Started by learning from an old (but working) Ascaso espresso machine
I wanted to build an espresso machine. The goal was to build one with rotary pump, that can maintain stable 9 bar pressure, and implement an electrically heated group, easy to control and code. First step was to take apart an old Ascaso machine, which are known for electrically heated group head. Learn from the design, plan the layout, and copy the parts to CAD, where I can design a new layout and build. Here is a description of what I did so far.
The donor machine — disassembled, photographed, then reimagined.
Understanding the layout
To redesign the hydraulic layout from scratch I first had to learn the original. My design was to keep the original thermoblock — which is coupled with the group head. The goal is to replace the vibrational pump with a rotary pump to achieve stable, quiet pressure. Adding flow meters, pressure sensors and an OPV (over-pressure valve) so brewing could be monitored and tuned.
Initial schematics — figuring out the new fluid routing.
Build the thermoblock in SolidWorks
Once I understood the physics, I started modeling the and rebuilt the assembly in SolidWorks. The thermoblock stayed central so everything can be designed around it. This showes the steps along the way.
The design focused on using the old thermoblock. for this, I built the thermoblock in Solidworks, and designed around it.
In progress · personal project for daily home use.