Two months ago, I made a promise that’s been haunting my CAD sessions ever since: build an espresso machine that works perfectly with both 49mm and 58mm baskets. Nine millimeters doesn’t sound like much until you’re trying to engineer around it while using standard components from Italian suppliers.
The customer story behind this obsession remains compelling. Your coffee journey shouldn’t be linear. Maybe you start with a 49mm basket – more forgiving, perfect for single shots, ideal when you’re learning to dial in your grind. But as your palate develops and your technique improves, you want the 58mm pro standard. Most machines force you to choose one path from day one.
But after three weeks behind the CAD screen, diving deep into component catalogs from Italian producers, I’ll be honest: I haven’t cracked this puzzle yet. And that’s exactly why I’m building the first prototype with the 49mm basket system.
Every iteration felt like solving a 3D puzzle where the pieces kept changing. Design the unique machined parts, contact suppliers, get quotes for surface treatments, realize a constraint won’t bend, redesign, repeat. The dual-basket feature remains one of my key differentiators, but I’ve learned that obsessing over unsolved problems can paralyze the entire project.
So I made a decision: test the core concept first. When those Italian components arrive next week, I’ll build a prototype focused on what I know works – the 49mm system that handles the fundamentals beautifully. Heat management, pressure consistency, assembly experience, the satisfaction of building something remarkable.
Once I prove the overall concept works – materials, dimensions, user experience, that daily ritual of pulling a lever on something you built – then I’ll return to the dual-basket challenge with real-world data instead of theoretical CAD models.
Maybe I’ll solve it, maybe the 49mm system will be so good that customers won’t need the complexity. Either way, I’m not letting the perfect become the enemy of the remarkable.
Sometimes the best engineering happens when you build first, then solve the elegant puzzles.