Odyssey Espresso

[amberale]

Yeah, I checked with Ross.
I am in the first 50 but my machine will be mothballed until the Aus CE certification is complete.
So I won't get delivery for a while yet.
I have a personal poll going as to what will arrive first.
Argos
Vostok
Kaffelogic Nano booster kit and new chaff collector.
It is frustrating but it happens, especially with new products.

[tompoland]

I emailed Ross/William regarding certification for Australia and potential delays. Here is William's response so you don't die wondering:


Hi Tom,

We appreciate your feedback. You are correct that shipping to Australia will likely be delayed due to the certifications required to legally sell in Australia, but rest assured that we are working on getting those. When we start shipping is dependent upon the certification process which has a pretty wide band based on lead times at the testing labs and anything that may come up during testing. The goal is to start shipping in April, if everything goes as planned.

We deeply appreciate your continued patience as we work through the details of small batch manufacturing, it's a first for both Ross and I. It's hard but extremely rewarding.
Thanks,

William

[tompoland]

Latest update for those not receiving the emails. My guess is they might start shipping to Australia in May. This year. Maybe?

Odyssey Espresso Argos Update: March 10, 2023

Long overdue for another update! These weeks just fly by so darn fast. A lot to cover here including assembly, CE Cert, SCA Expo, Patent, and more.

Before I get into that, I’d like to thank everyone for their continued support with the Argos. Some of you may remember that we had 70 units go live for sale on February 10. We always planned on ordering spares for the original batch and as expected had some cancellations over the past year. We were very pleased to see that all 70 machines sold out in 25 minutes after going live. I would like to sincerely apologize to anyone who did not get a machine. Due to the limited quantities in each configuration we didn’t have a great way to add that inventory to our online site which resulted in some people getting to checkout only to find that their configuration had just sold out. Good news is that once we start shipping we plan to open batch 2 orders with no currently planned limit. We’d like to get this going once batch one is out in the world to lessen the delay between shipping batches 1 and 2.

As you all know, the top and bottom plates were delayed a bit more than anticipated. The first set of 45 plates ship out tonight and are expected to arrive next week. We’ve already got over 50 sub assemblies of both 120V and 240V boilers, steam valves + wand, steam manifolds, etc. Once these plates arrive, we’ll go straight into cleaning and full assembly which will have it’s own learning curve and ramp up for our techs. 70 more sets of plates are expected to ship next week with all of the remaining parts estimated to be completed before the end of March. This differs from our previous quote of 50 plates per week

A quick deep dive into the plate delays. After the first 2 were received before CNY to kick off production testing, I found a few small features that I wanted to change. They integrated the changes quickly but needed to go through the process of verifying that the new parts were up to spec after manufacture. I also didn’t love the powder coating samples that were sent before CNY. The original pre-production powder coated parts were done by Leading Edge Manufacturing down in Louisiana. They were awesome and gave us the exact look and finish that we were going for. For production it made more sense to have out manufacturers do the powder coating in house to keep cost and lead time down. This meant a little more back and forth on getting the correct finish.

My supplier also made tools used to cover off portions of the parts that we don’t want coated. These are primarily the sealing surfaces and those that would directly contact potable water. You can see some images of the tools below!

CE Cert. This has been a huge process of working with the labs to narrow down the actual certifications required for each country we are shipping to. Some countries have overlap and can get by with a conformance report to show that prior testing directly relates to local regulations. Because we were told different things from different labs it took significant work and research to sift through this info and figure out exactly what we need. The other reason for delays has been waiting for lab space to open up. Due to the number of products needing testing at all these certified labs, we’ve had to wait for space in a lab that met our budget. We’re currently slated for a testing date of 3/30 which is likely to move forward as it seems common for many companies to cancel their testing if they’re not fully ready in time.

The general timeline we’ve been given is 1 week to get FCC and ISED for US and Canada. CE and rest of world will then take 2-3 weeks after. After talking to the lab all parties seem confident that the Argos will pass due to it’s simple nature and use of pre-certified components. Majority of what is tested in EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility Testing) of the board, radio and antenna testing of the Bluetooth emittance, general safety including RoHS compliant materials, and user manual documentation.

We have just reserved our booth 1057 for the SCA Expo in Portland April 21-23! While we don’t plan on pulling shots during the event due to the high commercial demand that our machine is not designed to operate for but we will have final production machines on display and may consider pulling shots at the end of each day for those who are interested.

Our Non-Provisional design patent was just filed today which is an exciting milestone for protecting our intellectual property with the many unique features on this machine!

A few more random notes! We do have steam wand block off plates available for those that do not a steam wand. Still figuring out the best way to offer these but will have that option and instructions on how to get that soon along with product photos of no steam wand! I’ve also slacked on the auto refill. It is still in the plan to offer this option before we start shipping so stay tuned!


Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

[tompoland]

Update from Ross for those not on the email list. Bottom line is that he says that he is still on track to start shipping in January.


