Ikawa home (50g) repair (doser stuck in open)

#1: Post by **jels** » February 9th, 2023, 11:55 am

I recently bought the ikawa off ebay. and the unit was fine for around 1k of beans. but during a period of being off has developed a problem, the doser claims it's open giving a flashing red/green light. Has anyone had experience with ikawa repair service? I must say im already unimpressed with their service after beans purchased from them are yet to be dispatched over a week later. Does anyone know of a fix for this issue? "jump start" switch via magnet or maybe replace with mechanical? or send to them to repair 6 year old machine which was a mere stopgap.

#2: Post by **ira** » February 9th, 2023, 12:26 pm

Can you feel the magnet pulling the doser into place?

February 9th, 2023, 12:50 pm

yes. magnets seem to pull all though being second hand i dont know the original force.

February 9th, 2023, 12:54 pm

sorry was kids dinner time, see my other post

#5: Post by **ira** » February 9th, 2023, 3:11 pm

The only other post I saw was identical so I hid it. I don't know how handy you are, but if you can, I'd certainly open it up before I sent it in for repair to see if it's an obvious problem.

February 10th, 2023, 7:31 am

I considered cracking it open but am in communication with the seller about a refund. Ikawa has left a rather bad impression with me design choice wise, over engineering a switch that is probably an unneeded and clearly doesnt have great longevity. Here's hoping they accept the return.

February 10th, 2023, 10:47 am

They were happy to refund. Now ive caught the bug i need to replace the machine. Any thoughts i considered the nano 7e but they wont ship the 120v model to the uk even if im using an inverter. Seems the ~£1000 small batch roaster bracket is lacking. I'm tepted to order the 7e to the US but with inverter postage costs we're in the kaleido m1 range, but id only take the m2 so basically £2k. Maybe i scour for a good deal or save towards a Aillio. Shame looks like i wont be roasting for a while. thanks for you input.

#8: Post by **Milligan** » February 10th, 2023, 3:03 pm

I wouldn't read too much into Ikawa reliability from this one incident. We are talking about a used roaster here. I've heard very little about Ikawas breaking and Ikawa has been very easy to work with for me. I've had a few minor issues that were quickly resolved by support. The Home is a pretty well featured machine for the price range and use case.

February 10th, 2023, 6:44 pm

I agree, i really enjoyed using the machine and the coffee i produced. Without utilising the shed or drilling holes for fans was perfect. I did find it lacking in community and some features i think will become givens in the future. but true to my background education i will question design choices. mech eng product design. I'll be honest I'm still weighing up buying direct new. but 1 year warranty and 2 year subscription plan? They only sell small quantity greens. to learn i need 5+kg to play with. Not to mention i thought my background would help me understand heat distribution, its hard to grasp, i feel id need to mod it just to help me understand. and for that cost ill probably move past it. But i agree suits some.

#10: Post by **GDM528** » February 11th, 2023, 12:53 am

Heat can weaken a magnet over time, and the chamber in the Ikawa gets really, really hot. Most of the magnets we see around us would be demagnetized at those heat levels: https://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p= ... um-magnets

Ikawa's engineers are clever however, so they picked magnets that can take the heat. But those magnets may still slowly degrade over use, combined with a weak sensor for the magnets can lead to this place. IMO this seems like an unnecessary 'safety' function, as the beans will stay in the chamber with the cover off (yes, I tried it).

Ikawa's "community" is different than HB's community. For whatever reason Ikawa shut down their user forums, but I bet many are here on HB now, and are super-helpful. There are lots of postings on thermal performance, profiles, etc.

Ikawa's curated coffee subscription never made sense to me. Their curated greens cost more than nicely-roasted coffee from my local artisan suppliers. Third party sources, however, are half the price and they sell big bags of good greens that encourage lots of tasty exploration.