Hi there All,
We’re presently as much as Order 1091 which is round 535 machines shipped! That now places us at 93% full for batch 1. In fact, nothing is straightforward. We’ve run into some delays with switching to the Pressensor strain transducer. This transformation was talked about within the final electronic mail replace and requires a little bit of handbook machining work on our finish to get the combination that we want with a direct thread into the Grouphead. We had been initially anticipating to obtain elements custom-made for the Argos, however sadly that didn’t work out so we needed to modify the primary 30 models by hand. On prime of this, we’ve been ready on the brand new thread adapters to make use of the Pressensor with our present “T” becoming for people who need to run it with an analog gauge. We’ve been making these in home as nicely however the first batch of fittings have simply arrived which is able to make transport these out barely less complicated.
Hiring
This previous month we’ve employed 2 new individuals! One is part time developer with Argos expertise who will focus particularly on the app facet of issues. We’ve bought a major checklist of our personal options that we wish to provide within the app to proceed enhancing consumer expertise however we additionally want somebody devoted to maintaining with numerous scale pairing updates and telephone compatibility points.
The second rent is a full time meeting technician. We interviewed a number of glorious candidates and located one which has a mix of espresso expertise and excessive consideration to element which is essential for constructing these machines.
Whereas it would take time for each new hires to get utterly spooled up, we’re excited to have the ability to proceed slowly ramping up our manufacturing as orders steadily enhance.
We’ll possible rent one other store employees in just a few months to proceed growing output with out compromising high quality.
Manufacturing
We count on to finish batch 1 meeting throughout the subsequent 2 weeks. We’ll nonetheless have sufficient elements for round 50 models that we are going to use to start out success of batch 2. The remaining Batch 2 elements can be arriving on the finish of September and embrace some design modifications geared in direction of simplifying meeting and decreasing half price. With these modifications in thoughts meeting and success fee ought to enhance as soon as we obtain the ultimate cargo of those new elements.
Our aim is to finish batch 2 meeting by the tip of January if we hit a gentle 25 machines per week. Finest case state of affairs, we are going to ship extra per week with our elevated employees however our present fee needs to be an inexpensive estimate with a full inventory of latest stock.
Upkeep
I’ve lastly filmed and uploaded an Argos cleansing and routine upkeep protocol. We’ll work on transcribing this right into a simplified written checklist for future reference. Apologies for the poor audio!
Video: Odyssey Argos Routine Upkeep
Store Updates
Carousel: We’ve been slowly engaged on constructing a carousel system for our High quality Management rack. Machines all undergo 2 rounds of testing earlier than they’re boxed up. With restricted shelf area, it may be a ache to retailer machines 2 deep on a rack and must shuffle them round all through this course of. A easy carousel rack will enable us to stop unintended injury from shuffling machines by hand and make it a lot simpler to spin machines round for entry, particularly whereas we bond on serial plaques.
Hydrostatic Check Rig: Our present hydrostatic take a look at arise till now has labored nice however is a bit…janky. Primary wooden body bolted to an previous crate with fast clamps and a rubber plug to seal. Considered one of our techs, Anthony, has finished a improbable job redesigning the stand. We’ll now have it mounted to a cellular cart with its personal faucet, drain, and pump to have the ability to recycle our testing water and stop pointless strolling throughout the store!
Chain pushed carousel with comfortable plastic 3d printed bases to securely maintain machines in place. This can be mounted to the shelf when accomplished. [/caption]
Preliminary mock up of the hydrostatic take a look at stand to securely mount and seal the machines at a number of completely different construct levels.
Software program
1) Considered one of our largest updates to roll out is Basic Mode. We’ve realized that essentially the most vital a part of the Argos that folks wrestle with is across the various boiler strain. Sadly it is a sacrifice when favoring thermal stability on a dipper machine.
It seems commonest for individuals to wrestle when pulling many consecutive pictures to dial in, or people who attempt to maintain the machine on constantly as a substitute of pulling their pictures instantly when at temperature. To enhance this expertise, we got here up with Basic Mode which could be turned on within the Odyssey Espresso App. This mode will work as a hybrid between our default Argos logic which favors thermal stability and a basic dipper lever machine that runs off of fixed boiler strain. The way in which we’re doing that is including a decrease restrict to our default logic in order that the machine operates the identical UNTIL the boiler strain is instructed to drop under 112C, then it holds. We’ve discovered that 112C is an inexpensive restrict to maintain boiler strain between 1-1.5 bar which is on par for different dipper fashion levers available on the market. Study extra about it right here https://www.odysseyespresso.com/argos-classic-mode
With just a few weeks of testing this on our store machine that sees 3-8 pictures randomly throughout a 12 hour day, we’ve famous no adverse influence on the standard of our pictures with Scace outcomes studying 94C shot temperature on a 50C grouphead temperature. I’ll launch a video voiceover strolling by way of the steps to replace in your app and explaining the options in a bit extra depth.
2) BooKoo Espresso (https://bookoocoffee.com/) seemingly got here out of nowhere with their small kind issue and low price bluetooth scale and strain transducer. We had some samples despatched over to us for testing and have built-in each of these into our app.
BooKoo Espresso Scale related to the Odyssey App with one among our Dev Boards. [/caption]
3) We have added a minimal length for auto cease which ought to ensure that once you’re doing a Fellini or strain/move drops throughout puck saturation your shot does not cease prematurely. The default is 10s however you’ll be able to change it as proven within the first screenshot.
We have additionally added boiler standing to the brew tab in order that its clear when its heating up, prepared at temp, and cooling down. Yow will discover this within the prime left hand nook above the plot. A future enhancement can be how removed from the goal set level we’re! 2nd, third, 4th screenshots.
Shoutout to our new half time developer @slarsbot who carried out these two options and the customizable begin/cease thresholds we launched just a few weeks in the past!
Random
Beneath is a sneak peek of a 3d printed prototype for our new drip tray design. This design was impressed by one among our prospects, Jake G, whom we’ve consulted with prior to now on a number of small engineering modifications. We’ve moved the recessed cutout within the drip tray again barely to permit the drip tray to sit down extra centered below the Grouphead. An indent at the back of the drip tray will enable it to sit down properly in opposition to the entrance cowl. The Cowl contains a extra useful gap sample to catch the drips whereas nonetheless wanting stylistically interesting and having a finger cutout.
These drips trays can be backwards suitable with authentic machines. We’ll provide a Base Plate filler block on our web site within the 3 colour choices. These can have an offset magnet to permit the brand new drip tray to sit down flush on the floor however nonetheless held in place magnetically. To make clear, this block would sit within the recess location that the present drip tray lives to create an virtually flush look within the look.
Considered one of many drip tray cowl designs that had been examined for look and splatter. [/caption]
Auto Refill remains to be in testing and we purpose to launch the package by the tip of the 12 months.
Intelligent buyer setup with a wall mounted pill to point out stats. I’ll want to do that for the store machine!