Odyssey Espresso
Argos Update: December 9, 2022

Hello All, it’s been far too long since the last update. I took a small vacation to Australia and was pleasantly surprised with how strong the coffee scene was. Needless to say I loaded up on beans to bring back to the states.

We’ve had parts arriving just about every week over the past month. As expected there are delays. All parts from Italy have shown up but some suppliers in China had to shut down for a week due to Covid restrictions. This won’t add too much of a delay but combined with slightly longer shipping times than estimated each day adds up. Regardless, we’re still on track to start shipping this coming January!

We’ve made significant progress on the auto refill add on. The main solenoid valve is still being selected which should happen over the next week but the software has been validated and the circuit board works as expected.



You’ve got to admire the packaging on these pressure stats!



Boiler heat wraps. Sorry, no cork like on the original prototype!



Lots of organization needed before the next few pallets arrive!

Hardware

As noted above, we’re finalizing the details of the auto refill components. I’m aiming to test the hardware out in 2 weeks and we’ll get that added to the online store as an add-on item.

The rest is mostly just a waiting game at this point. The communication has been very strong with my suppliers. They’ve all been very good about making an initial part, inspecting, and in the case that a critical dimension is not within tolerance, they inform me that they’re re-working the tool path and update when it’s resolved. I’m mostly just playing the part of shipping and receiving at this point to make sure I get all of the import taxes paid when parts arrive in the country.

Next week I’ll have photos of all the wood parts being bonded.

Software

William made some great progress improving the software on the machine. He’s gotten Over the Air (OTA) updates working which means any small features or improvements added in the future can be pushed to all machines if desired by the end user.

We’re currently testing out some new intra-shot temperature stability improvement methods to take full advantage of our unique setup. More to come on this after we validate any new solutions

The software for auto refill has been tested and validated. The way it works is that when low fluid level is detected, the heating element shuts off until the boiler reaches 95C. The machine’s computer then tells a solenoid valve to open for 30s to fill, then closes. Once fluid is confirmed by the level sensor, the heating element starts back up for the next shot.



Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

www.odysseyespresso.com

[tompoland]

Old habits die hard so probably not. However I am inspired by your optimism EA 😃

[EspressoAdventurer]

Tompo said prev......"Tx Yochi I must confess to habitually failing to read emails thoroughly. Even though I've done this for decades I'm going to blame covid this time. Why not? I've got it so I may as well make it useful for something."

So pls Forgive my asking Tompo ....did you read the latest email...... thoroughly ?
And hope the covid has passed.
Cheers and
GL,
EA.

[tompoland]

Email update from Ross this morning included this:

"I expect to start shipping first thing next year once certification has passed."

So his original estimate of "shipping in April" was pretty close after all. I mean, to be fair, we forgot to ask him which year ? ? ?

Still, it's getting closer.

[tompoland]

Tx Yochi I must confess to habitually failing to read emails thoroughly. Even though I've done this for decades I'm going to blame covid this time. Why not? I've got it so I may as well make it useful for something.

[yochiya]

The email read more along the lines of 'confirm your order so that we can order the right amount and colour of parts.'. rereading the email it says "We're getting ready to place our orders for the remaining parts needed for assembly".

Hope I'm wrong but suspect we're still a way off with things like "Finalize part drawings after all revisions" on the to-do list. Assembly and QA is going to burn time.

Money is still on Christmas if we're lucky

[AlastairMcG]

I was happily surprised how promising the latest update was to production getting closer. I really appreciate the changes and improvements being made that cause delays instead of rushing it out the door.

However, one thing that I am disappointed in that I think could be done better is more media of updated video's of it being used and some prototype sample reviews/experience. It would be nice to keep us satisfied, excited and keep the anticipation going or fed. Maybe some of this is on the discord platform that I'm not signed up to.

I went metal, walnut, RHS steam, double spout, 8bar & 6bar springs & analog gauge. I'm thinking down the track I'll possibly get the BT transducer. Also, seems easy to convert to direct lever so haven't opted for the second piston assembly (to start with...).

[amberale]

If my P64 was black then I would have gone black for sure.
I sort of want the transducer but I don't usually like faffing around with data and the current one is big, ugly and spoils the whole look of the unit to my eye.
If it steams well, I may get rid of the Bianca.

[tompoland]

gone for black and walnut. rhs steam and everthing that was on offer, transducer, spare piston, spring, pressure gauge, milk jug. It's unlikely I'll keep it. Like you amberale I have a Strietman and with a Flair 58 for travel (and a Nurri on the way) I really can't see myself using another lever unless it displaces the Flair, which it may. But very much looking forward to giving it a whirl.

[amberale]

What colour combo did you opt for?
I'm metal, walnut, RHS steam and everything except the jug and the BT transducer.

[tompoland]

Looks like shipping may happen this month. Those who have ordered should have received (today) an order confirmation email listing all items ordered, color preferences. wand location and address confirmation. Changes are to be made by October 7th.

Yippee, another toy to play with.

[amberale]

Yep, RHS for me.
I am used to holding the jug in my left hand, scorching my right finger tips and then closing the valve with my right hand.
I am left handed so I then pour with my left.