Decent Espresso Machines (DE1) - Any thoughts?

[Dimal]

I was under the impression that inductive charging is inefficient and creates additional heat that has to be dissipated

Only when poorly engineered/designed 'l3n'...

Mal.

[level3ninja]

I know a set of scales isn't going to be crammed together like a smart phone, but I've read it creates extra heat and shortens battery life wireless charging a phone. It's essentially a more seperated isolation transformer isn't it? They're pretty efficient at around 97% but the seperation would only make that worse wouldn't it? I don't think anyone will care about the actual power draw of such a tiny load, a dozen extra Watts aren't going to change a power bill, but if the inefficiency is heat loss then it could cause issues with the battery. Not trying to argue, you've got me curious. I know you'll know more about the theory then me.

[Dimal]

Yep, it was the thermal losses I was referring to Ninja....
Can be reduced to minute values when designed properly.

Mal.

[>decentespresso]

We're currently testing this heavy duty USB-A panel mount connector with a completely sealed power converter.

I like this because it's highly water resistant (water in the USB-A will still short it, though), independent, and should stand up to a lot of abuse.

Because we have two panels in the front: a strong one where this USB connector would mount, and then a thin, shiny "splash panel" that mounts in front of it, the two screws for this USB plug won't be visible on the front of our espresso machine.

[>decentespresso]

Decent Scale sent to manufacturing

Our Decent Scale went off to manufacturing today. It should be shipping in 10 weeks.
https://decentespresso.com/scale

It's a 0.1g accurate, BLE compatible, two-glass capable, open API, very-simple user interface, scale and timer. It features a single-piece-of-plastic "hat" that covers the entire scale (except for the bottom), and the optional USB charger plugs in from the bottom so you can charge even in wet environments.

A bit of news: we're working with Bobby Bobak, the author of the Pour Over app "Filtru" for ios, to integrate our scale with his app. More info on that as it progresses, but there's a scale on its way to him now, so he can start the coding work. https://getfiltru.com/

As I've promised elsewhere, I am sharing our CAD drawings for public use. Here is the onshape URL to the entire scale assembly. This will make it much easier for people to physically integrate our scale into various uses, such as real time weighing of grinder doses. https://cad.onshape.com/documents/a4...63c3d3bf8b1208

[MrJack]

Looking good. Are you still working on your own app?

[>decentespresso]

Looking good. Are you still working on your own app?

That's a trick question, even if you didn't mean it to be!

I have designs for several apps, including a flow meter, as well as integrating weighing functionality into the DE1+. But, I'm not currently working on them, because I'm totally focussed on shipping the DE1 machines at the moment.

It's a trick question, because you asked your question in the same famous wording of the question "are you still beating your wife?" where a yes/no answer is not possible. The correct answer to your question is the Japanese word "Mu" The Japanese Word, Mu, by Robert Pirsig

[>decentespresso]

decent tablet nit-picking

We've placed our order for 1000 tablets, and now we're working with the manufacturer to get the tablet looking exactly the way we want.

Here's what it looks like with the logo printed on the back. I think it looks awful.



Pictured above is their dual-boot (Android/Windows) Intel model. Our tablet is Android only, with an ARM CPU (much faster, better battery life).

The manufacturer was very surprised that I didn't want our logo printed on the back, but I think a black tablet without a logo looks really elegant.

We're also picking a texture for the case, and I've gone for a matte black on ABS plastic, which is fairly fingerprint resistant (we're doing the one on the right)



I previously was going to use a material called "oil rubber" for the back (that's what the Windows tablet in the photo above is using) but all my engineers worried that it might turn sticky in a few years, so we're being conservative and going with matte ABS plastic.

The printing next to the ports is in small, Futura type and is fairly unobtrusive.

Finally, we were able to find silicone sleeves that were made for this tablet. We got a sample from them (ugh, in blue) and we'll need to punch a hole for the steelie stand in the sleeve, but otherwise it works well. I personally don't think the silicone sleeve is necessary, but if you're splashing water all over the tablet, or just worried about doing so, we'll be offering the sleeve as a low-cost accessory. Because this sleeve was moulded for this tablet, the fit is quite good and it doesn't look sloppy, like the other not-quite-perfect-fitting sleeves I've tried.

