Argos Update: April 17, 2023

Hello All,

I sincerely apologies for the lack of communication. Many struggles over the past month but progress is still being made! As always, there’s good news, bad news, and lessons learned. I’ll start by highlighting the 3 main issues we’ve been running into.

We’ve been noticing some installation challenges and sealing issues for the heating elements that we use. The coil has a positive and negative side for wiring each of which seals with a rubber o-ring. It’s difficult to control the parallelism between these two planes which means that in many cases, one o-ring gets compressed more than the other which leads to inconsistent sealing. I designed a custom teflon gasket which will allow for compression differences between the two sides without impacting sealing. We should have these parts in by the end of the month.

The second issue has been the fill tube that leads from the boiler up to the grouphead. The manufacturer did no make the bends as tight as needed which has led to installation challenges for the tubes that are out of spec. We’re able to “cherry pick” the good tubes and build with those for now. I’ve designed and sent a jig for the manufacturer to 3D print and validate all bends for another batch of tube. We should also have these by the end of the month which will significantly reduce the time it takes for the final stage of assembly where the grouphead mounts onto the top plate.

The third issue comes from CE compliance. We passed the EMC/EMI portion of compliance testing with the caveat that we add a mains filter to our IEC inlet (where the plug goes into the machine). This means that we’ve had to source a new IEC socket that mounts into the back cover. The good thing is that this is one of the final steps of installation but the bad news is that the IEC sockets that have built in filters require an opening that is a few millimeters larger than our original design.

The quickest way to accomplish that is through laser cutting or waterjetting the back panels to enlarge the cutout. I just got the first quote for that work this morning and expect another quote by the afternoon both from local shops. Unfortunately all shops are booked 2 weeks out but the actual work should only take a week which means these would be completed early May. With it being the last step in the assembly process we can still continue to build and test machines until we receive these. I have already sourced the filters and will get those ordered this week to have that inventory in stock by the time the covers are complete.

The lab is writing up compliance documentation now which technically allows us to start shipping in the US/ Canada. Phase 2 of the testing is general safety. With the tried and true design of levers I’m hoping for no snags in this portion of the test as long as we have all the correct warning labels in the necessary locations.

I will not give any specific dates that we will start shipping by since that clearly didn’t work well for me in the past but new machines are being build up each week from the good parts that we have on had and the assembly process will only before more efficient when we receive the new parts at the end of the month. We’re currently looking at early May to have the laser cut panels back in hand and back on the machine so one that happens we’ll have another update with details on product shipping out soon after!

Springs. When testing over the past few months I was finding that the 8 bar spring was really only producing about 7 bar pressure. When looking back into my calculations I realized that I had actually decided to use a 7.75 bar spring which had significantly increased lifecycles but due to typical losses in a mechanical system was only producing 7.25 bar. I went back to my calculations and working with the spring manufacturer to have some sample 8.5 bar springs made with an expected lifespan of over 100,000 cycles.

I didn’t feel comfortable selling an 8 bar spring and delivering a 7 bar spring so I ordered inventory of the new design which came in last week. As a gift for the patience, everyone in this first batch of machines will receive the 7 bar spring that I had originally ordered.

Packaging design is going well but also had some delays. We switched to a molded pulp insert design earlier this year which more structurally sound and made packaging all the components much simpler. Those samples came in a few weeks back and fit great. Those pieces are now in production and should receive them early May.

SCA Expo in Portland this week! William and I will be there with black, white, and stainless production machines on display at our Booth 1057! Now that we’re in production, we’ve entered the Argos into the design competition for Best New Consumer Preparation and Serving Equipment (Electrical) which you’ll be able to see on display. We will have the new Zerno Z1 on display at our booth and will be pulling shots at 11am and 2pm each day of the event. We will only pull ~10 shots each session since our small lever isn’t optimal for continuous commercial use. If you’re interested in checking out the Argos or the Zerno in use then swing by the booth to try out some coffee.

If anyone is still looking for a pass to the expo we have a few free 2 day passes left to give out so send an email and we’ll make that happen!

Argos assembly line

First few podercoated machines

All wired up

Molded Pulp packaging insert sample fitment.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: March 10, 2023

Long overdue for another update! These weeks just fly by so darn fast. A lot to cover here including assembly, CE Cert, SCA Expo, Patent, and more.

Before I get into that, I’d like to thank everyone for their continued support with the Argos. Some of you may remember that we had made 70 additional units available for pre-order on February 10. These 70 units came from us finalizing the quantity of parts needed to assemble the Argos and some cancellations as well. We were very pleased to see that pre-orders for all 70 machines sold out in 25 minutes. I would like to sincerely apologize to anyone who was not able get a pre-order of these final units of batch 1. Due to the limited quantities in each configuration we didn’t have a great way to add that inventory to our online site which resulted in some people getting to checkout only to find that their configuration had just sold out. Good news is that once we start shipping we plan to open batch 2 orders with no currently planned limit. We’d like to get this going once batch one is out in the world to lessen the delay between shipping batches 1 and 2.

