around the seal usually stops leaks, though not every time. For that reason I tend to use other equipment at work.

Sad to see Espressi's woes, I do hope they return and would definitely like to see the Airo.

There are really only two real espresso machines sub $500 that serve as competitors to the TWIST - The Bacchi, and the Portaspresso Rossa. I have both and both are excellent at what they do. The Bacchi is great for 2 traditional Italian shots while the Rossa is solid brass, will last forever, and allows pressure profiling. For double ristretto type shots, the Rossa is hard to beat.