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CT scans of coffee-making equipment

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Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#81

Post by whatshisface »

C-x_C-f wrote: post #68
tdullien wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any insights into what went wrong?

I'm not sure about the details. IMHO a contributing factor is that they're a company historically centered around manufacturing nearly indestructible appliances (even the newer mokas, however flimsier, don't break easily); once the market was saturated with the flagship product, there's only so much profit they could squeeze out of selling accessories and the like.

That hypothesis implies that they would wipe out the whole industry long before themselves, so it's probably not correct.

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#84

Post by c_o_n_v_e_x »

cjrp wrote: post #22
kwhitefoot wrote: post #16

Interesting images and a very well put together page. But a little off topic, I was struck by this: > With the powerful 1200 W heating element A typical European kettle is at least 1800 W, comfortably less than the power deliverable from a 10 A, 230 V circuit. A typical UK kettle would be more like 3000 W, such as this one (it seems that all the kettles on that website are 3 kW): https://www.argos.co.uk/product/93631…

> …the kettle reaches optimal temperature very quickly — in under three minutes That’s too long to wait for a brew.

I once met the guy who owned Zip in Australia. Sold out for big $$$ apparently.

https://www.zipwater.com/for-home

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#85

Post by minikomi »

kens wrote: post #64
totoglazer wrote: post #4

Such a cool idea, and attractive images. However I’m kind of disappointed they mostly picked things that are fairly simple, transparent or openable, and look exactly the way you’d expect them to inside. I assume some combination of cost & size drove this. A vintage espresso machine with 1 group head would be more novel, for example.

Lumafield scanned a 1960s flip flop module for me, to help reverse engineer some vintage NASA hardware. The module contained a bunch of resistors, transistors, capacitors, and diodes, encased in a 13-pin plastic package. These modules had various functions and were used like integrated circuits, but made from discrete components in the pre-IC time. With the Lumafield scans, I could reverse-engineer the circuitry. My…

What an amazing project and thanks for sharing so much about the process!

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#86

Post by C-x_C-f »

whatshisface wrote: post #81
C-x_C-f wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about the details. IMHO a contributing factor is that they're a company historically centered around manufacturing nearly indestructible appliances (even the newer mokas, however flimsier, don't break easily); once the market was saturated with the flagship product, there's only so much profit they could squeeze out of selling accessories and the like.

That hypothesis implies that they would wipe out the whole industry long before themselves, so it's probably not correct.

Not really, it remains true even when you take competition into account. Also, the rest of the industry isn't really playing the same game: all other companies producing moka pots are vastly more diversified. You have e.g. Alessi which fills the design-oriented niche (and has tons of other products), or the countless crummy knock-off factories which churn out all sorts of trash and just happen to machine moka pots once in a while. But only Bialetti kept all its eggs in one basket (at least until it was too late).

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#87

Post by mschuster91 »

GuB-42 wrote: post #78
cjs_ac wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK plug sockets are rated at 13 A, giving a maximum power rating of 2,990 W. Kettles are consequently amongst the highest-drawing household appliances in the UK. Back when there were only three television channels, the National Grid planners used to pore over the Radio Times, looking for popular programmes like the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special (21 to 28 million viewers in 1977), so they could prepare for the…

Is there a reason why European kettles are typically 2200W and UK kettles are 3000W? European plug sockets are typically rated for 16A, secured with a matching breaker and allowing for about 3500W of power. Appliances that use the full 3500W are rare but they exist, so it is not like it is illegal. So why don't Europeans get the 3000W kettles too? Maybe some people have 10A circuits, maybe this is a margin so that ot…

> European plug sockets are typically rated for 16A, secured with a matching breaker and allowing for about 3500W of power. Appliances that use the full 3500W are rare but they exist, so it is not like it is illegal. So why don't Europeans get the 3000W kettles too?

The British plug (and ring wiring scheme) was designed for two 13A electric heaters on a single ring, so continuous load.

Meanwhile, German Schuko and the related French E plug are theoretically capable of 16A peak load, modern sockets are capable of 16A continuous load as well, but a lot of old installations and especially old sockets are rated for 10A only - so typical kettles are limited to 2200W/9.6A to leave a bit of headroom for older, more trigger-happy circuit breakers and other devices on the same circuit.

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#88

Post by sytelus »

The website is beautiful expect that stupid cookie popup. Has anyone ever got any fines for not putting up cookie popup in their website?

Also, if you are into this, you might like the book:

Cut in Half: The Hidden World Inside Everyday Objects https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Half-Hidden-Everyday-Objects/dp/1...

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#89

Post by davidmurdoch »

sytelus wrote: post #88

The website is beautiful expect that stupid cookie popup. Has anyone ever got any fines for not putting up cookie popup in their website? Also, if you are into this, you might like the book: Cut in Half: The Hidden World Inside Everyday Objects https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Half-Hidden-Everyday-Objects/dp/1...

Brave browser does some annoying things, but automatically blocking cookie popups is worth it.

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#90

Post by samcheng »

>There’s also a hidden game in the Stagg EKG and Corvo EKG kettles. If you remove your kettle from the base and toggle the F/C switch back and forth, you’ll unlock a snake-like game called Wormy that you can play using the dial.

It was fun to walk over to the kitchen and discover something new from a two-year-old appliance!

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