As you all know, the top and bottom plates were delayed a bit more than anticipated. The first set of 45 plates ship out tonight and are expected to arrive next week. We’ve already got over 50 sub assemblies of both 120V and 240V boilers, steam valves + wand, steam manifolds, etc. Once these plates arrive, we’ll go straight into cleaning and full assembly which will have it’s own learning curve and ramp up for our techs. 70 more sets of plates are expected to ship next week with all of the remaining parts estimated to be completed before the end of March. This differs from our previous quote of 50 plates per week

A quick deep dive into the plate delays. After the first 2 were received before CNY to kick off production testing, I found a few small features that I wanted to change. They integrated the changes quickly but needed to go through the process of verifying that the new parts were up to spec after manufacture. I also didn’t love the powder coating samples that were sent before CNY. The original pre-production powder coated parts were done by Leading Edge Manufacturing down in Louisiana. They were awesome and gave us the exact look and finish that we were going for. For production it made more sense to have out manufacturers do the powder coating in house to keep cost and lead time down. This meant a little more back and forth on getting the correct finish.

My supplier also made tools used to cover off portions of the parts that we don’t want coated. These are primarily the sealing surfaces and those that would directly contact potable water. You can see some images of the tools below!

CE Cert. This has been a huge process of working with the labs to narrow down the actual certifications required for each country we are shipping to. Some countries have overlap and can get by with a conformance report to show that prior testing directly relates to local regulations. Because we were told different things from different labs it took significant work and research to sift through this info and figure out exactly what we need. The other reason for delays has been waiting for lab space to open up. Due to the number of products needing testing at all these certified labs, we’ve had to wait for space in a lab that met our budget. We’re currently slated for a testing date of 3/30 which is likely to move forward as it seems common for many companies to cancel their testing if they’re not fully ready in time.

The general timeline we’ve been given is 1 week to get FCC and ISED for US and Canada. CE and rest of world will then take 2-3 weeks after. After talking to the lab all parties seem confident that the Argos will pass due to it’s simple nature and use of pre-certified components. Majority of what is tested in EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility Testing) of the board, radio and antenna testing of the Bluetooth emittance, general safety including RoHS compliant materials, and user manual documentation.

We have just reserved our booth 1057 for the SCA Expo in Portland April 21-23! While we don’t plan on pulling shots during the event due to the high commercial demand that our machine is not designed to operate for but we will have final production machines on display and may consider pulling shots at the end of each day for those who are interested.

Our Non-Provisional design patent was just filed today which is an exciting milestone for protecting our intellectual property with the many unique features on this machine!

A few more random notes! We do have steam wand block off plates available for those that do not a steam wand. Still figuring out the best way to offer these but will have that option and instructions on how to get that soon along with product photos of no steam wand! I’ve also slacked on the auto refill. It is still in the plan to offer this option before we start shipping so stay tuned!

Sample of the powder coating tools showing the protection from black powder coating on a white part.

Production bottom plate sitting on a stack of top plates ready to be shipped!

Powder coating samples!

Serial no. 0001 pulling shots on the workbench for some visitors to the shop! I’m very pleased with the workflow and results. This is sporting the production mounting configuration for the analog piston pressure gauge and Bluetooth pressure transducer. The old switches from the back of the machine are replaced with a rocker switch on the bottom and integrated push button switch with the temperature knob on the side.

Bluetooth transducer and app in action.

Boiler assemblies waiting for those plates to arrive!

Front view of the Argos!

Software

Small software updates now that we’re testing on the production machine.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: February 9, 2023

Hello All, production parts are in and we’re in the full swing of assembly! I plan to document this entire process with photos the best that I can. Serial no. 00001 has been built and is being used to dial in the software tuning for production machines. Serial no. 00002 is being built up now and will be sent out to the lab for CE certification. While we work towards this safety cert, which will take as much as 4 weeks, we will continue building, testing, and packaging machines so that once certification is received, we may start shipping out immediately.

 The new ultrasonic cleaning machine has been hooked up and works well! We’re about ¼ of the way through cleaning the first 200 sets of parts that were shipped before Chinese New Year. So far, we’ve assembled anti-vacuum valves and pressure release valves into steam manifolds, steam wands with internal compression springs and seals that allow for articulation into steam valves, and now onto boilers which are a bit more involved with heating elements and various valves and sensors.

Delays. Unfortunately we had some small adjustments made to top and bottom plates so we were only able to receive 2 sets of each before CNY. One for Serial 1 testing and marketing, and one for the Serial 2 certification machine. Those pieces are now being made with the promise of the first 50 being shipped Feb 10 and 50+ more each week after. As units are built, they will sit on the shelf until CE certification has been granted and we can immediately start shipping.

Our custom designed compression piston springs were also delayed. Those were coiled locally and sent out to California to be shot peened which is a process that adds a residual stress layer and increases the life of the springs which is expected to be ~150,000 cycles before starting to lose strength. These were just picked up on Monday and looking great!

Now that suppliers are starting to come back to work after their holiday we should see the remaining parts shipping out over the next few weeks which should allow a seamless transition between the first 200 sets and the remaining quantities. I will keep everyone posted on progress, but I plan on sending continuous shipments out starting the end of February all through March.

As mentioned previously, we have about 70 extra units in this first batch of over 600. We will open these up for sale this Friday, Feb 10 at 10am MST. Once some machines have been reviewed, we will fully open orders for a second batch, ideally in mid Feb. These will see a small price increase as well as some very minor changes to optimize design and bring part cost down.

The Steam Wand Block-Off piece is in stock and will be posted on the site soon. I’ll get some photos of that installed for those who are interested.

2 barrels of springs stuffed into the Samurai!

A crate of production parts being unloaded.

Serial no. 0001 going together!

We’re busy but what are we doing?

