vanchopski Senior Member Joined: 22 Jan 2012 Posts: 35 Location: Vancouver Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Thu Jan 26, 2012, 10:23am Subject: Re: La Marzocco FB/80 - Preinfusion PID mod?
Hmmm. Nobody has anything to say about this. I'll explain why I asked:
Given that LM spent all that money developing the paddle system and people are shelling out significant cash to own the paddle system there must be a significant advantage to preinfusion.
There are very cool mods out there for Silvia and other home machines to add preinfusion function using PID controllers.
If you've got a LM machine without preinfusion it would be pretty damn cool to be able to add it without having to spend a ton on a paddle system.
Reasons this might be a dumb question:
Nobody in their right mind would risk hurting a lovely Linea or FB/80 by screwing around with modding. (I doubt this it true though as the drive to improve things by screwing around seems to be strong in many of the people who frequent this site.)
There's something about the way these machines are designed that would make it very difficult to achieve PID-controlled preinfusion. (Doesn't seem likely since a PID could easily replicate the paddle function by controlling a couple of valves to allow either line pressure or full pump pressure through. Obviously there's some additional plumbing involved too so maybe that's the scary part?)
Anyway, no big deal if it's not of interest to anyone. It was just something that occurred to me as I was looking at all the different mods that people have tried over the years.
Posted Thu Jan 26, 2012, 10:44am Subject: Re: La Marzocco FB/80 - Preinfusion PID mod?
If I recall correctly, the owner/barista of a great place here in Spokane mentioned a PID (strictly temperature) for his 2-group Linea would be about $500 with installation, so I'm sure it has been done. I can't say about pre-infusion as a function, though. Taste-wise, it makes a noteworthy difference at home.
I know this isn't complete, but I hope it helps a bit, didn't want to leave you responseless again :)
~Nick
There's a big difference between drinking coffee to wake up and waking up to drink coffee.
Posted Thu Jan 26, 2012, 6:28pm Subject: Re: La Marzocco FB/80 - Preinfusion PID mod?
You are welcome! I think that a lot of people here on cg don't really have experience in commercial settings, and therefore don't have a lot of information in that sector to offer. Based on some things written in a recent thread (Silvia- Hated on Home-Barrista forums/Liked Here. Why?) you might find someone who knows commercial machines on Home-Barista, though I haven't spent any time over there.
I hope you find a satisfactory response somewhere, and have fun with your new café!
~Nick
There's a big difference between drinking coffee to wake up and waking up to drink coffee.
the FB80 preinfusion is only on the AV models, it is simply a programmable timed on then off with settable pause, then pressure on again for the normal shot.
It does the same thing as if you turn the switch on to start a shot then off wait desired time then switch back on to pull the shot.
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