I always come back to Blue Bottle beans (specifically Retrofit and Hayes): I enjoy their espresso blends, surprisingly consistent. Four Barrel, De La Paz, and Sightglass don't do it for me though I buy their beans occasionally. I always come back to BB-- the variety in the espresso blends gets me, a...

Welcome! You can get a good rig for $1200 (ahem... yes I and everybody else will ignore the low end of your budget range!), but why "PID/programmable"? That limits your options. The Silvano sounds like a great machine but would put you over budget. If you'd consider a used espresso machine, you're s...

Very cool, but I wonder: with the controller already handling the output, what does the TRIAC do?

I posted elsewhere here about a few grinder timers I've built with Arduinos (or Arduino-compatibles), my latest one fitted (until this afternoon) to my Gaggia MDF: {link} It's now sitting next to my newly refurbished Super Jolly, set to 7.6 seconds compared to the MDF's 28; so glad I added tenths of...

I ask because one is possibly available near me, so it wasn't a one-off... unless it's the same one! I'd be tempted if I could find out more. While I have three grinders, four doesn't seem excessive by this forum members' standards

Just wild, can't find anything about that Elektra grinder! Can Anybody ID it?

Here's the orange/orange combo: {link} Those Espresso Parts paint jobs... wow! Thanks for the link

Thanks Jonny, that's good to know. If I decide not to keep them all, I'll practice on one of the less important ones. For now I'll reassemble the thing and contemplate colors with the SO. Next to the Pasquini, gray just won't do, and we've gotten used to the very pretty dark red Macap next to it.

Thanks! PM sent. Also fwiw "I uploaded some photos to Flickr". I was worried about the dented doser body but it was easy to bend back with a clamp. You can still see a ripple in the reflection, but I'll just call that added character. Had a tough time removing the lower doser plate-- one

I'm most of the way through refurbishing an 1997 Super Jolly I got from eBay, and it has gone well thanks to the detailed descriptions and photos posted on H-B, especially godlyone's excellent photos of his Major refurb and paint-- thank you all! The grinder took a fall at some point, bending in one...