The past month has been all over the place. A lot of my time was spent talking to suppliers about small design updates to improve the manufacturing process based on tools and stock size that are more readily available. Tool paths are also optimized to improve part tolerances without adding additional cost.

Once parts are made, they’re inspected by the supplier who sends me am inspection sheet like the one below.

I’ve been working with my packaging engineer to finalize design now that we’ve got production parts in for sizing. We’ve decided to switch to molded pulp internal trays which are made from an aluminum tool to match the profile of the machine and accessories and allows for a stronger internal structure. We think this will improve packaging quality enough to justify the additional mold cost.

Now that the first production machine has been built I’ve been doing a lot of testing. Unfortunately I haven’t taken care of my Scace 2 device as well as I should have and I believe the thermocouple wires have chafed through their insulation and are seeing some grounding issues. My values are jumping all over sporadically so I’ll likely just swap in a new thermocouple and try to build some more of my own devices for internal testing of production machines.

Part tolerancing checks to review post manufacturing. Suppliers send me this to show that several parts out of the batch are all in compliance with the specified tolerances to ensure fitment during assembly.

Finally, a look at Serial no. 0001!

Software

Small software updates now that we’re testing on the production machine.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: January 5, 2023

Hello All, Happy New Year! This update will have some fun behind the scenes details and look at the manufacturing that’s been going on.

I ordered a used Ultrasonic Cleaner several weeks back which will be delivered in a few days. After getting some parts in I realized we really ought to have a way to clean off any remaining dirt and oils before assembly. While the suppliers clean all of the parts off before shipping to us, it is still common for some parts to have unwanted machining oil or a metal shaving here and there that would be unacceptable in the final product. This is a medical grade cleaner that sends high frequency sound waves through an food grade detergent mixed water bath to bring parts to an FDA level of cleanliness.

As expected, there have been manufacturing delays for countless reasons but everything is ordered and in progress. I check in with suppliers each night and we review any challenges or concerns whether it be manufacturing process, surface finish, tolerances, etc.

As far as timeline goes, we’re expecting (but impossible to guarantee) to have 200 sets of the final machined components (top and bottom plates) to be shipped out via expedited air before January 15 which is when many suppliers shut down for Chinese New Year. This will allow us to finish building up the first 200 units while suppliers are on holiday anywhere from 14 to 21 days. Once they return, the remaining parts will be completed and shipped out.

The last items we expect to receive are the custom springs. These are being manufactured locally here in Denver, Colorado USA with an estimated completion of Jan 23. The first few units will be sent out to reviewers for ideally unbias opinions while we complete CE certification which requires a production unit to be sent to a lab for testing. I’m not concerned about the cert as we have designed everything with pre-certified components and redundant safety systems.

We’re improving organization in the shop to better store and manage all of the new parts that will be arriving. It’s currently a mess, but here are some photos that were shared on social media from magnet bonding

Plates are laser cut to the initial shape, machined and pre-drilled with holes, then tapped with threads.

Each piece is polished before welding then passivated for added corrosion resistance.

This shows the welding jig used to locate the boiler wall on the bottom plate for accurate placement around the holes.

This same jig also clocks the top plate with respect to the bottom plate to ensure that all boilers are lined up consistently and within the tight location tolerances specified.

When placed in the jig, the boiler walls are tacked in place with a few spot welds then finished off with tight tig welds around the perimeter.

Hardware

Before we parted for the holidays, our team was able to get a good portion of the bonding process completed as shown below! Next week we should be receiving the Lever pieces which will allow us to bond the wooden handles.

Production Boiler Cap design sporting the Walnut wood and custom stainless steel boiler pressure gauge.

This provides a direct read out of boiler pressure which is useful for knowing pre-infusion pressure as well as steam pressure.

Walnut Side Panels with magnets bonded in. The magnets are used to keep these panels attached to the front and back covers in lieu of screws.

Drip trays with magnets bonded into the base. This allows for simple removal for washing yet keeping the tray in place when on the machine.

photo showing the bags of pre cut and crimped wires with labels. These are 200C wires that are specified to withstand the elevated temperatures around the insulated boiler.

Software

William and I got together over the holidays to do some more in person testing. Over the Air updates were confirmed on the prototype machine with a production circuit board.

We continued testing out some intra-shot temperature stability improvements which worked well. We’ll need to complete the tuning process on a final production machine and are happy with where things are currently at.

Hardware for auto refill is in hand. We need to assemble on the machine and do final physical testing.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: December 9, 2022

Hello All, it’s been far too long since the last update. I took a small vacation to Australia and was pleasantly surprised with how strong the coffee scene was. Needless to say I loaded up on beans to bring back to the states.

We’ve had parts arriving just about every week over the past month. As expected there are delays. All parts from Italy have shown up but some suppliers in China had to shut down for a week due to Covid restrictions. This won’t add too much of a delay but combined with slightly longer shipping times than estimated each day adds up. Regardless, we’re still on track to start shipping this coming January!

We’ve made significant progress on the auto refill add on. The main solenoid valve is still being selected which should happen over the next week but the software has been validated and the circuit board works as expected.

You’ve got to admire the packaging on these pressure stats!

Boiler heat wraps. Sorry, no cork like on the original prototype!

Lots of organization needed before the next few pallets arrive!

Hardware

As noted above, we’re finalizing the details of the auto refill components. I’m aiming to test the hardware out in 2 weeks and we’ll get that added to the online store as an add-on item.

