Holy canoly!!!

And i thought i was crazy for toying with the humble pressurestat upgrade and plumbing in.

You are seriously hooked up, literally and figuratively speaking too.

Congrats, nothing can go wrong now, as long as you go through the pre-flight checklists!

Oh wait, where is the capacitive boiler scale buildup indicator?

Forgive the sarcasm, it is the wine speaking through me.

I added the third and final PID for controlling the boiler temperature to this mess. It is interesting to note that I could not get it to work well when the thermocouple sensor was just attached to the outside of the boiler. I had to make a thermocouple probe to sense the temperature inside the boiler in order to obtain a stable boiler temperature.



Yes, this machine can make tasty lattes:

Brilliant. One of the best things I've seen.

I was just talking with my dad about how I can do mechanical engineering, and he does electronics engineering, but if I really wanted to do something good I would need to be able to use what he knows. Well, you have both. And I'm torn between impressed and jealous.

Needs a steam whistle as a PID alarm to signal when the machine is ready, and a Klaxxon for over temperature or over pressure warning...

Can't wait for your efforts on a two group!

Gregg K wrote:I was just talking with my dad about how I can do mechanical engineering, and he does electronics engineering, but if I really wanted to do something good I would need to be able to use what he knows.

And thats why I'm studying Mechatronics

Great modding, I've been thinking about modding my Pavoni with a PID and also with some way to control group temperature

I love new words to explain the obvious... Mechatronics is on my list for new words. We have done it for years, and so has anyone into process control, but that sounds cooler.

-Cecil

Greetings,

How does the espresso taste compared to pre-pidage?

Cliff

Post PID it has been much easier to get consistent results. With the previous incarnation I had a hard time adjusting the flush routine to get the correct shot temperature. Variation in ambient temperature (out house in quite cold in the morning) would affect the group temperature and consequently the shot temperature. After a long warmup the group was way too hot unless I turned the boiler pressure down, which resulted in poor steaming performance.

Now I know exactly when the machine is warmed up and it stays at the temperature setpoint independent of ambient conditions. I could also turn the boiler pressure up to 1.3 bar, which vastly improves steaming. My procedure now consists of a two second flush to wash the screen, followed by the shot. The consistency now allows me to focus on improving my roasting skills.