Nice finding there sort like reject shop selling reject cloth .... i wont mind having a reject cup as long as it doesn't cut any of my lips while i take a sip ...

Breville BES870 is a not a bad starting coffee machine for those who wants conveniences and space saving with just a simple press of a button and not having to worries if the grinder are good enough for the machine. Basically everything is made for specific single manufacturer but don expect it would be better then those commercial grinders and espresso machine.

This post has been edited by d33pbluez: Jul 12 2016, 11:38 AM

Edited my comment: didnt realize the propose machine doesnt come with steam wand....my bad
It is very unlikely you can get any decent machine with 3K now....if you talking about 3 years back...maybe you can get one but with current economy and all those taxes.... i doubt unless you keep looking for secondhand ones.... or you can try press machine

La Pavoni Professional Espresso Machine with Base

This you can get close to you budget

New Breville BES870 cost only 3K + 300 only....

Breville BES870 Barista Express Espresso Machine

This post has been edited by d33pbluez: Jul 12 2016, 04:46 PM

You already had your answer when you ask the question earlier

Nop.... Earlier post i recommend you this with E61 commercial groupe head ... but i had edited to La Pavoni Professional Espresso Machine with Base before you reply....

Quick Mill Carola Espresso Machine

Neh, I haven't used any of those machine before. Just a recommendation according to your budget on italian machine (We all know it is made in china) instead of those regular cheap coffee machine recommended by those electrical shop like sheng heng and harvey norman...

Agree with Dan430 mention below. A machine can last you very very long time provided if you do regular checkup and maintenance for it (Yes, this run on electric, plastic and rubber and soon this thing going to give way, nothing last forever). You need to send to shop to do it unless you know what your doing.

Regarding of the taste, it depend from ppl to ppl, of course we are not the expert here and we cant really know what exactly the real taste suppose to look like and it will taste good or bad (unless the coffee taste is exceptionally bad like too sour and too bitter until you cant stand the taste)

i believe don have to worry for machine like breville BES870 since it had build in grinders so i guess it is preset to the taste of the machine brew capability to produce good coffee unless you grinder and machine are separated.

But seriously, if your planning to only drink long back, why not get Aeripress or V60 for a budget and less hassle on the full machine maintenance.

This post has been edited by d33pbluez: Jul 13 2016, 08:20 AM

Finally I had enough with this mod and done modify the machine.





Review on steam lever mod:

This mod is absolutely is a beast on the steam side. The steam is so powerful that it literally cut down from 20 second of steam time to 10 second of steam time on the 12oz pitcher and it still provide a good microfoam texture but you need to control the steam power with just a light push on the lever, Too much push and be ready to clean to counter top and machine....lolz

Review on Anti Vacuum:

There not much to say about the vacuum, except for it function as it should be, releasing fake pressure and you don have to open for the steam knob to release the pressure anymore each machine is heating up when initial turn on.

but one thing i don't like about this is, it spritz a bit of water due to steam pushing vapor and water out of the anti vacuum before the pin / lever close the hole, that leave the surrounding bit wet and possible corrosion on the metal.

Another was the vapor release will be also affecting the metal below the cup warmer and possible corrosion as well.

Review on OPV:
Still waiting for the pressure gauge to come in so i can check on the pressure on the brew head.

Future mod:
1.) Cover for the steam lever opening.
2.) Repaint the machine.
3.) Assemble LED.

This post has been edited by d33pbluez: Jul 20 2016, 09:55 AM

Thanks. But still there is a few more touch up to be done like covering back the knob hole and some paint job since there is scratch mark on the cover. I'm imagine if i can put this kind of art beside my machine, it would be awesome.



Same boiler but different internal parts build (Namely, Piston & Body, i believe is the opening of the internal part would be a bit larger space when lever are push to back). i ran a bench mark test with youtube video vs my actual brew time... not sure how accurate it is... but definitely it feel quite fast....

But i still paranoid about the hissing sound made when the boiler is heating up.... feel like something is leaking inside or could it be the hissing sound coming from anti vacuum release vapor that turn into water touching the anti vacuum hot body.... Anyway im still waiting for my pressure gauge to measure the opv .... guess i had to wait for 2 more weeks.

It is normal for the anti vacuum to release vapour and some spritz of water when it close to boiling point and that is the function of it. It act as self release pressure rather then normal practise where you had to manually open the steam wand while boiler heating up to release some fake pressure before close back.


Hissing sound happen on the initial warm up when close to boiler point or machine almost finish done its thing and ready to be used, it continue on for a while until after a few round of disposing through either the brew or release some steam then the hissing stops.... i assume it could be from the anti vacuum .....


Yeah, It would another great idea mod to stop the water and vapour from flowing out damaging the surrounding. Btw, seem like you had already install the anti vacuum on your machine. Do you get hissing sound like water touching the hot cup or anything like that when the boiler almost done with the heating process ?

For OPV, I rather wait for the gauge but i heard it is already pre set to 10 bar straight out from the factory, means to say you don need to adjust anything. Just fix and used.

