Hello All,
We’re currently up to Order 749 which is around 460 machines shipped! That now puts us at 81% complete for batch 1. As a reminder, not every order has a machine, so please do not try to calculate when yours will ship based on the order number. We had a slow down last month waiting for new side panels to arrive. We ran out of our side panels earlier than expected due to the number we had to scrap from fitment issues and had to wait for the supplier to update their equipment and iterate a few times to get within our desired tolerances. Thankfully these panels arrived with the best fit we’ve seen and we’ve been able to work on catching back up with the new parts. This does mean it’ll push the final shipments of batch 1 slightly into the month of August. We’ll then transition straight into batch 2!
Corvus Partnership
Back in April, we started chatting with some of the folks behind Corvus Coffee (https://www.corvuscoffee.com), a local roasting company focused on sustainability and education by working directly with the farmers that they source from. After connecting over SCA Expo in Chicago, Corvus suggested a collaboration where they would provide a bag of beans for the remaining machines shipped in Batch 1. We received the first bags from them last week and started including them in boxes. Unfortunately, we’ve run into import issues with overseas shipments requiring additional sanitation inspection. Because of this, we’ll only be including bags with the remaining domestic orders. Sorry to our overseas customers!
Corvus is also working on printing custom discount cards for their subscription program which won’t be ready for a few more weeks. We think this is a great opportunity to partner with an excellent local roaster to provide education all the way from farm to cup. Depending on how much interest there is in the discounted subscription program we will evaluate at the end of batch 1 to determine if this is a sustainable long term partnership for batch 2.
Pressure Transducer Changes
In June 2022, we first met Miklos from Pressensor at the WOC Milan Expo. We chatted about the new pressure transducer that he was working on and in 2023, he sent a few samples for us to test and integrate with our app. We decided that after we ran out of our original stock of transducers, we would make the switch to offer Pressensor’s transducers. Miklos’ sensors boast a small footprint and use an off the shelf coin battery which is easily replaceable.
After using the sensor for long enough, we realized that the M6 threads were close enough to the M5 port in our grouphead. We turned down and re-threaded the sensor in our shop and found that it was a perfect fit to install directly into the grouphead. This eliminated the need to excess bracketry while staying out of the way of boiler cap removal and steaming. While these sensors are more expensive than the previous ones, the increased price is reflected on our site from our price increase several months ago.
Pressensor will be sending us custom threaded transducers to fit directly into our M5 grouphead port and we currently have the first 30 pieces that are shipping out now that we’re out of stock of the original parts. For those that wish to use the transducer with our analog gauge, we’ll have an M5 to G1/8 adapter to fit in the same way as the original transducer. Please see the video below for installation instructions.
Odyssey Espresso Argos Pressensor Installation
Software
We’ve got some exciting software updates this month! Flow rate plotting is now on by default! You can toggle it on/off as well as toggling weight plotting on/off by clicking the gear icon on the top right of the Brew tab and going to brew settings. This has been a heavily requested feature and we're excited to enable more metrics in the app for nerding out on extraction! As always if you run into any issues feel free to post on discord under the App section.
We’ve also updated the Argos firmware to version 1.3.2. Our techs started tracking all of our QC shot data back in early April and now have over 400 shots recorded. This data has been analyzed and showed that our first shot tends to pull slightly cooler than the rest so we’ve bumped up the setpoint for a typical “first shot” in the app.
It’s also been requested that we make it more obvious when the machine is turned on and heating. The brew temp LED will now have a “breathing” indication where it gradually increases then decreases in brightness while heating up or in between set temperatures, then a steady on when at temp. We recommend periodically checking for machine firmware updates under Settings -> Connect Argos -> Manage Argos -> Update Firmware. Please note that you must manually type all capitalizations for both your network name AND password. It must be exact in order to work
Hiring
We’re still interested in resumes for a part time software developer! We’re looking for someone that has experience with React Native and Expo and ideally with bluetooth integration experience as well. If you think you might be a good fit and are interested in working with us please reach out to us at support@odysseyespresso.com!
We’re also hiring for a full time 30-40 hours per week Quality Control and Sub Assembly technician. This role will cover a wide range of tasks including sub assembly manufacture, temperature checks on built machines, analyzing data for continued firmware improvements, and more. If you or someone you know may be interested, please have them reach out! Local applicants preferred and a flexible schedule is possible.
Quality Control Process:
For anyone that’s interested, we recently released a video showing part of our quality control process where we test and fine tune shot temps on each machine before sending out. This not only allows us to run a few cycles to ensure no obvious leaks or malfunctions but also allows us to ship each Argos machine as consistent as possible.
Odyssey Argos | Quality Control on Production Small Batch Espresso Machines
Sincerely,
Ross & William
