Thanks for all the kind comments guys! I'm very happy with how it turned out. Having the additional mass there to pull some of the heat away from the shot (as it enters the cup) has really made a nice improvement in the smoothness of the shots.

I ordered some new beans to play with last night. They should be here next week, so I will see about posting some more videos shortly.

Ray

KnowGood wrote:Haven't had the time to visit here in the last few weeks, and when I do come check it out I find this - pretty damn cool!!! It's too bad there wasn't more room under there or you could make it adjustable - it would almost be like watching a pour over.

Thanks!

I'm actually thinking about making a small insert (or something) to help split the flow in half a little better. The spout works pretty well as far as breaking the shot into two cups, but sometimes it seems to favor one side or the other a little. I think this is because (especially when the extraction is going slowly), it just picks one side or the other and tends to flow that direction.

I did file two slight channels into the spouts, but it didn't really make a huge difference. I think an insert of some sort (to slow the flow down a touch and/or help direct it) might be worth testing.

Ray

Ray,

I have that problem (unequal split favoring one side) on my spouted La Peppina portafilter and have been unable to resolve it. I usually run both spouts into a single cup so it's not much of an issue, but when I do want to split a double into two singles someone is getting the shorter end of the stick. It doesn't appear to be an issue with leveling or dosing. If you slow things down too much, you'll probably spill out of the top of the hanging spouts.

yakster wrote:Ray,

I have that problem (unequal split favoring one side) on my spouted La Peppina portafilter and have been unable to resolve it. I usually run both spouts into a single cup so it's not much of an issue, but when I do want to split a double into two singles someone is getting the shorter end of the stick. It doesn't appear to be an issue with leveling or dosing. If you slow things down too much, you'll probably spill out of the top of the hanging spouts.

Yeah, I'm going to maybe do some testing in a while here. I think the issue is that the stream has plenty of room to sort of snake down one side or the other, which influences the side of the spout that it ends up going out. Either that or once it starts to flow in one direction, the natural affinity for the rest of the espresso to continue the same direction comes into play.

You are correct about the risk of the top overflowing, but I think part of the solution also will involve slowing things down a bit also.

Ray

LaDan wrote:Ha! You are having spout channeling.

haha.. you're not kidding!

Anyway, tonight, I made a little restrictor on the Taig Lathe (and drill press), which seems to have solved the problem.

I'm about to upload a video to YouTube. I'll post it here as soon as it's done.

Ray