If you Decent made full wooden sides and raised it high enough and put wooden dowels front and rear to make your
warming tray area.. That may have nicer look ??

Smorg + Discommon = Bengle

Many of you noticed that yesterday's "Bengle" concept drawing had a striking similarity to to the machine designed by Discommon https://www.instagram.com/discommon/ (specifically by Kevin at https://www.instagram.com/kevincossdesigns/) for Matt at https://www.instagram.com/coffeedrunklbc/ - it was made by Jacob at https://www.instagram.com/pantechnicondesign/

There's a very good reason for the visual similarity.

Many of you know that we've been working on a "Smorg" design, conceptually based on a leaning dragon shape. I've been posting variations on that idea for quite a while.

What I hadn't shown you is our most recent revision of Smorg, which you can see in the upper left of this image. There's been good progress on that design, but we were interested in pushing this idea into a more abstract direction.

When we came across Kevin's design for https://www.instagram.com/coffeedrunklbc/ we saw it as a big dragon, leaning on its forward wings, but made abstract with very liberal use of planes.

What I posted yesterday was Ben's attempt to apply the planar/abstract ideas in Kevin's design, to what we were doing with Smorg. And... I posted that to get feedback.

Bengle is very much a concept drawing, first draft, and we're still in the ideating stage about what next year's "pretty Decent" should look like. Our Portuguese designer Joao Tomaz https://www.instagram.com/joao_tomaz_design/ is currently working with Ben's draft, to refine it with his modernist touch.

I do very much want to credit Kevin's fine work for inspiring Ben to try the planar approach. But... I also want to show you where we were coming from.

I am very much a follower and fan of Austin Kleon's books https://www.instagram.com/austinkleon/ and see the artistic process as borrowing ideas from here and there, merging them to make new things. That's why I started the music service http://magnatune.com/ that features Creative Commons licensing, to enable this sort of remixing. And it's also why I sat on the board of Creative Commons for many years.

I spoke today with Neil Ferrier, who runs Discommon designs, and besides being ok with what we've done, he'd also like to take a crack at refining our Smorg design. As he's a master of surface, light and reflection, I'm really interested, especially as we're having trouble getting Smorg "over the finish line" into something we are really excited to build. I've put him in touch with Paolo at https://www.instagram.com/regaliacoffee/ in New York, so he can get his hands on a Decent.

Auctor wrote:2) Have you considered adding a couple of buttons and a display to the Decent, which would allow you to operate the machine without the tablet altogether? Would love to see a tablet-optional version of the product.

All our current models can be operated completely without the tablet, via the buttons on the group head. That includes full real-time control over flow and pressure.

Here's a fun example of this, where the SEP software is treating the DE1 as if it were a lever machine, and showing what's going on, but the shot is 100% manually controlled:

Auctor wrote:3) Can you get rid of the handle in the front, and move it to the side? The wood trim is awesome, but having a piece of wood sticking out from the machine feels off?

The handle on the right can be unscrewed and removed, for people who don't want it. Some people do this, such as Weber Workshops:

decent_espresso wrote:
The handle on the right can be unscrewed and removed, for people who don't want it. Some people do this, such as Weber Workshops:


image

I've debated taking the handle off the front of my DE1 XL but it leaves a hole with the thread visible. A plug of some sort for that would be great. Black color would blend in. Maybe something Sheldon Wong (and others that offer 3D printed accessories) could knock out? I will approach him and see what he thinks.

Or Sheldon and co make a whole new cover. Certainly not a biggie. In the meantime I keep the handle in.

Since wishing is free, here is more - it goes a bit beyond re-skinning.

I wish the DE1 was slightly wider to the left so that the group is almost centered. Hot water spout could be added there for symmetry but I would not care much for that. This will have a few functional advantages:
- larger tray meaning emptying it less often
- more real estate on the grill to dry portafilter, basket, and a cup or two
- will fit two late cups comfortably when using the two-spout portafilter. I have seen on one of the videos that it can be done but quarter of the left cup was sticking out
- the increased width would allow for a bigger tablet on top (not a biggie but...).

As a side effect, this design may add just enough weight to make the group handle unnecessary.

GDK wrote:Since wishing is free, here is more - it goes a bit beyond re-skinning.
I wish the DE1 was slightly wider to the left so that the group is almost centered. Hot water spout could be added there for symmetry but I would not care much for that. This will have a few functional advantages:
- larger tray meaning emptying it less often
- more real estate on the grill to dry portafilter, basket, and a cup or two
- will fit two late cups comfortably when using the two-spout portafilter. I have seen on one of the videos that it can be done but quarter of the left cup was sticking out
- the increased width would allow for a bigger tablet on top (not a biggie but...).
As a side effect, this design may add just enough weight to make the group handle unnecessary.

• We're unlikely to widen the chassis, as "small size" is something a lot of people value about the Decent, since home kitchens are usually tightly packed.
• Regarding two latte cups: this problem is cause by the spouts being mounted a 90º angle to the handle, but the handle not locking at 90º.
• In our next batch of double-spouted portafilters, we now lock the spout off-angle, so that when the portafilter locks with the DE1, the spouts are 90º to the machine, and two cups fit well.
• we offer two washers for free https://decentespresso.com/c?s=75615+1 to anyone we're sending a package to, that will re-orient the double spout.
• people do put 10" tablets on top, but it does look a bit oversized
• the decent puts very, very little water into the drip tray. Unless you often flush the group in the tray, you'll find that the tray is about 1/2 full when you need to refill the water tank, so it's not usually an issue. And people who buy a refill kit from us, generally then also plumb in the drip tray.

Hohohk podcast with Decent's John Buckman

Standup comedians
- Andy Curtain https://www.instagram.com/andycurtain/
- and Mohammed Magdi https://www.instagram.com/theothermohammed/
- and I

had a super-interesting hour long conversation which is today listenable as an audio podcast at:
https://hohohk.podbean.com/e/the-man-in ... n-buckman/

It's mostly not at all about coffee geekery, but more about topics around
- starting a company in Hong Kong,
- getting scammed repeatedly,
- the evil music industry (my previous biz "Magnatune")
- piracy, getting copied
- entrepreneurship
- Silicon Valley culture

and generally about human topics which people who are "Decent curious" might find interesting.

An interesting conversation.
Sounds like Andy has some scars doing business on the mainland. I can recognise it. Been there done that - in the mid nineties.

John, some things you said about HK culture "tell us what, don't tell us how" reminded me of Ricardo Semler - have you read any of his stuff?