The rest is mostly just a waiting game at this point. The communication has been very strong with my suppliers. They’ve all been very good about making an initial part, inspecting, and in the case that a critical dimension is not within tolerance, they inform me that they’re re-working the tool path and update when it’s resolved. I’m mostly just playing the part of shipping and receiving at this point to make sure I get all of the import taxes paid when parts arrive in the country.

Next week I’ll have photos of all the wood parts being bonded.

Software

William made some great progress improving the software on the machine. He’s gotten Over the Air (OTA) updates working which means any small features or improvements added in the future can be pushed to all machines if desired by the end user.

We’re currently testing out some new intra-shot temperature stability improvement methods to take full advantage of our unique setup. More to come on this after we validate any new solutions

The software for auto refill has been tested and validated. The way it works is that when low fluid level is detected, the heating element shuts off until the boiler reaches 95C. The machine’s computer then tells a solenoid valve to open for 30s to fill, then closes. Once fluid is confirmed by the level sensor, the heating element starts back up for the next shot.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: November 3, 2022

Hello All, things are busy here per usual. Production parts have been and will continue to arrive over the next month. I now see why companies have dedicated shipping and receiving departments to keep track of all the incoming product. We have continued to see inherent delays from some suppliers as expected but nothing appears to be too drastic.

This past week we had a few people at the shop to photograph some latte art content using the Argos. Caleb Schwarz was able to work his magic with some fantastic pours using a variety of pitchers including the Motta Metallurgica Pitcher available on our site.

While the most efficient workflow on this machine would be to pull several shots then do all of your steaming at the end to avoid the wait on major temperature fluctuations, for optimal latte art pouring we steamed after each shot. We found that if I pushed the steam button immediately before pulling the shot, the boiler was up to steam temp (135C) usually just before the shot was completed.

For those interested, I uploaded a low quality video of some of the steaming and pours performed by Caleb. Please note that constant camera flashes will be seen throughout the video so anyone sensitive to flashing light should not watch. We will do a high quality steaming video when a production unit is built.

LINK: Odyssey Argos Steaming and Latte Art Video

Please note that latte art skills are not included with the purchase of a machine and pitcher.

We will work with Caleb to create latte art tutorials with tips and tricks specific to the Argos.

Hardware

The part that everyone has been waiting for…timeline updates. We are in the final stretch!!! As of right now, our last parts are expected to arrive the second week of December. As mentioned above, there will continue to be unexpected delays from suppliers which tend to be about a week late. With all these shipments coming in we may also see delays getting through customs.

The current plan is to get the first machine out to CE cert mid December. Some initial builds will go out to reviewers for testing since those won’t need to be certified. I expect to start shipping first thing next year once certification has passed. Since all of our components are pre-certified and we have designed redundant fail-safes I feel confident in the product passing with minimal to no changes required.

New production parts are scheduled to arrive each week so we will continue building up sub assemblies ie: piston, boiler, boiler cap, steam manifold, and steam valves. All of these standalone items are comprised of several individual parts and seals that can be put together and sit on the shelf until final unit production occurs. I’ll be documenting these builds as they occur and sharing content on the socials as well as email updates.

While we wait on production parts to ship I will continue sourcing small add on items that people may want with their machines.

Boiler pressure gauges with full stainless steel internals sporting our custom face plate.

Software

William will be on site for the next few days. This will allow us to make significant progress on various software updates.

The major items to note will be getting robust OTA (Over the Air) update capability as well as continuing to test the plumb in setup. William has gotten both of these to work initially so we will continue maturing and testing these capabilities.

We should be able to have the Plumb in add-on available on the site before units ship.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: October 20, 2022

Thank you everyone for contacting us with any configuration changes by our deadline. This has allowed us to finalize the number of parts we need for our first batch.

Some things to note:

1) You may always email us to update your shipping address until we actually ship your order. Just email us as soon as it changes.

2) You can still place additional orders for add-ons such as spare springs, milk pitchers, etc. These will be AUTOMATICALLY combined with your original order. You DO NOT need to email us to confirm we've combined your orders. If we're unable to match these additional orders with an original Argos pre-order we will contact you.

You may have noticed that Argos pre-orders have been closed off. Since we have more than enough funding to build the first 750 units we have decided to reduce the distraction of new orders, questions, inquiries, etc. in order to focus on production of this first batch. Orders will open back up at the end of the year when we’re in the full swing of production.

58.4mm tamper samples. These will have the logo laser engraved on the top. They’re rather small and not designed to be high precision tampers but I wanted good quality solid 304 stainless steel tampers to be included to get people started.

Odyssey Espresso branded puck screens. Specs: 58.5mm, 1.7mm thickness, 150 um mesh, 316 stainless.

These will be included for free in all original pre-orders as a “thank you” for your patience and support. They will be added to the online store for any future orders.

While not necessary to pull a good shot, they do help facilitate even extraction and most importantly keep your grouphead clean.

Hardware

Most of the parts are in production with the exception of a few pieces. We’ve been accepting a lot of deliveries lately which will continue through the next month. The plan is to build up all of the sub assemblies of boiler caps, steam wand/ valves, and piston assemblies while the larger parts ship.

This will include bonding wood parts to metal with high temp food grade epoxy as well as mechanical assembly that will make final build go much smoother.

Inventory tracking still needs to be worked on but has been on the backburner while I work with suppliers on production orders.

Now that orders are in we can finalize packaging dimensions and get that ordered. The user manual/ quick start guide is just about finished. I’ve had it reviewed by some external sources and we’re working on incorporating comments.

