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I've put a PID on my 2-group hx

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  • #31
    Bought some nice new plywood and I'll make another project box.

    In the meantime, spent today moving a little on from the proof of concept stage to a more permanent footing.

    The live leads which once attached to the pressurestat I've placed onto a terminal strip which in turn is housed neatly and safely in a little black project box screwed to the machine's robust frame.
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    All the wiring will be made neater, and to length, once the new project box is finished, maybe midweek.

    As foreshadowed, I soldered a steel nut to a copper nut. Together they make a little tunnel into which the thermocouple screws into.

    Then I syphoned out the water from the boiler via a small plastic tubing into the vacuum break valve port. The water conducts heat away during soldering.
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    To hold the two nuts in place during the soldering I screwed a bolt onto them and held that against the boiler with a steel rule pressing on a couple of water pipes.
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    Some heat transfer paste and I screwed the thermocouple into the nuts. Not too tightly as I suspect there's going to be a bit of contraction and expansion.
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    Fired her up, and this time the 93°c setting for 1 bar was way too cold...It's working nicely on 110° at the moment,

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    • Dimal
      Dimal commented
      Editing a comment
      Nice soldering job mate...

  • #32
    Thanks Mal. Much safer to solder than braze, seeing how there's no stress there.

    I'm now redesigning the size of plywood project box. Once that's done and spray painted I can permanently wire up the PID and my wife can reclaim her kitchen bench and table.

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    • #33
      Another day of precision carpentry building a PID enclosure, and the final, permanent electrical wiring.

      Like Goldilocks' experience, the first enclosure from old splintery plywood, I figured was not big enough and rough as...the second one way too big, and today's just right, even if the smallest.
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      Made from 7 mm plywood using mainly my radial arm saw, my table saw, jigsaw, multitool and assorted other tools in a time-consuming, tiring fashion. But I like the challenge.
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      Sprayed it grey to match the Grimac's side panels. Just have to allow the pva glue to set hard overnight before screwing in the lid.
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      • #34
        Conclusion

        The positives.

        Much easier to change boiler temperature. Just press the up or down button, vs removing the warming tray and other parts to access the pressurestat and then taking stabs in the dark as to how many turns of the screwdriver, and was it left or right?

        No clicking noises. No noises at all. Totally silent.

        Temperature and pressure at a glance.

        Temperature and pressure held dead steady.

        The PID is half the price of replacing a Sirai pressurestat.

        It's fun to have and watch the display

        The negatives

        One hell of a lot of work. You must know what you are doing and be aware of the dangers of working with electricity and steam pressure.

        Does it give you better control of temperatures?

        Yes, but is that really effective? It doesn't matter for steaming milk as long as you are happy with the steam force and quantity (I was very happy). And with a pressurestat, the E-61 group does a good job of evening out and maintaining water temperature from the HX.

        I would recommend getting a cheapo battery-driven digital thermometer with a thermocouple inserted into the bolt in the E61 group though --because the temperature of the water there is the rubber which hits the road.




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        • #35
          Did that with my VBM domobar super. Amazingly stable Temperature confirmed !

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