Rancillio Miss Lucy Mods

[randyrob]

Hey Guys,

Picked up a Rancilio Lucy off evlibay a couple of days ago, it's Date Stamped 7th Month 2000.

There is a few oddities I noticed compared to the Silvia so making some mods and sharing them along the way.

First Mod was to Add the Boil Indicator Light Back

Before Mod..





After Mod..




Second Mod

There was this Water Softner canister attached to the water in that was filled with jelly crystals, probably been in there 14 years
and never replaced, it was causing isssues with suction as well so I removed it and zip tied on a short length of 10mm tube
The beauty of this is the tubing adds a bit of weight and sits nicely on the bottom of the tank.



After 4 Hours of Scrubbing, Descaling, 5 x Chemical Backflushes, changing all the seals & running 500g of rice through the grinder
Miss Lucy Finally brews again!



I'll probably do rocky stepless/Thread tape mod next and possibly change the Burrs.

Just ordered an Arduino Microcontroller, LM35 Temp Sensor & SSR off ebay ($8 all up) to knock up a "Poor Man's PID"

The Grider has a "timed' press button that takes 5 presses to fill a 14g basket - it seems a bit annoying to use
I haven't looked too closely but does anyone know how to Mod this so it's an on/off button instead of the timed grind like it currently is?

Cheers Rob.

[koshari]

why dont you get a "real" poor mans PID from dx.com for $25?

otherwise yes I Picked up a lucy as well recently and she is a big hit at my work where she now lives.
I was happy to keep the lamp set off the level switch as the output light on the PID tells me when the heater is on at least on the boil function.
I also added a 40mm silvia v4 steam knob as i think its easier to get purchase when steaming than the standard 30mm knob and turned the dose timer back to about half a second.

BTW these spade doublers make modding the wiring pretty neat/easy.

[randyrob]

Hi Koshari,

I'm thinking with an arduino i'll be able to do timed shots and once it's plugged into ethernet i'll be able to monitor/switch it on remotely via a phone if on my way in
I just assumed they would cost more than that, is the one you've got 240V and the SSR Rated OK? Got any Pics of your setup?

Spade doublers - Wish I knew about them before! thanks for the heads up!

I think i'll remove the Tamp off the grinder and add a button to toggle the grimder motor and nobble the timer setup.

Cheers Rob.

[koshari]

Hi Koshari,

I'm thinking with an arduino i'll be able to do timed shots and once it's plugged into ethernet i'll be able to monitor/switch it on remotely via a phone if on my way in

Got me there RR, I dont think I will be doing any timed shots from the internet given our workplace where lucy lives has a pretty robust firewall policy ;-)
as far as adding a manual shot timer i was looking for a double rocker that had momentary action in one rocker and standard action in the other for both standard shot and timed.
something like this,

As off yet i haven’t located one with this functionality that will fit in the standard cutout.

I just assumed they would cost more than that, is the one you've got 240V and the SSR Rated OK?

absolutely , its basically an auber clone.
High Quality XMT7100 1.3" Screen PID Intelligent Temperature Controller - Black
have one in the silvia at home, and waiting for 2 more to arrive, one to replace the 1/16 din PID on the Lucy at work which is temporary (read big in a temporary plastic housing and only relay output rather than SSD) and the silvia for our holiday house.

Got any Pics of your setup?

will be happy to post pics when i replace the temporary PID with the permanent one and the smaller housing when it arrives. the big box double sided taped to the side looks a little ghetto. even made my own type K thermocouples with a few offcuts of type K flexible comp lead offcuts.

Spade doublers - Wish I knew about them before! thanks for the heads up!

thaught you might like that heads up, half a dozen of those make the PID mod a breeze on the silvia/lucy.

I think i'll remove the Tamp off the grinder and add a button to toggle the grimder motor and nobble the timer setup.

just wind the timer back (big numbered dial) and change the finder timers function ( as seen to the right of the pressure/level sensor in your first pic) to be momentary off delay, I cant remember the timer mode of the top off my head but there are only about 8 modes, its the blue selector dial changeable with a small Phillips blade which changes the 2 letters in the indicator window. This way the button on the front of the grinder will act momentary just like it does on our sunbeam grinders. Alternatively you could wire the grinder directly from the button on the front panel to the grinder motor and reassign the Finder internal timer as a your shot timer!