This post has been edited by d33pbluez: Jul 22 2016, 08:22 AM

Yes, Hissing sound came from water hitting some hot surface and flashing off sound. I tried to check but there is no leak found. Last time i encounter 2 leak but was solve ( one from the pstat leak from T-piping and another is male to male fitting on the steam due to gap).

I also did a few verification, like machine water intake, how fast the heater kick in, steam power, brew flow. seem everything looks normal to me. Just only the hissing sound....

Used steam wand to heat up bun.... lolz....

This post has been edited by d33pbluez: Jul 22 2016, 03:18 PM

same here, i mean looking for Oscar IMS basket ....

Yes, Pop corn roaster.

Some update guys:

Finally, I was able to gauge my pressure on the group head

Initial reading after install OPV kit



Second reading after some adjustment....Almost there



Third reading after more adjustment.....dang i over kill it ....10 bar



Finally. It is there... went all the way to 8 bar then meter start slows down then it creep into 9 bar and stays there....



Run another 5 times, get consistent reading of 9bar. So i pretty much done with machine except for some mysterious minor hissing sound that i yet to solve.

When i get money i might add in permanent gauge onto the machine instead of using portafilter one....

Still haven't go live with coffee yet. Kindly of busy this few week. I try out and let you know

Update:

Many had been wondering, that i only show a complete mod of everything about oscar machine, So what happen to coffee brewing process of the machine. Well here it is finally, Yes spout is modded as well and i like this modded spout, look more professional (Forgive me on the mickey mouse cup ) :

First sign of life of the coffee flow after the mod.


Second, After the black life came evolution of dark chocolate crema.


Third, Before it ended with light brown crema.


Final product of the coffee brewing.Beautiful brown crema ontop of the black sea of life.


Looks on the after brewing on the coffee ground. All clean and compact as it should have.


Well, About the taste..... it is damn bitter (I'm using full medium city beans, and i tested on the shop before i bought it...it suppose to taste like kopi o lightness with some espresso feel), possible over extraction. Must be due to i retain my previous Rancilio silvia fine grind setting . go to loosen up abit of my grind setting since oscar is bit more forgiving then rancilio silvia in brewing.

This post has been edited by d33pbluez: Aug 8 2016, 09:24 AM

Man, the new portafilter basket for oscar seem to chew up my beans like no tomorrow. last time i uses 10 second of grind on my rancilio silvia which can last at least 3 grinds now it seem it take 15 second (additional 5 second more) last only 2 grind with the same amount fresh bean i pour into the hopper.

i didn't time the last round when brew but to me it look normal on the brewing duration.

yesterday machine pump sound weird and it is quiet loud like it is try to pump for water when the tank is empty (Last check the tank was full)...try to brew the coffee and check water brew from the brew head ... everything seem fine, so i try to measure the pressure fearing could cause by it. When i switch off the brew button after checking the pressure, there is a high release of pressure, when with a loud "pop". It even lifted up and push my dip tray out abit.... then when i tested again.... it when back to normal sound....

Weird....

"airlock" ? happen to you before ? Yesterday i tried and machine seem ok already.... my first initial suspected could be the solenoid valve pipe had been block by access water in the dip tray but i always kept my dip tray empty after i off the machine or maybe i forget to load off the access water ...hmm

Anyway, I will monitor the machine for 1 week so see if it happen again.

Nop, Even at cold flush process from cold start seem it affecting already. I tried yesterday, it seem it be back to normal even when i cold flush on from the cold start.

Back to my experiment update, I tried to do a half step down from my grinding, It taste so much better now compare initial grind that too bitter.

By remove my parts and reassemble them again.... haha...that really scares me to take off the machine apart again....maybe next round....but for now i try to start a website about the mod....

Website like blogspot would be nice for a starter, i had been thinking of forum too but just the committee that really want to go through all the hassle is just too small later become cold forum ahaha (I had already got my review on blogspot). What i can see most ppl would prefer just buy a coffee machine, and make coffee and never having thought of going through all those tear down and mod and later regret why they tear down the machine and broke thing inside. hahaha

Speaking of water level devices mod.... hmm...don't we already have on in the machine ? i think it is quite redundant to have another. I planing to add pressure gauge on the groupe head but im out of budget so i had to wait till when i had to budget before i can add in another mod. For now, i just drink coffee only.

First try was the India monsooned melabar, the taste and technique is so much different from my silvia. In silvia, i had to go very fine grind (Often i step my grinder all the way down to the end) to get my taste (sometimes inconsistent taste) but oscar with mod, i don have to step all the way down, just going up half of grind it taste much better (First tried was so much crazy bitter due to old silvia setting).

Dang.... The sound of the infamous pump came back again last night when i run the pump. Again, i tried the same method, attach my pressure gauge and let it run through but this time there is no loud 'pop' and causing my dip tray to move. Just simple back flushing couple of times and it is back to normal again.

I wonder could it be something had to do with my solenoid getting stuck or something.

Not sure, but during when mod, i did not touch or open any of the solenoid, Just only remove the electrical cable attach to them, got to ask the expert and see what they had in mind about this issue. Probably i going to do some back flush too.... not sure if the previous owner does that .....