Brasilia Espresso Machine PID Upgrade Brews Prefect Cup Of Energy

July 3, 2016 by Moritz Walter 20 Comments

Coffee, making and hacking addictions are just bound to get out of control. So did [Rhys Goodwin’s] coffee maker hack. What started as a little restoration project of a second-hand coffee machine resulted in a complete upgrade to state of the art coffee brewing technology.

The Brasilia Lady comes with a 300 ml brass boiler, a pump and four buttons for power, coffee, hot water and steam. A 3-way AC solenoid valve, wired directly to the buttons, selects one of the three functions, while a temperamental bimetal switch keeps the boiler roughly between almost there and way too hot.

To reduce the temperature swing, [Rhys] decided to add a PID control loop, and on the way, an OLED display, too. He designed a little shield for the Arduino Nano, that interfaces with the present hardware through solid state relays. Two thermocouples measure the temperature of the boiler and group head while a thermal cut-off fuse protects the machine from overheating in case of a malfunction.

Also, the Lady’s makeup received a complete overhaul, starting with a fresh powder coating. A sealed enclosure along with a polished top panel for the OLED display were machined from aluminum. [Rhys] also added an external water tank that is connected to the machine through shiny, custom lathed tube fittings. Before the water enters the boiler, it passes through a custom preheater, to avoid cold water from entering the boiler directly. Not only does the result look fantastic, it also offers a lot more control over the temperature and the amount of water extracted, resulting in a perfect brew every time. Enjoy [Rhys’s] video where he explains his build:

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Brewdoo Helps Keep The Office Coffee Fresh

April 25, 2015 by Kristina Panos 9 Comments

Until about lunch time, the coffee goes pretty fast in our office. Only a few of us drink it well into the afternoon, though, and it’s anyone’s guess how long the coffee’s been sitting around when we need a 4:00 pick-me-up. It would be great to install a coffee timer like [Paul]’s Brewdoo to keep track of these things.

The Brewdoo’s clean and simple design makes it easy for anyone in the office to use. [Paul]’s office has two carafes, so there’s a button, an RGB LED, and a line on the LCD for each. Once a pot is brewed, push the corresponding button and the timer is reset. The RGB LED starts at green, but turns yellow and eventually red over the course of an hour. Brewdoo has a failsafe in place, too: if a timer hasn’t been reset for four hours, its LED turns off and the LCD shows a question mark.

[Paul] knew he couldn’t touch the existing system since his company leases the equipment, so the Brewdoo lives in an enclosure that [Paul] CNC’d with custom g-code and affixed to the brewing machine with hard drive magnets. Although [Paul] designed it with an Arduino Uno for easy testing and code modification, the Brewdoo has a custom PCB with a ‘328P. The code, Fritzing diagram and Eagle files are up at [Paul]’s GitHub.

Wireless Keurig Hack!

November 12, 2013 by James Hobson 15 Comments

coffeemaker

[Kolumkilli] loves his Keurig coffee maker, as it makes him an excellent cup of coffee, but he doesn’t like waiting for it to brew. So he set out to make it wirelessly controlled via his computer… with the press of a button, he can have his coffee ready and waiting for him when he gets up.

After carefully dismantling his Keurig, he set to locating the main buttons on the PCB, and proceeded to wire in relays in parallel to the ones he wanted to control. Throw in a Moteino and add the notification LEDs as inputs as well and now he can control and monitor almost all the coffee maker’s functions via a web browser at his desk. Now if only he could remember to put a new coffee cup in…

There’s a great writeup on the forum post, so if you want to see a more detailed build log, check it out! And if you’re looking to add even more functionality to your Keurig, why not run a waterline to it?

[Thanks Felix!]