I discovered Kickstarter this morning after reading an article from Zite about this machine. I'm in for $250.00.


Ted

Great project. I'll be surprised too if they got the schedule going...

Nevertheless, I think others have controlled vibe pump with a SSR before, Dietmar has his Faustino board and our Korean friend Devin showed a board here that controls the pump. Of course to automate the control a PID is required, but to get a pressure analog signal is expensive (pressure transducer).

The most interesting part is the thermoblock/HX/group. But let's see the shot quality when the time comes.

Márcio.

That machine looks pretty ideal - stability and control with quick warm-up times! I was trying to do something like that when I built this machine.

I'm impressed so far, but will wait to see the Scace results before buying.

Anyone who's ever worked in technical product development would likely agree that the date change for shipment in March instead of February hardly constitutes much of a schedule "slip." Especially as a first product, most plans are more likely to be 8-12 months late or more, so if ZP gets a few real units out even by summer, that would be a terrific victory and I hope they make it.

I'm concerned that there were no mentions of regulatory compliance (the bete noir of hardware development) for the various electrical and safety requirements, at least that I could glean. They could probably send a few to backers, but liability concerns would keep any retailer from signing up to sell these without UL, especially given the high current levels. Treating these issues as afterthoughts is how you suffer catastrophic redesign, cost and schedule damage, so I sure hope someone's working on this part of the project.

Also, taking a prototype around is great (cafes would require NSF, speaking of regulatory compliance) but that's "proof of concept" more than real field/customer/beta testing. Maybe that's the "backer" strategy where we'll get what amounts to the initial beta or early-production units. This isn't a bad plan at all, just so it's clear to all that these will be "Revision A" instead of "Version 1.0."

Jason Dominy with Batdorf & Bronson in Atlanta had a chat with the team today. You can check out his initial impressions on his blog: http://jasondominy.tumblr.com/post/1418 ... id-machine

from above link:

Will be UL Listed.

Still no technical curves posted. I would feel a lot more confident about all the money everyone has given them if they'd posted this sort of thing up front, rather than being touted as the next great thing in coffee all over the place with nothing to back it up but their say-so.

Their latest update concerns the production schedule. They have apparently received far more orders than initially expected, and the small shop they plan to set up will only be able to turn out 50 machines in March, and 50-100 per month thereafter. They are looking for a larger shop to outsource some manufacturing to, but with almost 450 pre-orders, new backers could be in for a very long wait.

Chris, I think they will be posting Scace 2 results when they get Scace which is Backordered at ENPW. If Scace results look good then I think that clears up lot of uncertainty about machine capability itself. It is not out of realm of possibility that they end up with 1000 machines pre-order... From business side that is good problem to have. As long as machine design solid, everything else can be worked around I think...

The key really is how good the thermoblock they designed is and I think Scace readings should helps us judge that.

gegtik wrote:from above link:

Will be UL Listed.

That's great!

But I sure hope that's well underway and not just on the project list. I worry because, for example if I'm not mistaken, all the king's horses and all the king's men at La Marzocco are still forced to ship the second-choice steam wand with the GS/3 and requiring after-sale retrofits because even LM found it too difficult and/or too expensive to get the new/good wand certified after the initial cert and release.

I must say, this ZPM project has been most enjoyable to follow....something to occupy the mind while doing quite a bit of actual manufacturing (holiday elf work it seems). It had not occurred to us to simply OUTSOURCE this manufacturing thing! Since we do not use television, this is much akin to a reality program via internet I suppose....going from a couple of guys with an idea and no prototype to now barons of the espresso machine manufacturing business...even getting prepared to hang with Schomer (I suppose when they go to install his new fleet of ZPM machines to replace his now obsolete Synessos). In 3 days they now have brought the "girls" on the team, with no last names but high college pedigrees.

Still no Scace and still no prototype (but a thermoblock was being made on the Virginia Tech CNC mill, and that video got taken down quick when the pledges topped 50K). Maybe Janet or Rachael were pre law at Princeton specializing in intellectual property and such.

But my favorite thing about this is this phantom "shelf". Much like El Dorado, city of gold, there is a shelf, a wondrous shelf where one can get small bore steam tips in all the hole conformations imaginable...1,2,3,4, you name it and in "standard threading" to boot. They go on these off the shelf steam wands, the ones with the standard threading. I dream of this shelf....you want a 2 hole tip for Cremina, no problem....how about some plastic water reservoirs for the old Olympia/Pasquini machines...lots of folks could use one of those...drip grates, drip trays...no problem, just go to the shelf and take it off!! Ulka pumps with NPT fittings....once again off that shelf. Will they open source the location of this magical shelf? I really hope so.

I think we all wish them success....if it were me doing it I would do something dumb like actually set up a full shop capable of in house production of these machines ( I would add IF they perform, but at the buy in level that does not really matter at this point), hire a machinist, a sheet metal person and some assemblers good with their hands...but then I am not an espresso machine manufacturing honcho, but would enjoy a corporate jet or two, even a rental would do!