Several small things that one wouldn’t really think about such as hot surface warning stickers and mini food grade grease packets had to get sourced and ordered.

Food grade grease packets that will ship with each machine for piston seal lubrication. Instructions will be provided for all suggested cleaning, maintenance, and repair.

Production certified pressure release valves from Italy.

Software

We’ve added fail-safes to into the software. In the unlikely event of thermocouple failure or hang up, the new software will stop heating until the issue is addressed to prevent issues with the PID loop causing overheating. Thankfully, most electrical systems will be able to be diagnosed via the app in the event of issues.

William is working on (OTA) Over the Air update capability which will allow us to push any software changes or improvements virtually.

We’ve started testing the plumb in setup which so far is going smoothly. Will post more updates on that over the next few weeks.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: October 02, 2022

Hello all! Important update today. We’ll be sending configuration/ shipping address confirmation emails this afternoon. If you do not see an email from Odyssey Espresso in the next 24 hours be sure to check your spam folder.

If your order looks correct then please do not reply! This is your final chance to change the steam wand position, powder coating, and/or wood accent color. You will have until October 7th to make any changes.

You will still be able to order add-on items like the double spouted portafilter and spare springs and they will still ship with your Argos pre-order until further notice.

Hardware

Great progress on wiring. All thermocouple wires have been crimped and we’re onto the miscellaneous grounding wires. We’re using quality high temp wire rated up to 200C to ensure longevity and performance.

Still lots of communication with suppliers and placing more production orders for the rest of our hardware ie: vented screws, plugs, chicago bolts, etc. after confirming sample quality.

All parts are in our inventory tracking software and we’ve been getting organized with all of the stock we currently have on hand. We’ll be continuing to update as hardware comes in.

A few months ago I mentioned the change in how the piston pressure gauge and transducer will mount. Below are some renders to show people what they can expect with the production version. By no longer mounting directly to the piston it allows swapping between spring and direct to be a much simpler operation.

Front and Side views

Isometric Views of pressure gauge and transducer.

Software

We’ve updated shot temp precision to be within 0.5C of the setpoint to achieve higher accuracy shots.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: September 15, 2022

Hello all! A lot of busy days and late nights the past few weeks testing and working with suppliers.

Please lock in your color options and add-ons as soon as possible to avoid more delays! Do not wait until the last minute, decide now. William is working on compiling everyone’s orders and sending out a confirmation email. When you receive the email (give us time to get it all together) please only reply is there is an issue. Getting almost 600 emails back from everyone will slow us down significantly. If everything looks good then please do not reply.

I received a first pass back on the user manual with graphics which looks great. A few more iterations on that and it should be set for printing.

Hardware

We finally got the Molex auto crimper tuned and operational. Shop techs have started crimping wires this week and are knocking them out like it’s nothing!

Of course more shipment receiving issues but and initial batch of spouted portafilters and more bottomless portafilter just arrived at the shop yesterday.

We didn’t love some small hardware samples that we received previously so we’ve been ordering a few more samples of everything to get the exact fit and finish that we expect. Several more production batches of hardware have been ordered for the samples that have passed our inspection.

Last week we had our electronics designer out on site in Denver to dial in low fluid level sensing as well as ensuring boards are production ready. We tested on hard city water all the way up to pure distilled water to ensure functionality.

We’ve been working hard on getting our inventory tracking software set up with everything that we’ve currently got in the shop as well as parts still on the way. We should be able to use this software to keep track of QA throughout the build.

Testing the low fluid level sensor with various water qualities.

Crimping Thermocouple Wires.

Production Spouted Portafilters.

Software

Minor software updates for fluid level sensing and shot temp improvements.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: August 24, 2022

Hello all! I was out of town on a business trip last week so didn’t get quite as much done as I would have liked. We did sponsor a local latte art competition at Mango Tree Coffee last week which was fun to help support the local barista community.

Small progress on the shop with more shelves being built up.

Spouted portafilters are in transit with delivery set for 2 weeks from now.

Still working through packaging woes. The mis-delivered package was sent back overseas so that will need to be re-shipped which isn’t a huge deal, just an inconvenience

Product photos of the final powder-coated configurations have been uploaded to the site here. Anyone with a current stainless Argos order who wishes to change to the colored option may do so by making a new purchase with the color add-on as well as any addition items that you may want. Please try to use the same name and email address so that we can group orders during assembly. If you would like to change from one color to another please email us using the Contact link at the bottom of the website.

Note: The above only applies to people with existing orders. Those of you who are placing a new order can view the photos and select a color from the Argos item configurations.

User manual is still in works with new graphics recently sent over to the designer.

Unfortunately no timeline updates yet but hopefully soon. I’ve been swamped to just trying to stay on top of everything.

More details have just been added to the launch checklist which we’re still chipping away at. You can check out the updated list here.

Hardware

We’re still getting quotes and placing orders for the remaining parts. There’s a lot of small hardware bits to keep track of and get on order.

We’re working on processes for keeping track of inventory, build, and QA.

Software

No updates here.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: August 9, 2022

Hello all! William has been doing an amazing job at catching up on the MANY unread emails. If you have not heard back, you will. He’s doing small chunks each day and we’re working our way down the list.

Still no update on the mis-delivered package but I’m letting UPS handle that for now.

