Convince me why I shouldn't use paperclip for WDT - Page 8

#71: Post by **tompoland** » April 7th, 2021, 4:32 am

Did I miss something? Maybe it's a matter of terminology but Gagné's references to deep vs shallow WDT both involve puck raking. Help me out please.

To me it's entirely logical that deeper WDT/raking would be more effective but surprises do happen so very helpful to have confirmation.

I found Gagné's movement of the Portafilter when grinding very interesting. nutation motion, he called it. Anyone tried it?

#72: Post by **jpender** » April 7th, 2021, 11:38 am

tompoland wrote:Did I miss something? Maybe it's a matter of terminology but Gagné's references to deep vs shallow WDT both involve puck raking. Help me out please.

I think the difference is that "raking" implies only shallow surface distribution whereas WDT implies deeper distribution in addition to the surface.

#73: Post by **mdmvrockford** » April 8th, 2021, 7:44 am

I have been following this thread and just restarted a week ago. It is still going strong.

To OP and others who may have just joined in (and to see if I understand correctly posts to date), here is summary why should not use paperclip for Weiss Distribution Technique (WDT):

Your mother will not approve (very true and IMO the best reason) :lol:

/tips/convi ... ml#p784631

Single point of paperclip is not as efficient as having multiple points using multiple needles or printer nozzle cleaning thingamajigs

Paperclip is not ergonomic vs. something with bigger handle

I will not address prior discussed shallow rake vs. deep rake; Please see "rapidcoffee" (John Weiss) prior posts regarding this. Convince me why I shouldn't use paperclip for WDT

To those new to Home-Barista.com and perhaps unaware and to those who may have found this thread via google search: Dr. John Weiss is the "Weiss" in WDT. And he is also one of the moderators of this internet group.

Thanks to this thread I have retired my original WDT tool (#2 wood pencil with sewing needle taped to end; sewing needle cleaned ~every 2 weeks with >=70% isopropyl alcohol). IMO hard to get more ergonomic than ubiquitous #2 wood pencil. With the new WDT tood, I have noticed much less time spend doing the WDT. And I have yet to have non-perfect bottomless portafilter pour (i.e. stream is centered on basket bottom, stream has tiger striping). All my portafilters are bottomless and all my pump machine baskets are the more unforgiving VST baskets. Pictures of my two WDT tools in this other HB thread Your Coffee Your Images
To be clear, a perfect bottomless portafilter pour does not correlate to great taste in the cup.

BTW, I am still awaiting my mother's approval of this entire hobby :wink: At least my oenophile father really likes this hobby. He almost always asks for an espresso when they visit their grandkids.

#74: Post by **randytsuch** » April 12th, 2021, 2:39 pm

My WDT had degraded to a toothpick stuck in a metal holder (lost the original metal pin a while back).

After reading this thread, I upgraded to a champagne cork with sewing needles stuck in it. Better, but thought it could improve. The sewing needles were a little too thick.

I bought a set of 10 of the 0.4mm 3d printer cleaning pins, and stuck 7 of them in the cork last night.
The 0.4mm pins seem to work very well, was happy with the results this morning.
For this version, I filed down the sharp tip but left the spring part on. And they come out pretty straight.

I think I'll revise to use all 10 pins with the spring part cut off, and try to flare them out a bit.

Definitely worth a few bucks to buy the 0.4mm 3d printer cleaning pins and giving this a try.

Randy

April 12th, 2021, 10:38 pm

I'm about to do the same, I've been looking for 0.4mm or 0.35mm acupuncture needs and can't seem to find anything but for some reason, I didn't consider the printing cleaning needles. After a quick search, there are lots of printing cleaning needles available at that size so problem solved and I'm not sure why I never searched for them before. How did you insert the needles into the cork? DE suggests to drill little holes in it first and then insert the needles but I always thought you could just poke them in and it should be fine. do you have any pictures of your final product?

#76: Post by **Brewzologist** » April 12th, 2021, 10:49 pm

If you use the 0.4mm stainless 3D printer nozzle cleaners, insert the spring end into the cork. To do this you'll need to drill small holes. Very easy to do. Continues to work quite well.

EDIT: here is a picture of a prototype before cutting the ends down.

#77: Post by **DaveB** » April 12th, 2021, 11:44 pm

Brewzologist wrote:If you use the 0.4mm stainless 3D printer nozzle cleaners, insert the spring end into the cork. To do this you'll need to drill small holes. Very easy to do.

Rumor has it you want to use a 5/64 (.78mm) drill bit for the holes.

#78: Post by **randytsuch** » April 13th, 2021, 8:59 am

First version I made I drilled tiny holes, then stuck in spring side into cork, but they were kind of long because my bit is short, so can't stick the entire spring part in.

2nd version I cut off the spring, then used needlenose pliers to stick in the wires. It worked, but its kind of hard to get the exit angle of the wire right this way. You could try it first by sticking the pointed end into the cork (spring side out), and see if you can get the positioning to what you want.

Randy

#79: Post by **jpender** » April 13th, 2021, 9:10 am

I cut the springs down a little so the hole wouldn't have to be as deep. I thought the spring part might hold better in the soft cork than just the wire. Rather than drill I just pressed in a little tiny nail/tack to make holes. Worked well enough although I'm still not sure it's improving my shots versus the bamboo skewer I was using. Ironically I've now had two spritzers since using the new tool. I'd never seen one before. I'm not blaming the tool, but it is odd.

#80: Post by **Nate42** » May 2nd, 2021, 11:16 am

So in a previous post on this thread, I mentioned that you guys talked me into trying out the levercraft tool. Well, the one I pre-ordered for May arrived promptly on May 1st, and I have to say its pretty nice. It's easy to use, having 8 prongs makes it go faster than a single needle tool. My coffee bed pre tamp looks great, and my shots start very evenly. My previous tool was a probe that came with the Monolith Flat. Its a larger diameter, not much different from a more ergonomic paper clip. The Levercraft tool really does seem like an improvement. I'm sure a homemade tool with similar needles would be just as good.