This week I had the pleasure of meeting Thomas at his workshop and seeing his baby up close. As you would expect from reading his posts on this journey, Thomas is a great guy and his workshop is really quite impressive; in fact, I was looking around to see if there was a bedroom hidden somewhere because I was envisioning him working away in there all hours of the night with all the cool tools he has in there.

I had never seen an Aurora in person and what surprised me was the small footprint. It's really a great size for the home user and I really love the efficient use of space. The new group on his machine looks really well made; in fact, the whole machine looks incredibly well built and this is a prototype so I can imagine the finished version will make people very happy.

Thomas pulled some shots on his new machine and they were really good and had a lovely crema. Hopefully, I can drop by again next month and bring some beans with me this time

After that visit, I immediately started to think about how I could justify having another machine in our kitchen

arcus wrote:The new group on his machine looks really well made; in fact, the whole machine looks incredibly well built and this is a prototype so I can imagine the finished version will make people very happy.

Thank you Paul for the kind words. I look forward to the beans next time you visit!
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Arcus reminds me that I have been delinquent. Here forthwith: an update on some of the plates that are being spun as the release draws infinitesimally closer.

The second prototype of the main group casting which is holding everything up was almost perfect (it was used to pull the shots that Arcus referred to!). Now I'm back to waiting for a third (and I most fervently hope final) polished and chromed version before I can give the ok on the initial production run. Given the track record thus far, this may take a little while longer.

Over the last month I've been revising the firmware (adding the on/off scheduler and cleaning up the interface) and producing a second iteration of the PCBs for the controller. The order for the new boards will be going out in the next few days.

The second revision of the frame is done. A few shots of the weldup:

IEC (kettle cord) bracket in the back right corner.



Front half of the frame with the water inlet bracket on the left and a tab for the controller box at the front right.



Ready for paint!



The boiler welding was held up while I waited for a second metering valve for the argon purge gas for the inside of the boiler. I had been jerry-rigging splitting the argon supply in two so I ordered a second valve months ago but it got lost in the mail. I finally gave up and found one at a local store (marked up by a factor of approximately five). When you need something, you need something.

The small copper tube on the left is the inlet for the purge gas. The boiler is stuffed with pieces of weld blanket to lower the volume to be purged and all the ports are plugged. The loose fits and lack of gasket behind the boilerplate will allow the purge gas to exit. I didn't have enough brass plugs on hand for all of the ports - thus the chop stick / male x male strangeness. TEASER ALERT: if you look closely, you can just see a corner of the laser-etched logo for the new company.



The nameplate (censored version ) gets a single brass fitting for the heating element.



For the grand finale, the bronze brew reservoir flange can be brazed to the boiler. This flange is by far the heaviest casting I have worked with and required a lot of heat to get it up to brazing temperature.



I used a new product to prevent oxidation on the hot surfaces: the medievally titled black flux - bubonic plague in a jar anyone?


Dance macabre (The Dance of Death) (1493) by Michael Wolgemut

One experimental diagonal HX boiler ready for cleanup. This one is much harder to make than the horseshoe version. On the other hand the plumbing is more elegant. Time will tell.

arcus wrote:Thomas is a great guy and his workshop is really quite impressive

I confirm.
The most meticulous and clever machine shop guy I ever met.


«Le Macabre», a piece of Gaggia's history.

Glad that vacations are over, we'll enjoy reading you again.

Thanks Dr. P!

How goes the "production" Thomas ?

Hmm - what is new since my last post?

The second revision of the PCBs has arrived. Population and testing should happen this week or next.
There is a lot of un-photogenic CAD and Bill Of Materials wrangling going on - which has ended with the placing of a new order for plumbing bits and bobs.

More tele-friendly is the boiler jig. I was going to have to make one of these eventually anyway, but somehow the time was right.
This is going to bolt on to an existing angle-iron jig I used in the past for holding the boiler tube. The angle is mild-steel and will ultimately have to be replaced with another material (because it rusts and because of the risk of contamination of the surface of the stainless boiler tube with carbon steel).

The hinge side is made from some scraps of stainless flat stock, a piece of stainless half-inch rod with a groove turned in it to receive a retaining clip.



This is one of those projects that I was sort of making up as I went along - without using CAD - so I didn't know what the final angles would be. Some adaptability was therefore required. I milled radial slots in some aluminum to allow for this.





"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" - Desiderius Erasmus by way of Tom Waits

... to be continued.

This is my favourite thread...bar none!

Keenly anticipating the next instalment..... and to see the finished machine...

Paolo wrote:This is my favourite thread...bar none!

Thanks Paolo!


This week's post: Enter the Dragon





1973!


The rest of the parts for the boiler jig are in stainless; sharp tools, low speeds and high feeds are the magic trifecta for not ruining your afternoon with this stuff. I have quite a bit of 1"x1" tube left over from some steel and glass stair railings I made a few years ago. These two scraps were just about the right length. Drilling both at once to ensure alignment and Sharpie markings on the bottom face so that I don't lose track of the orientation.





These arms will become the frame to which the brew reservoir will be bolted. Together with the angle iron and the cyclops-smiley-face adjustable arms, they will make a parallelogram around the boiler. I plan to use threaded rod as the last side of the parallelogram, so I need to add some shims. 1" tubing cut at the corrective angle:



A couple of tack welds will suffice to hold them in place on the frame arms.



And a couple of washers for a bearing surface.



A final all-stainless bracket that bolts to the angle iron stand completes the circuit around the boiler.



Here is the stand with both brackets attached.



The adjustable arms needed a spacer. A small scrap of nominal 1/2" copper pipe fits the purpose nicely.



Before making the last bracket I realized that the shims were going to cause problems. The last side of the rhomboid, the threaded rod, would be too close to the boiler and would get in the way during the welding (making-it-up-as-you-go-minus-one). After a bit of thinking, I cut off the shims with a grinder and made a slight adjustment to the last bracket.



Forget about shims. Cylindrical nuts are the way to go! (making-it-up-as-you-go-plus-one).



In place. Yeah.



Everything else is held together with 5/16th bolts.



And voila, one slightly baroque welding jig.



Cue the dragon:

I love my dragon.

...and btw, if you follow such things and are so inclined: I now have an instagram feed.

Thomas, you're somewhat of a mad man and this is why I enjoy your thread.