We are implementing a new policy to our Terms and Conditions. We will now only be allowing ONE free order cancellation per customer/ address. If you decide to place any additional Argos order, you will be subject to a 10% restocking fee if cancelled, even if the product has not yet shipped. It costs us a non-trivial amount to process and refund all orders. There will also be a 10% restocking fee on all orders returned after they’ve been shipped. Return Policy

Hardware

We’re still working on getting our Molex auto crimper dialed in with the correct settings for feed and punch height. I’ve found some documentation which will hopefully significantly help.

Several people have asked if the steam wands were cool touch wands which are basically double walled wands that don’t get as hot. I was recently pulling shots with Josiah of Little Light Coffee in Takasaki, Japan, and he enlightened me that our production steam wands are in fact cool touch wands! Since switching around steam tips and not knowing what I had, I believe I accidentally messed with the sealing of the inner tube which was causing my wand to get a little hotter than it should, but production Argos models will all come with cool touch wands.

Our Motta Metallurgica 350mL milk pitchers have arrived from Italy. We’re now offering the pitchers in black, white, and bare metal to match your machines if desired. If you already placed an order for the original black one that was for sale and wish to change colors, just send an email. If you’d like to add a milk pitcher to your order go ahead and place a new order with the same name and email and we’ll group orders during build.

The show units are back together *finally* after returning from Milan. Those will finally get photographed this and next week and we’ll have the color change option up on the site next week with instructions on how to change.

More drawing have been updated and we’re getting those parts quoted this week with the intent of getting those orders placed by end of week.

Final packaging samples arrived from two different suppliers so we will now be able to down select to the one we like best.

User manual is still in works with text in place and currently adding the graphics.

You can check out the updated checklist here.

Been getting all excellent extractions from the Monolith Flat Max.

The newly arrived Motta Milk Pitchers!

Software

Fluid level sensor and new steam switch integration testing is still being worked on.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: July 29, 2022

Hello all! The past 2 weeks have been filled with onboarding, development, shipments, design, and organization.

Shop techs have all started with initial tasking of wiring and shop organization/ layout.

Unfortunately I had some production parts delivered to Texas….our shop is 800miles (1287km) away in Denver. I’m working with UPS to try and retrieve this.

Hardware

We’re working on getting our Molex auto crimper up and running with the wire terminals that we bought and have in the shop. It’s an older model so we had to source some used parts to reconfigure it for our needs. We ran into some slight issues trying to get this dialed since there’s not much documentation on the older machine but once this is up and running, we’ll be crimping away!

There may be some ambiguity so just want to be up front and clear. The past few months have involved finalizing what we thought would be small design tasks like steam wand mounting/ routing and pressure gauge/ transducer mounting. When reviewing the designs there were much more optimal methods which would improve performance, reliability, and ease of assembly.

One example would be steam routing. I originally had a “straw” tube that went from the top of the boiler down through the bottom and into a steam manifold underneath. This steam manifold held the pressure release valve and steam line up to the valve/ wand. This was a simple approach but created difficulty when figuring out how to secure the valve and all the lines. The long line length and many fittings were not optimal for potential leak points and wet steam from condensation through the long lines.

This has since (last month) been redesigned into a steam channel machined directly into the bottom of the top plate that passes steam directly from the top of the boiler to a new steam manifold mounted on the upper boiler flange. Not only does this reduce potential failure points, but it also provides more powerful and dry steam. This also allows us to mount the steam wand valve directly into the manifold which is secured directly to the main chassis.

While this did require changes to the top plate and boiler flange, this allows us to close out what was originally intended to be a small detailed design task. This new design will also allow us to sell a blockoff plate for those who wish to remove the steam wand. We will not offer the Argos without a steam wand since we already have too many configurations to keep up with but we will eventually get this block off plate added to the store for customers to purchase and install with detailed instructions that we will provide.

Without going into too much detail, this month has been spent reworking the pressure gauge/ transducer mounting to improve reliability and functionality. This design tasking has also been closed out and we’ll be able to freeze the design in the coming week to place the rest of our orders.

Part drawings are in progress to capture the updated design.

I do not intend significant delays from these design updates as we will have as much as we can sent to us by air instead of sea shipping to kick off chassis build sooner. I will try to add more detail to these updates to keep people more in the loop about the status of production but I have had several people stop by the shop to pull shots on the prototype machine all with great feedback.

You can check out the updated checklist here.

Black Argos next to the Kafatek Monolith.

Black Argos next to the Kopi Deva.

Software

Fluid level sensor and new steam switch integration testing is still being worked on. We were hoping that we could get a mechanical steam switch which would allow us to run an LED in series to be powered on when the steam switch is on.

Unfortunately, the small switches are all momentary which mean will need to reconfigure some things on the board and have the fluid level indicator tapped into the sensor circuit which is currently being tested and should be a small update to the board.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: July 12, 2022

Hello all! I have done a horrible job with updates over the past month but I assure you that significant progress is still being made. We have finished hiring all of our Assembly Technicians/ Manager for this initial run of parts and plan to hire more in the future to keep up with demand.

We decided to do a quick last minute trip to World of Coffee Milan. This was a fun experience where we had a small booth with the powdercoated units on display. It was a great opportunity to connect with other lever machine manufacturers as well as suppliers for Italian made products.

While hardware is being finalized and procured, I am working on figuring out the best way to keep track of assembly and quality control tracking for when we start assembly. This will allow us to track which technician has performed each assembly task for each machine in the event of any defects or malfunctions.

