Kafatek Sold Out - Page 3

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
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mkane
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#21: Post by mkane »

Prodigy wrote:I'm confused. Are you implying that its easy to build combustion engines, rockets, or grinders? Which do you build? I could say its easy to draw art, but that doesn't make my stick figure with hair a Mona Lisa....
First thing is you need an idea. Then put that idea on paper. In the past I worked for a fella who built motorized golf bag caddies. Not mass produced and needed precise, careful assembly. Being an old gearhead I put together everything myself. Engines, flying model airplanes, plastic models. You name it.
I build amplifiers these days. With CNC technology if you can write a program and do the set up, the rest is assembly. Not at all difficult with the proper tools. Take a look at Haas Automation.

I'm not dissing the product. I'm on the inform me list myself.

Bluenoser
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#22: Post by Bluenoser »

mkane wrote: No doubt but it's still a very simple science project.
Well the industry begs to differ. As there are too many examples of mis-aligned grinders, ceramic burrs, poor longevity, large retention, etc.. I read one post of a person spending hours aligning a brand new, several $k, grinder. If it truly were simple science, Denis would not have had to create his own grinder line. I don't think it is rocket science, but it certainly takes attention to detail, quality materials, good design, and extreme quality control on the build. You'd think making a coffee machine that can keep 2oz of water to within a degree C flow through a puck at 9bar would be a simple science project.. but I haven't seen that nut cracked at under $1k. Decent grew out of a kickstarter project where people thought that was simple science. They went bust and it is now a $6k science (in Cdn dollars), granted with many more features.

And these comments have nothing to do with being a fan of Denis' grinders.. (although I have one on order). It is the result of owning some of the existing options from the traditional manufacturers and deciding not to throw money away again.

Although you assemble your own devices, you may be underestimating the value of your time and expertise.

I also think there is a huge void in this industry by many manufacturers in their customer service and in the testing phase of their products. For instance, Profitec themselves could not tell me what type of performance to expect from their own HX design. (ie: how many shots can I pull with this machine within 15 min) Customer service and much better testing is included with products from Decent, Kafatek, Robot, Londinium, etc., and adds to the overall value and cost.

As one poster pointed out. Denis has obviously under-priced his grinders; simply because he can't meet the demand. We should be thankful he has not increased the prices or they would be out of the reach of many of us.

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mkane
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#23: Post by mkane »

And Denis obviously knows the value of QC. Kudo's to him. I wouldn't pass up the chance to spend some time in his shop.

viveur
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#24: Post by viveur »

michaelm1982 wrote:I agree the process has been improved. With a few preparations ahead of going live, you should be able to get one.

Sign up for for an email update to be notified of presale. Fortunately I believe there will be one coming up within the next month.

Use a mobile payment like Apple Pay.

Good luck
Indeed: the last batch of grinders is half-way through being assembled and shipped right now (ordered in Feb/March I believe), so a new order will open soon. I recommend joining and watching the kafatek forums to know when the order is - some people have reported issues with the mailing list, hence watching the forum is a sensible backup.

And +1000 on using mobile payment: Apple Pay works, so I imagine Android Pay (or whatever it's called) should also work. I was not only able to get a grinder without issues on my first attempt - my order was complete within 15 seconds of the grinder being made vailable - I would have had enough time to buy the other 2 models afterwards, at least they were all available for a few minutes. (The mobile payment systems are less likely to run into credit card issues, and most importantly they bypass the web based payment systems which will be inherently slower.)

pcrussell50
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#25: Post by pcrussell50 »

PIXIllate wrote: I'm not sure if I'll end up with a Flat or Max as I don't drink light roasts but when I buy another grinder it will most likely be one of his. Then no more forever.
Forever is a reaaallly long time. A lifetime is a long time. You'd even be surprised how long a decade is. Often in life, people splurge extra money on the thing that is going to last forever. The thing that their kids are going to inherit, whether it's the heirloom quality furniture or the Mercedes Benz (they tend to have parts availability for what seems like forever). BUT, in the end usually after five and no more than ten years the HUGE majority of those people get bored and move on anyway. Not saying you are one of those. Just that based on numbers, it seems like the human condition to "upgrade" based on the latest hotness. That is what the trillion dollar fashion industry is centered on. Fashion being not limited to just clothes.

BTW, My Vario is going on 11 years old now, and never failed to grind. Not once. It has only required two or three five minute servicings, (lever shims). And I've probably only taken off the top burr for cleaning accumulated grounds may three or four times.

I had my first Monolith for a year and am now on my second, even though there was nothing wrong with my first... Because I am not immune to fashion either. :wink:

-Peter
LMWDP #553

PIXIllate
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#26: Post by PIXIllate »

pcrussell50 wrote:Forever is a reaaallly long time. A lifetime is a long time. You'd even be surprised how long a decade is. Not saying you are one of those. Just that based on numbers, it seems like the human condition to "upgrade" based on the latest hotness.

BTW, My Vario is going on 11 years old now, and never failed to grind. Not once. It has only required two or three five minute servicings, (lever shims). And I've probably only taken off the top burr for cleaning accumulated grounds may three or four times.

I had my first Monolith for a year and am now on my second, even though there was nothing wrong with my first... Because I am not immune to fashion either. :wink:

-Peter
I think I've gotten a lot better at this over the years. I used to swap cameras every 2-3 years and then I bought a Nikon D800 36MP DSLR and realized it was technically superior to basically every camera ever used to shoot the photos I love. I have that and a couple of smaller Fuji's and my old Nikon FM2 film camera. I'm set. The rest of it is down to me.

Same with the Profitec 600. It'll be a long time before that is what limits how good my morning shot is rather than something I'm not doing perfectly. A used Monolith sounds kind of perfect to me right now as I can skip the part where it's fussy for the first 25-50lbs of beans. But then there's another lesson I've learned. Buy in cash and then save up more cash before you buy in deeper. I'll need a few months to recover the money from the Profitec. In which time I'll be keeping an eye on the Kafatek fourms and the used bins. :)

jevenator
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#27: Post by jevenator replying to PIXIllate »

For me, I had the BDB which Peter as our main BDB representative here at HB will tell you all about how great of a machine it is (it is) I still had an itch to upgrade to something more end game. Same with the grinder. Now that I have a DE1+ I have zero itch to upgrade as I can do anything I want really and I still barely know anything and I should have a MonoFlat/SSP coming Monday (good deal too pass up) and the Ultra grinder in August that I will end up most likely keeping and selling the MonoFlat...I am so satisfied that I don't have a desire to upgrade my machine for the next 5-8 years for sure...All I can do is improve on my roasting to make my coffee tastier.

The crazy thing is I got my first machine in early 2019 so it's only been a year. Good coffee sucked me in but it's my main hobby that I was willing to "invest" into.

jshaft37
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#28: Post by jshaft37 »

Buy used. I'm sure there are or will be some here on on the manufacturer forum. If you can wait, it seems like flats go up more frequently when folks buy a Max release and will sell their flat to recoup some funds.

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