Enjoy an open source espresso

One of the fundamental tenets of the open source movement is that anyone who wants to build on a work, in any way they want, can easily do so. With the freely available source code, the original project can be developed, modified, updated or simply looked at and used for inspiration. Usually we think of this in the realm of software freedom, but hardware is also an important element. And not just electronic equipment either. [Norm] presents this espresso machine that was built on these open source foundations.

The project is inspired by the open source project Gaggiuino, which was another version that modified an entry-level espresso machine with more precise temperature and pressure control. [Norm] was unwilling to sacrifice his espresso machine for this cause, so this machine with its DIY hardware was born. An older machine with worn parts was sacrificed to the coffee gods instead, using its pumps, boiler and a few other hardware items, especially the hydraulic system. The control software is built around the Gaggiuino project and includes a custom control board for the user interface.

At the moment the coffee maker does indeed work, but [Norm] hopes to make some improvements to the device, including adding some sort of enclosure, both to prevent accidental contact with the boiler and to make it look elegant and professional. We kinda like it the way it is, while acknowledging that it's not quite ready for commercial production like this. It has a similar industrial feel to that espresso machine we featured a few years ago which is made from old engine components.