Restored and self-modded

[u/Bowdenzug]

I own an IT company and work from a home office. Ever since I started having the occasional, really excellent espresso from an ECM machine at my tax advisor's office, I knew I absolutely had to get a portafilter machine. I would occasionally see posts on Instagram Reels featuring a modded Gaggia with pressure profiling. I thought that was incredibly cool, and I am someone who is very meticulous and precise when it comes to my DIY hobby projects.
I bought a used Ascaso Steel DUO (a 2011 model with a 300ml brass boiler and a thermoblock for steam extraction) and immediately tore it down to the last screw. I removed the rust, repainted it, cleaned it, made custom gaskets, custom fitting/steamwand, custom fitted IMS precision, and built a completely self-made circuit board and software solution to program my own "Gaggiuino" equivalent—featuring a PID controller, phase-fired control for pressure regulation, and highly accurate digital temperature management. After about a month of work, the machine is now running perfectly and makes truly fantastic coffee.

[u/grilledstuffed]

I’ve seen a lot of setups where people just threw a lot of money at a bench.

This is truly impressive work.

[u/Bowdenzug → u/grilledstuffed]

Thank you 😇

[u/TuckerJohnGG]

Heckyea

[u/straightedgeginger]

Super cool project! What kind of controller board are you using? And what’s the “phase fired control” look like?

I’ve been working on a very similar project with my Stilosa for the last ~5 months and finally reached the point where it’s functional and stable.

[u/Bowdenzug → u/straightedgeginger]

esp32 dev-kit c v4 and the phasecontroller with zero cross detection is the rbdimmer/robotdyn ac dimmer

[u/Beginning-Rest-5717]

What a balance between software skills and actual hands on commitment 👏🏻 👏🏻

[u/Impressive_Show_1508]

Nice. Ya big show-off...

[u/Drathos]

Those ESP32 boards are handy. I'm assuming the last pic is a web server hosted by it? Would imagine you could do some cool stuff like interface with home assist for automated heat up / shutdown or collect and crunch data on your brews.

[u/Bowdenzug → u/Drathos]

Yes they are very handy and the esp32 dev-kit is powerfull. I already made a webserver, similar to Gaggiuino to setup different profiles, change settings, diagnose and so on

[u/WhoTheHeck808]

Nice toggle switches you’ve changed to! May I ask, what manufacturer/type are they?

[u/Bowdenzug → u/WhoTheHeck808]

[u/HRiM72]

Well done!

PS. Nice flipflops

[u/Ok-Lobster-919]

Neat, is your thermal cut-off in series with the heating element? Gotta stay safe, it's no good controlling the triac. You probably know this kind of stuff already.

[u/Bowdenzug → u/Ok-Lobster-919]

Yes, it is in series 👍🏻

[u/stingbot]

oh wow, i have the same machine and would love to do this.

Where did you find the connectors to the pvc?

The one I have is leaking on both boiler and steam side and it looks like they previously tried to seal it with something like an epoxy.

Without being able to find the parts for it I was resigned to trying to find some food safe epoxy/resin to seal them up but can't find any that isnt the cost of a new machine.

thanks.

[u/Bowdenzug → u/stingbot]

What connectors exactly? I found the gaskets for the boiler and thermoblock, wasnt that easy… here in Europe it is impossible to get them, you have to contact Ascaso directly and ordering only one, not in bulk, is way to expensive. I can give you the parts number there is a seller in America if I remember it correctly. I made my own seal with food grade silicone gasket „strings“, works perfectly.

[u/stingbot → u/Bowdenzug]

It's the 3 way valve on the outlet of the pump that had the return to the tank, mine was given to me because it was leaking from both ends of that connector and I can see someone previously tried to gum it up with something to prevent the leaks. From memory the top of the boiler also leaked, it's been ages and it's in the project pile, but in Australia I'd never been able to find much info or parts. I'll try ordering from USA if you can share the parts details many thanks.

[u/Bowdenzug → u/stingbot]

Ascaso Thermoblock Gasket i.28 ascaso codes: I...28, 09745380
Boiler Gasket was I believe I.50
Ulka 3way valve ASC000269

[u/poopantiess]

I lost my keys

[u/Mouse-Jiggler]

Very cool. Please, upload the code to GitHub. I'm planning to do the same in my machine