[John Park] over at Make posted a short story about coming home from vacation to find his espresso machine non-functional. After beating his head against the wall for a while he joined a forum and posted a video. As has happened so many times, another user had seen this exact issue and was able to send him in the right direction.
We realize that this is just a simple capacitor replacement, though we understand his frustration, the original looks perfectly fine. The point here, is that there is usually someone out there on a forum that has experience with whatever your problem is. So don’t waste any time, go join the most awesome forum on the planet and get hacking!
word
Various forums have helped me more times than I can count.
HAD forums already rock, and they are just getting started!
They joy of errors in headline!
I love Hack-a-Day. I’m loving Make online more and more. However, it’s pretty absurd that when something gets posted on one site, it’s pretty much guaranteed that it will be swiped and posted by the other within a few days.
Try this forum for electronic advice, the guys there are really nice and helpful: http://dutchforce.com
(I am not affiliated with them in any way, BTW)
i have lost fathe in my fellow human beings thanks to some people on some forums XD
yeah as soon as trolling leaves the social norm ill hit the forums XD
Nice Pr, guys!
I’ll vouch for the Dutchforce forums, I was on there a few years ago (haven’t been back in awhile), and there are many good (if eccentric) people on there.
HAD forums are useful. i recently inquired about sourcing parts from appliances (what can i get from what) and was referred to this post:
http://forums.hackaday.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=33
get in there and contribute!
@biozz : It depends on forum. Sometimes other users can give you really useful advices. Many times first few replies are junk and you just have to wait a moment until real helpers are able to write insightful comment (hey, it’s harder than trolling, so trolls are faster). Sometimes it’s YOUR fault that you don’t have good answers (bad question = bad answers). Happened few times to me but few good words answered to a user who bashes you can do wonders.
i had to do the same with my apple time capsule,replace 2 capacitors and its fine
John Park! Oregon Ducks faculty FTW!
What on Earth is an espresso machine doing with a $200 brain? Espresso machines are supposed to be about Steampunk, with simple electric coils, valves where you need valves, analog dial meters if you need to know temperature and pressure, and three pounds of wetware controller if you want to do fancy stuff. And that’s for the fancy machines, as opposed to the classic Exploding Stovetop Mocha Pots or the Aeropress which is made of plastic and design.
the capacitors…its *always* the capacitors…little bastards.
@Bill – welcome to the 21st century, its all about complicating your life (to make it simple)
@bill: in school (which is a technical university college) we had no light in on of the auditoriums for over two weeks because the software to control the dimming was busted.. (cause a normal pot. switch just wasn’t fancy enough)