# Gaggia + Pi



## destiny (Jun 4, 2015)

So... the recent upgraditis that I experienced wanting to spontaneously buy an Izzo Alex Mk1 in a need of some love has re-sparked my previous thoughts of getting my Classic going with a Raspberry Pi.

Previously I spent a bit of time researching and even already both a pressure sensor to use in this project but I am hoping that I will get a bit more time to read up on this and get myself ready over Christmas, including buying what is mainly needed.

Anyway - this thread will hopefully document my endeavours and may in the future help other.

It will certainly help me to keep progressing this - simple request to you guys - keep pushing me to get this moving if my progress slows down









For now - more reading/planning to do!


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## mcrmfc (Sep 17, 2016)

Cool sounds good and i trust you are familiar with http://int03.co.uk/blog/project-coffee-espiresso-machine/!

Just my 2 penneth worth but having tried both I have found working with an Arduino much easier for a few reasons but the main being the 5v default pin output e.g. driving an ssr from the pi's 3v is not all that likely to work reliably. The fact that the pi runs a full Linux stack can also be a help (multi threading etc) and a hinderance (code that requires precise timing may be trickier especially running in user space i.e. subject to os level interrupts etc).

Give the pi a whirl for sure but just worth bearing in mind if you struggle at all.

Good luck, one thing is for sure there is nothing better than hacking on something you really love the end product of...it's a great incentive!


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## DJA (Nov 22, 2016)

Congrats: If this was the machine on eBay a couple of days ago, I had intended to buy it myself. It was early Sunday morning and being in Scotland, Purley, and the seller adamant they wouldn't post, is too far to costly for such a venture, so was waiting until I got a comment from my son-in-law (works in Guildford) to say he could pick it up for me. Whilst I waiting the "buy it now" option disappeared.

As a frustrated retired engineer always looking for a good project, I'll look with interest at you progress. Be interested to know what percentage of your buying price the full restoration costs.

Anyway wish you good luck

David


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## destiny (Jun 4, 2015)

mcrmfc said:


> Cool sounds good and i trust you are familiar with http://int03.co.uk/blog/project-coffee-espiresso-machine/!
> 
> Just my 2 penneth worth but having tried both I have found working with an Arduino much easier for a few reasons but the main being the 5v default pin output e.g. driving an ssr from the pi's 3v is not all that likely to work reliably. The fact that the pi runs a full Linux stack can also be a help (multi threading etc) and a hinderance (code that requires precise timing may be trickier especially running in user space i.e. subject to os level interrupts etc).
> 
> ...


Yes - this is a familiar site, together with the Arduino solution it links to. In fact I believe I came across the Arduino one first and than decided that the documentation was a little bit vague for me to do it swiftly enough... At the moment I am modifying my current working machine and will be doing a lot of bench testing







I already have some ideas how to make sure I can plug in and out quickly but experiments will tell if this is doable.

Interesting point on differences between the two systems - I never inspected the spec in details, my main driver for going Pi was ease of getting a display with drivers you can quickly make alive.



DJA said:


> Congrats: If this was the machine on eBay a couple of days ago, I had intended to buy it myself. It was early Sunday morning and being in Scotland, Purley, and the seller adamant they wouldn't post, is too far to costly for such a venture, so was waiting until I got a comment from my son-in-law (works in Guildford) to say he could pick it up for me. Whilst I waiting the "buy it now" option disappeared.
> 
> As a frustrated retired engineer always looking for a good project, I'll look with interest at you progress. Be interested to know what percentage of your buying price the full restoration costs.
> 
> ...


Cheers David. Well, I didn't buy a cheap machine to refurb and make much better but will be doing this on the one I use most of the time to make drinks! This will likely be a bit of a challenge as my partner won't be happy giving up on her morning drinks so easily from time to time







I suppose it will be just another good reason to get a HX or DB machine as a 'temporary' replacement.

There is some extremely cheap ones on ebay and maybe it would not be a bad idea to get one for spares and as a bench tester to keep me caffeinated in the mean time


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## destiny (Jun 4, 2015)

So.. doing a bit of further research has taken me a step back.. I currently cannot decide whether to go through a Pi or Arduino (and if so which model).

I am trying to keep costs down, plus the development time (especially software/code side) and my worry is currently ability to show neatly what I want to on the screen.

For that reason Arduino + multi line lcd may be an easier option but it won't necessarily look great..

In the end the plan is to:

- get PID side of things working to start with and control brew temp (and maybe steam temp)

- hook up a pressure sensor I have already and display pressure during the shot

- add a flow meter (tbc) OR a load cell.. personally I'd rather measure the weight of the shot and stop extraction this way than do a volumetric shot.. my current variable is the grinder where even OD single doses can have varying extraction times. The problem with a loadcell is with the packaging space, a special small drip tray would be needed

- grouphead temp sensor - once I finally get the first set of temp sensors I will make a decision about the rear mounted sensor to give better understanding of group temp


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