[>decentespresso]

DE1CAFE heater

Just took delivery today of these beautiful, tiny, super-efficient water heaters, custom made for us, with the connectors we wanted. They're a lot more expensive than our DE1 heaters, but they deliver the same heat power of normal water heaters in half the space. This is what we're hoping to use in our DE1CAFE models to deliver more steam power when 220V is available. I've received a lot of email from people wanting the features of the DE1CAFE (gravimetric shots, cafe-grade steam) but not countersunk, hence our interest in smaller heaters, so we can put more heating power in for greater steaming intensity. Yet, in the same chassis as the DE1. It might be possible, but it'll definitely require 220V. Since 220V is available in the US, and obviously the rest of the world has it, that could be ok. Can't say yet if a "desktop DE1CAFE" is possible, but I'd love it to be.

[>decentespresso]

A Paypal Pre-Order story

Back in November, when we started taking pre-orders for our Decent Espresso machines, we were accepting Paypal and Stripe payments. Almost immediately, Paypal freaked out at our sudden rise in sales, and froze our account with $100k of sales in it.

We were told (whoops!) that presales were forbidden by Paypal and that we had to ship everything within 20 days or provide refunds.

Here's paypal's policy on pre-sales.
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/Does-PayPal-permit-transactions-for-pre-sale-items-FAQ1488

What we ended up doing is offering $100 in free accessories to anyone who had bought on Paypal, and who was willing to repurchase their DE1 with their credit card (and be refunded on Paypal), as Stripe has no problem with pre-orders. All but one pre-order took us up on that offer, and they wanted a refund because they didn't want to wait (fair enough).

With the shipment of the Barista Kits last week, we were finally able to get access today to our paypal account (everything ordered has either shipped or been refunded).

We're not yet accepting payments via paypal, not until all our items are in stock and shipping, so that we don't run afoul of Paypal's rules. I'm hoping to find the time to program a more nuanced shopping cart, that allows paypal if you are only ordering currently-shipping items.

Bugs is jumping for joy at the moment, as this Paypal fiasco happened when I was on tour, and she was managing the company, and doing all the tech support I do, and all the accounting. It was not a good moment for this Paypal mess, but we're happy that it's in the past now!

All part of starting a business.

[readeral]

Haha. This happened to the Aillio guys too. What a gigantic mess that was.

[>decentespresso]

new revision of our portafilter stand

I have three samples of the new design (version 2) of our portafilter stands. https://decentespresso.com/portafilter_stand

Changes in this design:
- thicker metal (now totally rigid)
- the "tail" of the stand, which holds the portafilter handle, is now lower, so that more portafilters are level when on the stand
- two holes are now in the design, so that we can use those holes while dipping the stand in the paint. This solves the problem with version one, which had not-invisible-enough black marks on the insides, to cover up the unpainted areas where the tool had been to hold the stand while painting.
- includes two pieces of double-sided 3M tape, to optionally affix the stand to a scale

This revision should address the things people didn't like about version one, and I'm looking forward to to feedback on it.

[gc]

As I was making my first coffee this morning, it occurred to me that I have two notepads and pen beside my coffee machine to record details of settings, coffee roast, grind settings and tasting notes etc. All this is necessary for my memory [or lack of it!], but prompted me to ask if the DE1(+) will have an option to record notes and comments when saving brew settings, e.g. a text field or link to a note app? Also, if brew settings are to be uploaded and shared to the cloud [looking forward to that option], to make the inclusion of notes in the upload optional, so that they may be private or for public viewing/use.

[>decentespresso]

As I was making my first coffee this morning, it occurred to me that I have two notepads and pen beside my coffee machine to record details of settings, coffee roast, grind settings and tasting notes etc. All this is necessary for my memory [or lack of it!], but prompted me to ask if the DE1(+) will have an option to record notes and comments when saving brew settings, e.g. a text field or link to a note app? Also, if brew settings are to be uploaded and shared to the cloud [looking forward to that option], to make the inclusion of notes in the upload optional, so that they may be private or for public viewing/use.

I absolutely plan to add note taking and scoring, and it will happen when the cloud features get programmed (later in the year is the planned schedule). I've also been looking at some systems for standardised descriptions of espresso shots, such as Counter Culture's wheel.

[gc]

I've also been looking at some systems for standardised descriptions of espresso shots, such as Counter Culture's wheel.

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I've never seen the CounterCulture wheel before. What a great system for sharing and learning!