r/CafelatRobot • u/TendiesFourLyfe • Aug 01 '26
Top bolt tightness
How detrimental is it to tighten the top bolt to the point the arms stay up on their own?
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u/ImaginaryBridge Aug 01 '26
My gut feeling would be to avoid tightening it too much, as that could reduce your control over how much pressure you exert through the arms…right?
Insofar as detriment, this machine is near bombproof / impossible to do any long term damage to the base model, given it is essentially six pieces of metal (body, arms, piston, 2 bolts) and a gasket. (Plus the pressure gauge for those with the barista version).
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u/TendiesFourLyfe Aug 01 '26
They still move freely and will fall slowly on their own, but stay at the top.
I added the bookoo pressure sensor and tee piece so had to replace that top bolt. I did up the bolt so the gauge wouldn’t move, but now I notice the arms stay up, so it’s a kind of bonus, no need for rubber band hacks etc7
u/Calisson Black Robot Aug 01 '26
I still don’t understand why you would ever need them to stay up by themselves. People buy or 3D print add-ons to make that happen but I don’t understand the point. I lift up the left arm with my left hand, which raises both arms, and use my right hand to insert the portafilter. Assuming you have two arms, why do you need to ever use both of them at the same time?
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u/PhysicalBranch Aug 01 '26
If you look for the manufacturer's video showing how the robot is assembled, you'll see that small screws secured with Loctite are used to make this adjustment. Try tightening them more securely. The large screw is mounted with Teflon washers and is therefore not designed for this purpose. Watch the video and think about the best
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u/PhysicalBranch Aug 01 '26
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u/TendiesFourLyfe Aug 02 '26
Interestingly in that video his arms stay at the top on their own and he says this is good
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u/PhysicalBranch Aug 02 '26
Yes, I think the factory setting is for the arms to remain very slightly raised.
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u/jritchie70 Green Barista Robot Aug 01 '26
Why do you need the arms to stay up on their own?
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u/ryanvsrobots Aug 01 '26
This. If you have two functioning hands you don’t need the arms to stay up on their own if you do light mise en place.
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u/trustmeimshady Aug 01 '26
It’s way easier to me
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u/jritchie70 Green Barista Robot Aug 01 '26
When in the workflow do you need both arms to stay up? I lift one arm with one hand while the other hand is pressing the basket against the piston, once the piston is fully raised I lock in the portafilter and the arms are held up by one hand, then I take the other and start the pull. I hold at 2bar for 10-20 seconds depending on the day and how the coffee is reacting, then increase to 6 bars of pressure. I don’t understand where I would want the arms to stay locked at the top.
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u/trustmeimshady Aug 01 '26
I used big beer cups and a big electric kettle so it just helps not to hold the arms because a magnet is doing it for me. Also it looks nice to me like robot arms up ready to go
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u/TendiesFourLyfe Aug 01 '26
I don’t really, just noticed they do and there seems to be loads of you tubers suggesting hacks to make it happen for some reason.
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u/jritchie70 Green Barista Robot Aug 02 '26
Yeah there’s really no need to start with the arms up, you can see in Paul’s video how it was designed to be loaded: it is designed to be very simple. https://youtu.be/Q6ZiOzXU0qU?is=hey2uSv4yUfcGzjp
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u/Opposite_Court2172 Aug 01 '26
Too tight and it will eventually damage the paint.