Doubtful since that would negate one of the big upgrades (and only upgrades) moving from Anita to Andreja: non-compression valves and anti-burn wands. Maybe Andreja will go that route, but I assume Anita will stick to the very low cost compression valves to maintain its position as Andrejas stripped down cousin.
I've had the Vetrano joystick valves on my Duetto I for a few weeks now.
It started out simple enough, a call to Jason at CC looking for valve knob nut covers similar to what is on the Duetto II. The nuts do get hot and I've brushed across them a few times. Unfortunately, the available nut cover caps would only fit the Duetto II valves - I'd have to buy the entire valve set. But then Jason mentioned they had a new style joystick valve set from Quick Mill. Hmmm ... of course I could just head down to Home Depot, pick up something for a couple bucks, cover the nuts and be done. But I had been thinking about upgrading to no-burn wands and had heard rebuild kits for the original wands were hard to come by, so a few days later I had a set of Vetrano joystick valves on my doorstep! :)
The valves aren't a direct fit for the Duetto, the thread size and pitch are the same but Quick Mill has the flare on the valves and Izzo has the flare on the piping. But it wasn't too bad, an inexpensive adapter from McMaster Carr solved the dilemma and I had a new set of valves installed ready to play with.
I've always found joystick valves intriguing. Never had used them, just seen them on commercial machines in coffee shops. The instant on-off function seemed ideal. With the rotary knobs I always felt rushed to spin them up to full power and then again to spin them back down to end the steaming.
The Quick Mill joystick valves lock into the full power position at any angle. To shut them off, move or tap the handle toward the center and it snaps into the off position. They can be opened partially as well but need to be held in position or will return to center. I start my steaming session by slightly opening the valve to purge condensation in the wand (burp the steam boiler so to speak) and it's easy to regulate how fast the condensation purges. Once the boiler returns to full pressure, insert the wand tip and flip to full power. Monitor the pitcher temp with free hand and when done, flip the lever to off position. To borrow from 'car' analogies, the steaming stops on a dime! For me, it's a cleaner operation than with the rotary valves.
If you sometimes partially open your rotary valves to restrict the steaming, you won't find that as easy to do with the joysticks. For me this isn't an issue, I go straight to full power.
I won't say the new valves have made my latte art suddenly jump up to world class - it's just not so. I've always been pretty bad at making latte art and that remains the same. My milk based coffee drinks still *taste* great though. :)
I really like the new joystick valves, they won't be coming back off my machine! They are well built, very solid, high quality valves. At first I thought they looked 'too big' for my Duetto as they are more massive than the original valves, but now I think they look awesome! :)
For someone looking to replace their old valves, upgrade to no-burn style wands, want something different or have a birthday coming up (I can find many ways to rationalize additions to my espresso passion), the joystick valves are worth considering.
CrayonShinchan Senior Member Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 109 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Izzo Alex Duetto II Grinder: B. Maestro & Vario, Peugeot... Vac Pot: Cona D, Yama Drip: Chemex, V60, Kone,...
Posted Thu Jul 7, 2011, 12:47pm Subject: Re: Chris Coffee's new Joystick steam and hot water arms...
Glad I stumbled across this thread to confirm that the joysticks stay in the on position at full tilt. I just ordered these along with my Duetto II. I like it because it seems to clear up space to get to the PID.
TonyVan Senior Member Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 269 Location: Pacific Northwest Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: GS/3, La Pavoni Grinder: Macap M7K, Rocky Drip: Kone
Posted Sat Jul 9, 2011, 5:10pm Subject: Re: Chris Coffee's new Joystick steam and hot water arms...
I was happy enough with the standard rotary valve on my old machine, and was frankly a little concerned about how the joystick on my new rig would work out, especially since the new crop of home machines produce, in general, much more steam at higher pressure than previous generations.
Count me as a convert - I would not want to go back to a standard valve. I've found that tuning the pressure in real time with the lever is just as easy as using a turning valve, but you can react even faster. But likely most important is the instant shut-off. My milk steaming is usually working on very small quantities - just two or three ounces - and with all those bars, things happen in a hurry. Once you feel that 150-degree sting through the pitcher, it's stop-right-now-or-go-over-temp, and the quick response of the joystick makes timing the milk to 155 a whole lot more reliable. (Keep in mind that I'm coming from the perspective of a home user; with their gallons and gallons of every-day practice, pro baristas can develop timing skills we HBs can't really match, and so their mileage may differ.)
So if you're getting a new machine, especially a dual-boiler or other designs with lots of steam and pressure, my experience says you should go for the joystick. A decision on retrofitting an existing set-up, however, depends on how much of a challenge, if any, you're having getting the results with the flexibility you want.
mcKoffee Senior Member Joined: 29 Dec 2001 Posts: 854 Location: Vancouver WA USA Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: VBM DD, Bricoletta, Audrey,... Grinder: Major,SJ, Rocky,... Vac Pot: Gold Royal Balance Drip: When it rains...Aero,... Roaster: USRC3k,CCR HT, Behmor, Cafe...
Posted Sat Jul 9, 2011, 8:51pm Subject: Re: Chris Coffee's new Joystick steam and hot water arms...
TheMadTamper Said:
I have a feeling the joystick & lever designs have more to do with preventing repetitive stress injury in commercial environments than with durability or steam performance. Rotating those knobs all day would create a nightmare for the wrists, where a joystick or lever is a vertical motion. For home, we may drink a LOT of coffee, but not THAT much :) Still, the sticks look fun to use!
Actually deep thick knobs like on La Marzocco Lineas which if turning them on/off all the time do require a substantial number of turns could be a problem, but in practical use are not a problem. Simply don't turn them like a dial with your hand but rather turn them by rolling them along your wrist/forearm with a quick up or down motion depending if turning on or off and which side of the knob. Easy peasy no stress all day hundreds of on/offs.
TriHard Senior Member Joined: 24 Feb 2011 Posts: 35 Location: Silver Spring, MD Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Rocket R58 Grinder: Compak K10 Fresh
Posted Mon Jul 16, 2012, 9:54am Subject: Re: Chris Coffee's new Joystick steam and hot water arms...
I was able to successfully install the joystick for the steam valve on a Rocket Cellini v2 premium plus. Jason and some of the other guys from the tech department at CC were extremely helpful! I had to get the adapter for the Alex to use with it, but once I had the correct tools, it was pretty straight forward. I like the way it works especially when you are finished steaming, as it is easy to pretty much instantly turn the steam off without any effort. One thing to note was that the replacement arm hangs down lower than what came with my Rocket, so if I installed it with the big nut at the bottom as you would expect, the arm would actually run into the drip tray. I actually decided to rotate it about 30 degrees to the left so that it wouldn't bump into the tray. It doesn't look perfect, but I don't notice it at all.
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