Hardware

When sourcing on/ off switches we made a significant change from 2 toggle switches to a single on/off rocker switch next to the plug and a custom temperature knob with an integrated push switch into the knob. We like this design as it cleans up the back of the machine while integrating all temperature related control on a single knob. Users will be able to set the brew temperature from 85C-95C then push the knob in to turn up steam temp which will be indicated by a 3rd LED on the top.

Previously exposed screws on the top of the machine have now been moved to mount the boiler to the top plate from the underside. This will clean up the overall look.

Powdercoated parts have arrived and were on display at World of Coffee Milan. We are working on getting product photos for those options to add to the site. Anyone interested in changing from a stainless steel finish to the black or while color will be able to purchase the “Machine Color Add-On” from the site. This will go live when the photos are released and on the site as well, ideally by next week.

An additional person has been brought on temporarily to help finish up drawings for production.

You can check out the updated checklist here.

Original mockup of the black color with Walnut accents and LHS steam wand at WOC Milan.

Original the white color with Ash wood accents and RHS steam wand.

Software

Fluid level sensor and new steam switch integration testing is currently happening.

Working on getting plotting with Scace measurement devices.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: June 9, 2022

Hello all! Hiring has been going well. We’ve interviewed 4 out of 8 applicants all of which have been great. We’ll work through the rest of the interviews over the next week and aim to get people started in July.

Hardware

Part design updates and finalization are all complete. We did some redesign of the steam manifold to reduce part count and potential failure modes.

Boiler cap metallic samples have arrived and design verified.

We are currently working through drawing updates in preparation for having the final parts ordered.

Hoping to have powder coated parts back in hand next week and built up for final product photos.

The original order of bottomless portafilters have arrived along with some check valves, allen keys, and other miscellaneous parts.

You can check out the updated checklist here.

The new boiler cap design sample machined to test o-ring squeeze, locking feature, and general feel.

The original batch of 500 bottomless portafilters have arrived and more are in production now!

Software

Continued thermal testing next week for software validation.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: May 26, 2022

Hello all! Making lots of good progress and several lessons learned on this first product design. Biggest lesson is that I should have started hiring and working with contract designers earlier on. What I thought were simple tasks like boiler cap and steam valve designs turned out to be rather significant parts and complex systems.

Espresso Machine Assembly Technician job is posted on the site. We’ve received 18 applications with several excellent candidates. The next week or two will be spent interviewing, hiring, and onboarding.

Hardware

Good news is that the boiler cap design is just about complete! We did a few iterations of quick 3D printed prototypes to dial in the design and user experience. The design is nice in that it sports an off the shelf o-ring for sealing, integrated vacuum breaker valve (similar to the piston valve design), and has a small “locking” detent to make it difficult to remove when under pressure. Metallic prototypes are being made now to complete the testing but I’m confident enough in the design to move forward.

The last significant part being worked on is the steam valve interface which has challenging packaging constraints to keep within the small footprint.

You can check out the updated checklist here.

Version 2 of the boiler cap design 3D printed to test o-ring squeeze and locking pocket. Final cap design still maintains the integrated boiler pressure gauge.

Software

Acaia scale integration resolved and all scales tested and working with the app.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: May 14, 2022

Hello all! Whoops, took a week off from the day job to knock out a bunch of Odyssey tasking and forgot to do my updates. A lot of good progress has happened over the past 2 weeks! You can check out the updated checklist here.

Hardware

I have onboarded a new designer who is tasked with finalizing boiler cap and steam wand cap designs. While this sounds easy, there’s always more to it than we all think. For starters, we discussed concerns with thread galling or seizing of a stainless steel cap into a stainless steel top plate. We could either switch to a brass cap adapter (what the boiler pressure gauge threads into) which would need to be lead free and could throw off the looks or we could redesign slightly.

We have switched to more of a portafilter style locking cap with “tangs” that twist across a compression zone to lock the cap into place. This would eliminate the need for threads and make the user experience of the cap installation much smoother. Along with this tasking comes sourcing and testing production gauges.

After a significant delay in the manufacture of some custom steam valve samples, they have finally shipped and we’re working on finalizing the upper bracket which secures the steam valve, back switches, and temperature dial. I’m currently looking into alternate suppliers to reduce lead time on production valves.

All three sets of packing samples arrived. They were all different and incorrect in one way or another whether it be graphics issues, cardboard flute design and direction, or cardboard finish. We’ve narrowed down to the two highest quality packages and will work with the supplier on another sample round to resolve the issues.

Tools have been ordered and are showing up and being organized in the shop.

Several more small off the shelf parts have been ordered like LEDs, hex keys, wire, check valves, etc.

Low fluid level sensor testing/ integration was saved for the end (stupid of me, I know) but is going well.

Side by side samples.

Software

Working through some issues on Acaia scale integration.

Updated code for proper fluid level sensing functionality.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: April 28, 2022

Hello all! Good news, I’ll be taking next week off and devoting all of that time to delegating tasks and knocking things off the checklist for production. I’m looking forward to the progress we’ll make in that time!

Hardware

Been working on the low fluid level sensor this week validating all of the electronics before finalizing the board for production.

The first two sets of packaging samples are in. The first supplier was great. One of the inserts was a little out of spec and the creases should be deeper but the graphics looked spot on. The second supplier sample had much nicer feeling cardboard and got the specs correct but had an issue printing some of the graphics.

