I have carefully approached the moderators of the site in order that we can post a thread to talk about this new machine in an appropriate thread that is setup for this type of thing. So we have arranged a PROMO thread which is fully approved. So here we go!!

Introducing myself. Nigel Pink from New Zealand. Background in all things espresso and coffee very similar to members of this site. An evolution of home roasters and espresso machines just like many members here which I can share with you.


Introducing 'Pinks Expression'. A simple to use, portable, efficient, non electric and expert barista level manual coffee machine which has a patent pending designed manual crank arm for extracting pressure.

Some may remember a few years ago a design I posted for a manual crank handle espresso machine. We had to go away and do alot more work. Some of the feedback back then was useful. In particular to focus on things like easy heat-up, and preheating the machine to a good temp, and various other things that would be useful on a new machine of this type in order to be successful. Well it was best to remove this info while we went away for a few years and worked a little harder. After many many prototypes we have come up with a polished machine that we are happy with in terms of the things that we have done to improve the world of manual non-electric espresso machines. We have called it 'Pinks Expression' being that my name is Nigel Pink and my small coffee roasting business that started from home roasting is pinkselixir. You can find us at pinkselixir.co.nz we are very small, essentially just me. I am a bit of an inventor having built my roasters myself while currently also working at Canterbury University here in Christchurch (NZ) which I can also share with you all. Many years of playing around with coffee like many of you good folk here.

So I would love to connect with this community before we attempt a market release world wide on something perhaps like Kickstarter next year and get some discussion going about how the machine works, and how you all see it fitting in with all the other lovely manual machines you have. Hopefully you find it interesting enough to want to follow our journey. You can register on our website for updates and newsletters which i will write with pictures and videos of shots etc . All good fun and the sort of stuff this forum likes i hope!!




PS added by HB: See Paid placement for promotional threads for the rules of this [PROMO] thread. This thread will remain open through March 3, 2019.

Well, it's a lovely photograph, without some pictures of the parts and maybe a video or at least a description showing how it works, how are we supposed to comment?

Ira

Hi There thanks for your interest

Yes we are keen to inform you of its operation fully with pictures. First up I was just introducing the product in general

Its probably best to describe things first followed by pictures of the exact things, we have many of these hard to know what you want to see but if you can be specific i can provide some detail

-To use the machine you fill with boiling water, (there is a cap for the water tank on the top, brass handle)
-drain that water out of it 4 mins later with the tap on the front, it drains right into your cup or small jug and is fast flowing desgined in front for no hassle and also long blacks if needed, i will post a close up of this
-Throw that water and fill again.
-Wind the handle anti clockwise about 10 turns, this charges the internal chamber
-load your portafilter with fine ground and tamped coffee, it somes with a naked portafilter we make everything except the basket, we supply a 58 mm ridge-less precision basket but you can use any commercial one you want
-Now you make espresso, just wind clockwise and watch and feel the pressure gauge rise, it will pre-infuse for about 2 winds then pressure will pop up. It is easy to get 12 bar without to much force and very easy to keep it stable. You can profile any pressure you like. Faster wind more pressure, slower wind less pressure. The piston thread and length of handle have been tuned for ease of use, you dont have to wind a thread 25 times to go from the top to the bottom of the piston stroke, we use the mechanical advantage of a thread tuned to make the experience pleasant but also a good feel and fast enough that your not winding forever to get from the bottom to top of the stroke

The machine handles the flow of water to the right places itself automatically, it charges and inducts water under the piston through some ports and two small micr-hydrolic valves so that while winding the handle backwards it cannot suck air through the coffee group but only draw water under the piston from the concentric glass water tank through the valves to the tank via the port. The operator is unaware anything is happening other than water level going down in the outer glass tank. It is dissapearing and being sucked under the concentric piston chamber inside the tank which is that stainless steel pressure chamber you can see through the outer glass tank. When you wind clockwise it can only force water through the coffee group as the valve back to the tank where it drew water from shuts under pressure and the coffee valve opens so water can only go through the group and not back to filling the tank. We did this to avoid all the hassles of using this type of machine in having to remove pistons or other devices to get water into the right spot. it does it automatically so you dont have to worry about it. Just fill with water and wind forwards and backwards. The machine does all the rest. The valves are protected with very high quality screens on each side which are easily serviced and replaced if necessary to protect the valves. The valves are high quality stainless steel ones for other high precision industries that are similar and very reliable.

The piston is one piece, it is driven by two bevel gears with direct drive to the handle. The thread is a very strong acme type thread 2 start so it is fast to wind a shot through or flush water through the group if you dont load the portafilter with coffee. So its a very easy machine to clean up the group after. it runs a commercial turn to lock portafilter in the normal way you expect for high quality espresso. It also runs a commercial head seal and screen that are easily replaceable with one screw and we have patented our own water distribution design under the screen with is two small clever plates easily removed with two small stainless screws for servicing

In practice the machine is very quick and easy to use. You simply wind in reverse, load wind forward and you have your shot. Wack your grinds out reload portafilter wind backwards again to reload shot, then wind forwards for a shot again. You can keep up with any machine shot after shot, one tank fill will do about 4 to 5 espressos. Only need to flush once to heat as we have made the lower housing as small as possible and the water tank ontop as large as possible, the tank is designed to transfer as much heat to the group as possible with the large contact area. the second time you fill it its hot enough, and the tap is real fast to drain it. From start to finish it is ready to use for multiple espressos in 5 mins max

I can load more photos of specifics as we get into design and operation

Well it looks amazing. I would love to have a small manual machine like this. I'd like to see some videos of someone making a shot on this. Part of what turned me off to the flair and the robot was that it seemed rather finicky to get it all together and pull a shot. This seems super straight forward in comparison.

Hi Nigel,
Your espresso machine looks fabulous!

Are the bevel gears made from nylon? How robust are they over time?
What size baskets does it use?

I would love to see a video clip of it in action.

I wish you well in its development and production.

This reminds me of hand cranked motion picture cameras from the silent era. Best camera operators knew how to crank at the perfect speed. What a great idea.

Thanks for sharing

How does the tank retain heat for multiple shots
How do the gears resist stripping under pressure (too fine grind, choking)
How are the valves protected from scale buildup
What physical feedback is felt during pulling a shot
How do you clean group head dispersion screen
What is the temperature loss from tank to puck

What pricing range are you targeting / anticipated competition

Looks nice, do you have the base options? And is there a drainage in the drip tray?

Hi Nigel,

Nice work! Glad to see your product has evolved quite a bit since the last reveal.

I know the goal of your project is to make a non-electric espresso maker. However, the competition in manual espresso space has gotten quite a bit stiffer since, so I would highly encourage you to look into adding electronic heating (as an optional for those who don't use this for travelling/camping). Preheat and maintaining the brew temperature without a fuss remains the biggest challenge (not pressure) for most of these manual devices. If that can be done, you'd have something unique and a winner.

It could be a simple device to keep the metal hot for a couple shots, like adding a cartridge or band heater etc - but I am aware 'simple' may not be that simple when we talk about manufacturing.

Keen to hear/see more about your device.