Nothing is better than a glass of cold frappe during summer

Usually, when people think of coffee, they think of hot coffee. But in Greece, the most popular coffee is the cold instant coffee, AKA frappe. This kind of coffee is hand made only, and no serious machines have been produced to make it automatically, like espresso and cappuccino. That is normal, because although these machines would be very popular in Greece, they would deal great failure in the rest of the world. So. if someone wants to have a frappe machine, he has to build a frappe machine...

So, before i start, let me give you an example how the original instant cold coffee (frappe) is made. I strongly suggest you try this when it gets warm!

My very first attempt to make this machine. The board had only some CMOS chips. All motors were controlled by relays (currently ripped off).

I began thinking of this project since i was very young. That was for me a dream machine, a great challenge! Unfortunately, i did not have the resources, the knowledge and the abilities that i have now to make this machine. The microprocessors was then an untouchable dream! A servo was out of the question due to cost. I gave it a try with CMOS components, but i just failed. I could not make a nice PCB myself, because i could not find easily photosensitive boards.

Nevertheless, somewhere in the mid 90's, i did make the lower/raise mechanism for the shaker. The motor was attached in a plastic tube. On the back side, i had attached a nut. A long screw (about 20cm long) was turned by a stronger DC motor. As the screw was turning, the nut was going up and down, and thus, the shaker motor was also going up and down. It was a very compact mechanism, but the motor was not very strong. Sometimes it stalled. Anyway, i used this experience to design the new mechanism.

Here are some videos that i got during the make of the coffee machine:

This is the eighth video of the progress of my coffee maker. I put all modules together in the temporary housing, and connected all wires and plumping. So, the coffee machine is ready to operate! I made my very first test, making a medium (1.5 spoons sugar 1 spoon coffee) instant cold coffee...

This is the seventh video of the progress of my coffee maker. I just managed to interface the digital input and output cards with the CPU successfully. I was expecting this interface to be much more complicated, but for my surprise, all 3 cards worked perfectly with the first test :D

This is the sixth video. In this video, i show how i made the reference position for the rotary table.

This is the fifth video. This is the first time that i put the modules together into a chipboard-made model case for test. I solve also some technical problems regarding the mounting of the straw dispenser and the funnel for the sugar and coffee dispensers.

This is the fourth video from my Greek style cold instant coffee maker machine. In this video i demonstrate the rotary table of the coffee machine.

This is the third video. In this video i demonstrate the sugar and coffee dispenser mechanisms.

This is the second video. In this video i explain and demonstrate the mechanism for separating and placing straws into the coffee glass.

This is the first video from my Greek style cold instant coffee maker machine. In this video i explain and demonstrate the mechanism for lowering and raising the mixer.

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