Odyssey Espresso Argos Weekly Update: September 7, 2021
One week after launch we hit our 200 order minimum required to begin manufacturing. Thank you to all the early adopters who made this happen! Hardware
Design changes. As the first pre-production machine has been tested over the past few months, a few small design changes are being made to perfect the final design. 1. Wood Panel screws on the sides are being replaced with hidden magnets to clean up the look as seen in the renders. 2. Electronics board updates; including replacing the mechanical heating element relay with a solid state relay for faster response and prolonged life and hardware filters to clean up the thermocouple readings used in the PID control. 3. Lever linkage redesign. The original design required two separate length linkages that would be included and required for swapping from direct to spring lever configurations. This design has been updated to make the swap possible with a single linkage to work with both configurations. New parts, boards, and panels are expected to arrive by the end of the week or early next week and will allow us to build up the other 4 units for reviews, continued testing, and color/wood configuration display. With these new parts I will be able to include video on the swap from spring to direct as well as finish dialing in machine controls with the reduced error in sensor readings. Portafilters and steam wands are the long lead item parts but also the ones that do not require design changes. This order is being placed this week to get the ball rolling on those and some other major components that are not going to change. Once linkages, circuit boards, and covers/ panels are all tested and validated, those orders will be placed likely in 3 weeks. Software We're continuing to make great progress with the Odyssey Espresso App. We recently got connected to the Bluetooth transducer and started plotting data as well as to the native Argos sensors. We're currently working on scale integrations with the first two being Decent and Acaia. Tasks for next week Test new linkage design Begin building other 4 pre-production machines Test new circuit boards Continue working on Decent/Acaia scale integration with app Investigate auto start/stop brew plotting based on pressure threshold Thanks, Ross Ainsworth www.odysseyespresso.com
We appreciate everyone’s support as orders continue to flow in. It is assumed that all items ordered with the Argos will ship in the same box as the machine.
Hardware
Issues with the new circuit board design have been identified and resolved. The board is up and running and we’ve been continuing testing and modifying control logic for the past few weeks.
Unfortunate news: A delay with Portafilters has been identified. The lead time has been pushed to April 2022 delivery due to global material shortages. We are working on finding an alternate supplier to get estimates on an additional batch of parts. Due to the nature of custom cast components, it may not be viable to get these any quicker. Another possible alternative we will be exploring is machined portafilters which will have a completely different look and may or may not be economically feasible.
I will keep everyone posted on the status of these parts but for any orders already placed I would anticipate an April ship date. All machines will be built, inspected, and packaged well before April but will not ship out without the portafilters. Off the shelf portafilters are not likely to fit this machine due to the compact nature of the design.
New wood side panels are made and ready for testing the magnetic attachment in the next few days.
Software
The Decent scale has been integrated with the app and works as expected. The Acaia scales are next.
Control logic is currently being worked on for optimal performance.
Tasks for this week
Document and complete build of second Argos prototype machine.