You can see what looks to be Sheldon's cup rail in the image of @cannonfodder's work in this post Custom Wood for your Espresso Machine

That also looks to be Damien's Skale2 platform (Sheldon has a metal one coming out shortly that looks gorgeous, but is likely out of my budget) and the XL wand.

Iowa_Boy wrote:@futaba: What stand were you planning to use instead?

Someone recommended this one: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B06XSY13CC/

There are some 3D printed stands available on decent basecamp, and there are other tablet stands on Amazon that can work. There are many options to choose from.

Me2 wrote:@futuba you can buy Sheldons cup rail which has an integrated tablet stand or just buy his tablet stand which mounts to the existing screw holes. I went with the rail powder coated black.

Thanks @Me2. Will check out Sheldon's accessories once my machine is here.

Futaba wrote:The tablet stand in 1.4 is glued on to the stand and the stand is screwed on to the top of the machine's case. So the tablet will not be removeable.

That's not entirely correct. While the tablet does glue to the stand, and the stand has 3 screws that lock it to the case, those 3 screws are easily removed, and we provide a small screwdriver with your DE1 so you can do so.

My hunch is that most people will either have the tablet permanently screwed to the top of their DE1, or with the tablet sitting on the countertop next to the machine.

There are some other options:
- you can put the tablet/stand combo on the DE1 and not screw it down. If you stick a rubber pad on the bottom of the stand, it'll probably stay in place. I'm going to look into that soon.
- you can use just 1 screw to hold the stand in place. That's what I do, so it's easy to remove.

The v1.4 tablet stand is slightly different from the previous DE1XL stand, namely:
- it is angled at a greater recline
- the tablet bottom touches the countertop
- so that the tablet is now steady (not rocking) if you put the tablet/stand combo on a tabletop.

jevenator wrote:Also have to consider this: "Your espresso machine will no longer fit inside its suitcase, once the XL steam wand has been installed. You can put the standard steam wand back on, if you want to put the espresso machine back in a suitcase."

For me that's the only reason why I am not getting the Xl wand. Otherwise, It looks too darn cool to not have.

This is no longer the case for DE1XL customers. We now have a separate set of suitcase foam for the DE1XL.

We also sell this foam, and it'll work for DE1+/DE1PRO machines with the XL steam wand. We don't charge much for it, but unfortunately due to COVID, only UPS will ship it, and they charge as much to send the foam as to send a 40lb DE1 machine itself. Post-covid, hopefully we'll be able to ship the foam cheaply to people who'd like it.

Here's a video about new suitcase foam:

Interesting!
Didn't realize the new stand for 1.4 will be different than the XL stand. Any photos yet or still in design? Will be interested to see if the rubber pad keeps it in place on top of DE1. Maybe it could attach magnetically to the DE1 like the Steelie? Seems like with a wider base, if there were a couple magnets it wouldn't twist and would hold in place. Then it could be easily taken on/off without unscrewing. Just a thought.

Here's one of the 3D printed stands. It securely clips on using the front lip of the case. I didn't like the idea of sticking something semi permanent to the back of the tablet. Works very well. Also note below the group head there is another black 3D printed stand which acts as a drip tray cover and is connected to the scales which fit neatly below the drip tray to be able to do gravimetric shots.

With the group-head controller being the start/stop controls in v1.3 and later, the tablet can go anywhere convenient. The connection is Bluetooth; the USB is charging only. I'm waiting for someone to come up with a cup rail that holds the tablet at the back so I can reach my cups/gear in front. Bottom line is there are plenty of options, almost too many, for tablet holders.

Interesting to see this thread exists.

I backed the Kickstarter WAY back in 2012. Yup plopped down $200 into a vacuum of hope. Decent did offer the $200 off at the time of the company handoff but I was so burned from this Kickstarter experience it kept me away from that platform for a LONG time. I just took it as a $200 lesson.

Coming back into machines again as I'm upgrading and interesting to see this still alive. But whoa, still way more expensive than ZPM intended. Unfortunately, this is out of my price range so i can't even consider it. Still, cool to see it still alive.

Just for clarification, Decent did not begin as a failed Kickstarter. John @ Decent purchased ZPM and finished the project where they had failed.

DaveWCII wrote:Just for clarification, Decent did not being as a failed Kickstarter. John @ Decent purchased ZPM and finished the project where they had failed.

Correct. Decent was not a Kickstarter, ZPM was. Decent bought the assets and finished what they started.

oldskoolboarder wrote:Correct. Decent was not a Kickstarter, ZPM was.

And for what it's worth, the final reality was that a ZPM machine cost only 30% less to build than a DE1+ does. Not much less for a big difference in what you get. The cost savings they hoped for, weren't there, once the design and BOM was finalized.

That LCD screen they used, if I remember correctly, cost over $100 just on its own, never mind the custom designed linux machine behind it, and the designed-from-scratch controller for it. Their retail prices were never going to work, but they didn't know that going in, as ZPM's original goal was just to sell a small number of machines they hand-built. Also, they were made in America, in Los Angeles, which is an expensive way to go.

I believe James Hoffmann has a ZPM in his studio (I've spotted it in some of his recent videos) and so might be making a video about it.

And lest anyone think I'm being critical of ZPM's mistakes, I will point out that I got into this, years ago, thinking we could build a Decent machine and sell it profitably at $999. I was extremely naive.

oldskoolboarder wrote:Correct. Decent was not a Kickstarter, ZPM was. Decent bought the assets and finished what they started.

I'd rather say that we bought the assets, so that we could learn from their experience, but that we then started from scratch. There's nothing of ZPM's inside a Decent except for a vision of uniting computer technology with espresso.

But I will say that the hand-built 2nd ZPM, that I borrowed for a bit, made quite good espresso, better than almost any I'd had at that time. They crafted the heater's power curve for a very specific flow rate, grind, roast level and dose, and if you only made that one kind of espresso, you got an excellent drink. Our first Decent prototype, shown at a Portland trade show, did the same thing. As long as the programmer is standing next to the machine, this approach works perfectly.

-john