[randyrob]

Hi Koshari,

Awesome i'll have a play with the grinders settings tomorrow.

I'll also grab one of those DX Pid's to have a play. I would be really interested in some pics when you get around to wiring them up.
Any idea where I can grab a suitable thermocoupler?

Cheers Rob.

[koshari]

well heres an interim pic as iam back at work today with the temporary PID on the side,

the DX stuff is pretty slow shipping, can take up to 30 days to receive.

[koshari]

i intend on mounting my permanent dx.com PID on the Lucy on the left edge of the protruding boiler bit above the grinder hopper,

this is the enclosure i have chosen, poly so i dint have to earth it,

eBay link removed per site posting policy

i will be using 3m auto double sided tape.

meanwhile i just flipped the group seal over and roughed up the mating surface with a bit of coarse emery as it was leaking ever so slightly on a hard tamped shot.

see how it goes, otherwise i will replace it in the new year if its not any better.

[randyrob]

This was the grinder settings before



This is what I had to change it to for it to work as an on/off momentary switch



I'll be grabbing one of those enclosures and mounting in the same spot. Thanks for the link

Cheers Rob.

[koshari]

spot on rob, i couldnt recall the timer mode however you obviously sussed it out.

CE: On- and off-delay with control signal. DE: Interval with control signal on.

from
http://www.findernet.com/media/series/87/EN/S87EN.pdf

[koshari]

the new controller connected,



All be it in another temporary enclosure until the final one comes, must say however the black enclosure really matches the steam knob, switches tamper and chassis.

[randyrob]

My PID & SSR was just literally dropped off by the postie so I hooked it up and had a quick play



These are the settings i've gone with =

SET -> 0001 -> SET

Su = 0105
AH1 = 175
AL1 = 160

SET -> 0036 -> SET

P = 01.1
I = 0060
D = 015
Souf = 0.2
ot = 002
Filt = 0

SET -> 0089 -> SET

Inty = k
outy = 2
Hy = 0
p5b = 0
rd = 0
Corf = 0

Just waiting on the project box to arrive...

[randyrob]

Nice!

The enclosure I got from evilbay was a tad too tiny so I grabbed a black one with the same idea in mind,

You don't happen to have the dimensions to cutout for the pid to slide into project box at all? it would be a great help.

Cheers Rob.

EDIT: looks to be 1/32 DIN (24mm x 48mm)
so according to this site ==> http://blog.lesman.com/2012/08/09/wh...anel-cut-outs/
the cutout needs to be 22.5mm x 45mm

[koshari]

yes mine being the same is possibly a little small, i have used smaller .5mm2 gauge teflon wiring ( if you were to do this you will need to fuse the active wire at the power switch as you would break gauge from the internal 1mm2 wiring 500mA was suitable for protecting .5mm2) so i think i will be able to live with it being tight at the back, its the brass posts at the front where the lid screws screw into that i may need to file the inner sides off to get the opening size for the controllers 45mm width. just hoping i can get by without hitting the internal threads.

i also covered the exposed mains wiring with heatshrink tubing to maintain double insulation of the mains supply to the controller outside of the enclosure.
I also just let the autotune select the parameters which worked very well. of coarse the autotune needs the element to be hooked up to monitor the temp rise rate to set the PID parameters accurately.

in my case i mounted the SSD and the fuse holder on the stainless panel that separated the tank cavity from the boiler cavity.

[randyrob]

All I can say is goodluck! I spent 45 mins dremelling the same size project box and got so close to making it fit but there wasnt enough brass thread left to keep the lid closed, tho you might be a more patient person than myself

I just finished wiring mine up and pulled a coffee 5 minutes ago I don't think I gave it enough time to warm up was it overshot a little bit (not a 20 Deg C swing like it was previously)
I'll let it warm up and see how it responds.

Only spot I could find to mount the SSR, I replaced the silicon hoses while it was in pieces.



The white doublesided tape looks a bit daggy but it's stonger than the black stuff I had on hand.

[koshari]

i see you just placed a S/S screw in the hole the tamper was previously mounted in.