Hi George,
Nice to read from you again. Mr D sure looks happy and well cared for, as does your Jolly. Sorry to read that you're still parked in the garage. Let the coffee gods help you to get your deserved place in the house back again.
Best wishes. Wilco

George, am I right in assuming your machine is drawing water from the Crystal Geyser bottle? Without aid from a pump? Very impressive, my plumbed, rotary Volante made unpleasant restriction noises when I tried to draw from an external tank I was going to use for descaling.

Hi Wilco,

Thanks and yes, Mr. D is doing well. Perched on a stainless steel workbench, he feels somewhat at home.

It was your K10 thread that got me thinking I needed to post a progress report. The Jolly is working fine but I would love to test out the K10 to compare! I finally got around to making a brass shim stock motor cover plate and there is a doserless funnel setup in the works.

edwa,

No issues drawing from the bottle, the stock Fluid-o-Tech pump doesn't miss a beat. The grocery store had a sale on the 1 gallon size: 6 for $4.50 so I decided to try while I'm still figuring out how to best plumb in (which filters, RO or not, regulator, etc,). I modified the cap to seal out the bugs and dust but still allow for the breather function. Once I do go plumbed, I'll use Dan K's suggestion of shutoffs when descaling.

Happy Holidays to all and may your espresso wishes come true!

George

Javacat,
Thanks. Yes that is a Reverse Osmosis system. The two filters are a pre and post carbon filter. The tricky part was blending mineral rich city water back in with the R.O. water. I installed an adjustable rate flowmeter
by Dwyer instrumentation that allows me to control how much city water to add to the R.O. tank. When I set it at 10-15 cc per minute it gives me a hardness of about three grains. Just enough for taste but not too much for scale.

Here's my new home setup:



On top of the cremina is a pressure gauge attached with an reducing fitting to a boiler cap that had a false pressure relief valve in it.



The grinder is a 12 year old Santos one that I bought unused for a bit less than $300. So it was quite a bargain it seemed - well when I acutally went to the shop to buy it, it turned out that it is a three-phase one. So I had to get a variable frequency drive for it (look for AndyS posts about it). But after seeing an offer on *bay of $200 shipped for a used one VFD; I couldn't resist and ordered additonally a timer with an adjustment wheel (again copied from AndyS). So the small black box which sits beside the ginder has a timer in it and the Keypad for the VFD on top of it (connected through a 10 pole ribbon cable to the VFD under the located under the table). But I still feel like at a price of $600 is a good deal compared to a new machine. And now I'm almost completely happy with my grinder - there's still the idea of getting a metal funnel or chute (maybe something like user dsc built).

So thanks a lot - to all the people that make this site possible in the first place and those you are contributing to it!!!
...it sure was the best cure for an espresso enthusiast tumbling down the rabbit hole
and here what gets extracted with it. It is my momentary favourite and when it's right it gives me a cup quite balanced between bitters and sweets, with silky but not so thick crema. Altough it is an SO it remembers me of the classical italian espresso flavours (just less body) along with a crisp fruity acid of tangerine or pink grapefruit cest flavour. It is a 'yellow bourbon' from the 'Private Estate Fazenda Rainha' from the region of Mogiano, Brasil. Roasted to something between full city and full city+.

Cheers

I haven't taken any pictures of my setup since I moved into our new home, but here are two from our old condo. Pretty standard no frills setup. The cupboard underneath has all the cups, green and roasted beans, roasting equipment, etc.



This is a bad picture of a close-up of a dirty machine and a bad art pour. Tasted great though! I was on a Yemeni kick at the time, where every blend I made had to have a Yemeni. I don't even recall where I got the batch of green, but I still have some sitting around.

My new Mini Vivaldi and Mazzer Super Jolly. Espresso and Latte heaven !

I'm pretty happy with the look as well. The black and chrome is not too overpowering in the kitchen layout. While it is a bit big for some tastes (and so is my grinder), I find it matches the other appliances well (who said the Vivaldi is ugly?)

I replaced the massive Mazzer hopper with a more discrete Mini Hopper.

after clicking through all 23 pages of this thread, i didn't see a single livia 90.....so here you go....





(and no, its not usually this clean and tidy around them, just when i take glam shots

Endo wrote:My new Mini Vivaldi and Mazzer Super Jolly. Espresso and Latte heaven !

That looks like a long way to walk between the grinder and machine but it may be perspective in the photo, nice setup. You may want to revisit you phone location. Things placed by a knock box tend to get covered in stray grounds and coffee spatter.

Here's mine:

Here's mine (at least for now). I'm still working on the location so may move it to another counter or a cart if I find something I like. It is nice having the sink nearby though so that may sway me to leave it alone.

After it's maiden voyage, I decided to remove the auto-shutoff from the doser. There were just too many grinds in the chute that were being wasted and couldn't be vacuumed out at the end of the session. At the moment, the switch and wires are exposed at the top of the hopper but I'm going to see if I can just connect the two wires without removing the terminals and insulating them. I also decided to remove the tamper from the front of the doser; I don't use it, it was in the way, and it was ugly.

The purple-handled icing knife is planned to be used for distribution.

All of these posts are giving me upgraditis.

Welcome to the "Magpie" club......SO shiny....can't resist.....

Here is a picture of my setup...

My home setup, with the old La Cimbali Domus, and my latest purchases the La cimbali Junior machine and grinder. Been new to this level of equipment and you guys have been instrumental in my choices. The domus and zazzenhaus grinder will be going to the beach house

Alex Duetto 20 Amp/CMH/Gralab Timer/20 Amp Heavy Duty Timer/Water Plumbed in through Fridge Water Line .....Chris Coffee is the best

Have since got another tamper and a bumper tamping stand .

Hi everyone:
I've been on a bit of a ride over the last 7 months since I got back into espresso.
Here's where I've ended up.
Alex Duetto (20 amp) on a timer. Macap MC4 doser (no hopper - grind to order). Plumbed the Alex in without drilling holes in Sweety's marble counter, using the hole in the sink fixture for the sprayer attachment (water line visible behind the sink) and just running the drain hose into the sink with a right angle elbow. Filter/softener cartridge system under the sink courtesy of Chris' Coffee - works great and installed easily.

Very happy with the espresso and the ability to whip up the lattes for her.

Bruce

lee wrote:Home set up. Girlfriend calls it "CoffeeLand."
I'm mostly happy with this little corner of my home and avoid upgrade lust more days than not.
Regards,
Lee

Just noticed the Ikea Varde cabinet, cool. Most of my house is Ikea. Did the kitchen ourselves in Ikea Nexus birch.

david boise ID

ECM Veneziano S1 (plumbed in), Mazzer Mini E - type B, Espresso Parts' ProTamp.
Still learning, but seem to be able to churn out an acceptable coffee or 2!