Recently, [Samuel Leeuwenburg] got his paws on a Francis! Francis! X1 (yes, that’s the name) espresso machine. This is the espresso machine that is mostly famous for having been in a lot of big TV shows in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, the X1 even became a pretty good espresso machine after the manufacturer did some more tinkering with it, including changing the boiler material, upgrading the pump, etc.
In the case of the second-hand, but rarely used, machine that [Samuel] got, the machine still looked pretty good, but its performance was pretty abysmal. After popping the machine open the boiler turned out to be pretty much full of scale. Rather than just cleaning it, the boiler was upgraded to a brass version for better heat retention and other perks.
More after the break…
The best part of this relatively simple machine is probably that it has been reverse-engineered, making modding it very easy. After some thinking, [Samuel] decided to pull the very basic controller PCB and replace it with something capable of tighter temperature control. This turned into a custom PCB featuring the obligatory Raspberry Pi Pico along with a MAX3185 for water temperature measurement. The Pico had to be programmed to handle heater control duty. There’s even an HTTP API on the WiFi-enabled Pico board.
Unfortunately, the all-metal enclosure also makes for a perfect Faraday cage, putting an end to remote automation dreams for now, at least. With the machine buttoned up, [Samuel] remembered that the primary task of an espresso machine is to make espresso, which it is now, fortunately, even more capable of than before the surgery, and which requires you to be present at the machine anyway.
Thanks to [Milo] for the tip.
“There’s even an HTTP API”
HTCPCP?
418 I’m a teapot
SMA connector and an external stubby antenna?
Is there a pi pico that has an SMA connector?
Some months ago on /r/ukrainerussiareport I’ve seen similar espresso machines used by Ukraine to manufacture plastic elements. They being repurposed from making a slurp drink to create high-precision drones parts. Pure UA Ingenuity, Opportunity and Spirit. It’s a perfect example of how innovation is driven by needy people (especially in war).
Morning coffee, afternoon drones.
MAX31855 is the correct part # for the temp sensor chip [plus assorted option letters]
That’s a beautiful little machine, you can see why people liked putting it on TV.
The casing is a faraday cage you say? Put a zig-zag antenna coming up from the back. Or a pair of rabbit ears. It would easily fit the Jetsons aesthetic
Or use a board with an ethernet port on it
“better heat retention and other perks.”
Saw what you did there.
For much less money, you could upgrade to a French press and get better coffee.
No. You really couldn’t.
Espresso != coffee
Espresso IS coffee
Everything else is dirty water :)
Oh please, no hipster coffee wars here.
Listening to people argueing over which coffee brewing method is the “right one” is like listening to “audiophiles” argueing over which 500$ power or ethernet cable gives the sound the most texture or whatever.
No hipster wars, there is just one place in the world where you can get a good coffe.
That place is called Italy.
Then no matter if that coffe is made using a Moka, an Espresso machine or a Napolitan machine.
If you can’t tell the difference, and you mix a matter of good taste with a pointless tecnobabble about “Audiophile grade network cable” you don’t deserve a good coffe.
Doesn’t most brass contain lead?
Why would replacement coffee machine parts have lead in them?
no.
The right metal is left as exercise for the reader.
Brass alone means nothing. It’s a huge class of allyoys
Lead is addedd to some kind of brass to have better machinability, for things like screws, bolts, pipe joint, valves and alike.
I haven’t seen the video yet but I assume that a boiler has nothing to do with a machined part, they are usually pressed parts soldered together, no need to use lead there.
There is lead free brass if you wonder.
As a matter of fact the brass heat inserts I am using on my 3d printed parts are lead free.
Hmm…couldn’t you isolate the cupholder, the round thing on top and use that as the antenna?
One drop of water and this make smoke not coffee.
Why? because of all the non waterproof wire mess?
All coffee machines are built like that. In the coffee machine engineer guild, there seems to be a deeply ingrained belief that everything will stay perfectly sealed forever…
From the looks of it, the PID is now optimized for turning the machine on, but not necessarily for making coffee.
I would guess the system behaves rather different with the pump on and cold water being heated.