My packaging engineer, Sam, will work with the suppliers on finalizing design and selecting which one he likes the most. He’ll also do some drop testing with an original pre-production unit to validate handling durability.

The tool purchase list is growing and I’ll be placing large tool orders to include everything needed for Argos assembly and general shop equipment.

Packing sample from first vendor (got a little bent in transport).

Packing sample from second vendor.

Software

All Acaia scales have been integrated to the app and updates continue to be made based on user feedback.

Sincerely,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: April 21, 2022

I know everyone is excited and anxious as we near the end of April, our target ship month. We deeply appreciate the patience and enthusiasm as we are working hard to finalize details that didn't perform as expected on the prototype. It is important to us that the quality of the Argos is up to our standards and your expectations.

Unfortunately, it's become clear that we will not be able to ship by the end of April. This is my first time leading a small batch manufacturing project and as such we were overly optimistic about timelines to complete all the final tasks. My day job has been very busy lately, further reducing my bandwidth to get items finalized and the necessary systems in place for production. These are not meant to be excuses but to provide transparency on why our estimated shipping date of April will be missed.

In order to wrap up final tasking, I will be taking 1-2 weeks off of the day job to focus on closing out the remaining production setbacks.

Now what?

1. We now have a launch checklist to provide full transparency on what’s left.

We’ve gotten feedback that our newsletter updates are lacking on what's actually left to complete. This checklist will be updated every time we start working on and complete a task. This should provide clear transparency on how close we are to finalizing everything.

2. We will be hiring design engineers to help us with revisions.

It’s clear that for this to be done in a timely manner, we will need some help. These revisions relate to how some specific parts mount and interact with each other, and making small adjustments to better fit off the shelf parts to keep cost low. These tasks may be tedious and time consuming but are nonetheless important and necessary. We’ve already begun talking to some people that are excited to help and will be starting very soon. I will still be reviewing all final designs to ensure it meets our standards and expectations.

3. Estimate shipping dates are hard, we expect to start shipping this spring/summer.

There is always a level of uncertainty when picking a target completion date. The more specific the date, the more margin you have to add to ensure it's met. Nothing is certain until machines are shipping. Instead of communicating a specific date or month, we want to focus on transparency of what's left through the launch checklist and making consistent progress. We are expecting to ship this spring/summer. We feel good about this estimate, but want to reiterate that it is an estimate. The launch checklist is the best way to keep track of our progress.

4. We want to provide an extended warranty on all our existing orders.

As a thank you for your patience, we will be extending our standard 12 month manufacturer warranty as noted in Section 10 of our Terms of Service, to 36 months to all current customers as of April 24, 2022 as a way to instill confidence to the initial backers that are making this product a reality.

Hardware

Double spouted portafilters are ordered with an estimated 3 month lead time.

The first product packaging samples should arrive tomorrow or early next week. Very excited to see these in person and test out the unpacking experience with a prototype machine.

Picture of the packaging sample from one of the suppliers. Great work by Sam and Michelle on this!

Software

Working on getting apps published for both Android and iOS

Thanks,

Ross Ainsworth

Argos Update: April 13, 2022

Hello All! I had a great time at my first SCA Expo in Boston this past weekend. While I didn’t have a booth, it was great meeting everyone in person, chatting with other manufacturers, and getting a feel for future booth ideas.

Hardware

Double spouted portafilter samples arrived the other week and look great! I’ve done some testing on them and will be moving forward with production. These will ship with the same 18g basket that the bottomless portafilters have. Product photos of these are on the website in the store.

We put out our first (very rough) shop tour video on YouTube. This will document progress as the shop continues to come together. These videos will get better, I promise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pve0ti60cdQ

I’m still behind on emails so I appreciate everyone’s patience.

Product packaging samples have been ordered from 3 of the top identified suppliers to validate materials, graphics printing, and quality.

We’ve got a first pass at the User Manual and now working with the graphic designer to get diagrams made.

Double Spouted Portafilter sample

Software

We worked out a deal with Acaia and have purchased 1 of each of their scales to have them all integrated with our app.

We have a call set up with Hiroia to kick off integration with the Jimmy scale.

I spoke to a Eureka rep at Expo about their new Precisa scale (currently only available in Europe). Will hopefully get that added to the list in the future after they certify it.

Acaia scales ready to be integrated with the app.

Argos Update: March 31, 2022

Another short and quick weekly update. Anyone with experience in product design that is interested in helping out with some final odds and ends please reach out.

Hardware

Double spouted portafilter samples had a slight delay but are expected to arrive early next week. Below is a picture of the samples sent by the supplier before they shipped.

I’m still behind on emails so I appreciate everyone’s patience.

Large shop shelves have been installed and started organizing production parts that have arrived.

The first pass at packaging graphics has been completed and samples will be ordered from 3 suppliers to compare quality.

I’m working with a technical writer on the User Manual that will ship the the units. This is intended to get people started off while more extensive content and videos will exist online.

The supplier manufacturing our bottomless portafilters have mentioned that they need more time and pushed the shipping date back to April 14th. Some more delays and schedule slip are inevitable so I will do my best to keep everyone updated as best as I can.

Double Spouted Portafilter samples

Software

The Skale 2 has been integrated to the app.

We just heard from Hiroia and are trying to get them to agree to work with us for getting their Jimmy scale on the Argos app. If you own or are interested in Hiroia compatibility, you could help us out by sending them a message on social media mentioning that you would like their scale on our app.

Thanks,

Ross Ainsworth