The local council runs a garbage dump recycle shop with all sorts of industrial and home stuff that people have dumped and been put up for sale at the "Dump shop". They have a shed with electronic hardware that gets things like remote weather logging stations or pallets of "new in the box" satellite data modems in amongst the stereos and power tools. So today I was going past and bought a heavy duty semi automatic pod coffee machine for $10. According to the sticker it's a 2012 model and seems to power up ok despite the power switch needing replacement. I would have preferred a new in box "Atomic" by Robbiati but this will have to be a placeholder machine until that day happens .
The machine is working!, there's a brass water heater tank for the coffee and a stainless steel steam generator tank for the milk frothing that was going way over pressure according to the gauge and not turning off. The pressure switch for the steam generator wasn't operating and had a grubscrew on top labelled with a '+' and '-' with arrows. As soon as I touched it with a screwdriver it was obviously way too loose and almost ready to fall out, as if vibrated loose with crumbled white paint to lock it. With a bit of adjustment it was shutting off at the same 1.2 Bar seen in the YouTube video. The 0-3 Bar pressure gauge had a rusty surround bezel and by chance I had a 0-4 KPa gauge (0-4 Bar) lying around that fit perfectly and looked the part. After that I flushed the plumbing with dilute citric acid solution and cleaned the coffee crud out of the chamber and cleaned the viton O ring seal. The green power switch had a busted rocker and again I had a very similar switch in stock so it was the finishing touch to get it working again. All I need now is some silicone tube for the milk frothing attachment which I can get from the coffee machine repair shop across the road from my friend's foundry. Before: with rusty pressure gauge and busted power switch: After: with new switch and gauge
The high lead and cadmium content of low melt alloys tends to spoil the subsequent coffee flavour....so no!
I reckon I'll keep it for now, just have to shoe-horn it into the workshop. I played around with it some more today and it appears a valve in the solenoid pump unit has suddenly died . It's a major dive into the rat's nest construction so it'll have to wait for me to psych myself up for it. New pumps are $50 to $100 to replace so it's do-able. I was able to get some silicone tube for the milk froth thing and machine a nylon cap for the plastic milk cup so it more or less complete now.
I assume so..... Well the pump is working ok once the suction line was primed. I checked the volume of pumped water for a long and short coffee and the volumes seem right and the water is 85 deg C /185 deg F so the temp is right. I folded 7 grams of coffee grounds in a lab filter paper and loaded it in the chamber and made a coffee, then used the milk frother with some new silicone tube to add milk. Probably not going to sleep well drinking espresso at 12am in the morning.
(sitting here sipping on a cup of joe from my 30dollar keurig) How much is that Blitz coffee machine new? just curious. 2grand?
According to this ad $2200 AUD new or $1400 USD: https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/bal...-510-commercial-pod-coffee-machine/1216950701 I have about $20 USD spent to buy it and parts to get it running so I'm happy with the gamble. From past experience trying to get spares, a lot of this kind stuff is poorly designed and more or less disposable despite the price. There's a wealth of industrial brass solenoid valves, teflon plumbing and a 5 lb brass boiler (furnace scrap) so it has value for someone automating a gas or oil furnace fuel system.
