Ikawa Home teardowns - Page 5

May 10th, 2022, 9:51 pm

I guess the workmanship has room to improve. On the other hand, I guess that might be due to the small-batch order for that customized PCB led to semi-auto production. I may be wrong about it. However, I plan to take it apart once have the chance, just for my curiosity.

#42: Post by **Nawaf** » May 19th, 2022, 12:59 pm

Today I managed to disassemble my ikawa pro to see if the fan need to be cleaned,
And here some pictures of the roaster,

#43: Post by **GDM528** » May 19th, 2022, 3:08 pm

Nawaf wrote:Today I managed to disassemble my ikawa pro to see if the fan need to be cleaned,
And here some pictures of the roaster,

Nice - thank you for posting!

The boards look essentially the same as Home model, but the wires plugging in should be different to accommodate the extra buttons, lights, and thermal probe.

Fan outlet into the roaster looks really clean BTW.

They anodized a component that's only visible if you take it apart - gotta admire their attention to detail

May 23rd, 2022, 8:20 am

My Ikawa is back, roast for two cycles and that's it. Yep, it does not work again. The recipes are able to send to the unit with no problem and the APP is also able to download new receipts. It seems the same IC burned again, guess there is something wrong besides that IC. Now, the LED light purple color indicates a faulty fan assy or temp sensor based on the owner's manual.

May 23rd, 2022, 2:24 pm

Bummer, what an adventure you didn't want to have. If the same chip has failed, the repair technician might want to look at surrounding components: controller, motor, power supply. I'd like to think Ikawa designed enough margin into the components they selected, but they could be replaced with more robust equivalents, as this is a somewhat common design.

May 23rd, 2022, 8:54 pm

What adventure! Thank you for the recommendation we definitely to dig more and try to find out what really causes CHIP(IRL6372) burn. I am expecting this will be a long process......, maybe, it is a good time to seek another roaster, any suggestion?

May 23rd, 2022, 11:55 pm

You can replace a lot of components before you've reached the price of a new machine. I've been happy to see how the Ikawa is constructed with so many commercially-available parts.

I've seen some posters on HB move from a Home to a Pro, but takes a lot more money. I live in a city with 80 local roasters that could supply me with 10 years of high quality coffee, for the cost of a Pro roaster.

May 24th, 2022, 2:09 am

Moving from Home to Pro is one of the options prior I suffering the issue. After reviewing the "Nawaf" shared pro version lightly teardown, I assume the PCBs are most likely the same. If that is the case, reliability might play a big part in the consideration of upgrading to the Pro version.

May 24th, 2022, 3:25 am

Is it a matter of reliability, or ruggedness? As I get to know my Home machine better and thanks to your teardown report, I'm getting a better sense of how far I can push the machine without damaging it. It's essentially a desktop computer with a built-in heater.

Hopefully any Pro owners reading this thread can speak to the extended warranty and factory support for the Pro models. The margins are much slimmer on the Home model, so I get that Ikawa may be less interested in after-sales support.

May 25th, 2022, 2:50 am

If I could choose, reliability should be the first priority concern, and the duration(life span) should be the next. Yes, agree with you about the profit margin on Home Ver., based on the unit constructed and the layout. I guess IKAWA is focusing on Pro Ver. user and try to gain from the monthly subscription to unlock the Home APP function. I received the announcement from IKAWA regarding the HOME unit will rise up to £1,270 and reduce the subscription fee down to £4.99 dramatically.