I finally got a bottomless portafilter a while back and after about two shots I decided I could use a shot mirror. I figured the magnetic tamper holder thing on my BDB would be a good place for it. So with about 20% of an idea I wandered to the hardware store, this is the result. What does the HB community think?

That'll do cheese. That'll do.

Looks like it does it's job well. What did you use to mount it? Did you want a square mirror in particular?

This was a quick, cheap solution and it's available in many sizes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008Z67CMK

I gorilla glued a washer to the top to connect to the magnet that would otherwise hold the stock tamper. I had actually picked up some rare earth magnets for the purpose, but they seemed excessive once I started putting it together. The middle bit is a table leg (apparently those are stock items) drilled out to fit the telescoping mirror, and plasti-dipped. I had no real preference for mirror shape,that particular mirror just seemed most mod-able of the ones in the aisle.

I use this mirror: the magnet is very strong and attaches well and right where I need it on my BDB.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BX5ULS

I also use this led lamp: I can position it up where I need it to light the interior of the white cup, and it bounces back nicely to illuminate the flow out of the bottomless portafilter. 3 C batteries means the base is pretty stable and the LEDs will be useful for months and months (at least) of pulls. The light is a bit toward the blue side, so the espresso during the pull tend to look a little off color, but just a bit. When I get around to it, will add a color correction gel filter to it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AKGVJK

Bret, that's a heck of a mirror. Way to be a step ahead on the light, I tried adding flexible led strips but they wouldn't stay put so I'm on the hunt for some lights, ideally something I can hide well, but that's on the back burner because I'm getting another bicycle

royalewithcheese wrote:I gorilla glued a washer to the top to connect to the magnet that would otherwise hold the stock tamper. I had actually picked up some rare earth magnets for the purpose, but they seemed excessive once I started putting it together. The middle bit is a table leg (apparently those are stock items) drilled out to fit the telescoping mirror, and plasti-dipped. I had no real preference for mirror shape,that particular mirror just seemed most mod-able of the ones in the aisle.

Nice solution. I think I'll stop standing on my head when I want to have a peek, and get a mirror...

royalewithcheese wrote:Bret, that's a heck of a mirror. Way to be a step ahead on the light, I tried adding flexible led strips but they wouldn't stay put so I'm on the hunt for some lights, ideally something I can hide well, but that's on the back burner because I'm getting another bicycle

I placed it around the on the left side (facing the BDB) and positioned the gooseneck so that the lamp is just behind where the magnetically held tamper would be. Right now I just have the base sitting on the counter, but will probably mount the metal plate under the cabinet and then let the magnet on the base 'hang' it up there. I tried using the magnet base attached to the side of the BDB, but it was too tight of a radius for the gooseneck to hold.

I like your solution, taking advantage of the tamper mount, for the mirror. Well played!

TomC wrote:Looks like it does it's job well. What did you use to mount it? Did you want a square mirror in particular?

This was a quick, cheap solution and it's available in many sizes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008Z67CMK

This was the one I got a while ago. Still works great although I find Im not using the bottomless as often anymore.