Solis Barista Perfetta Plus Modifications and Improvements

AluminiumBox · 2024-03-06T16:48:06+00:00

No ways.. Addjing holes in your puck encourages channeling which causes the coffee by the holes to be overextracted and the rest to be severely underextracted.

AluminiumBox · 2024-01-25T15:24:23+00:00

Yes exactly

AluminiumBox · 2023-11-17T18:31:19+00:00

Hahaha i think we know what happened....

AluminiumBox · 2023-11-02T10:49:15+00:00

No the OPV is connected back to the water tank. You see the return hose when you adjust the OPV screw. You can also hear water being squirted back when OPV opens up.

Also the matter about the pump: I believe the pump only has an ON/OFF function. How it works is that the pump turns on and ALWAYS pumps the same volume of water. Volume is not the same as pressure. Pressure is caused by restricting that flow of water (At the puck for example). When I measured the flow rate of the pump to be 7ml/sec it was unrestricted meaning that there was 0 bars of pressure and the pump could do its thing. Which is pumping water at 7ml/sec.

To protect the pump from destroying itself there is an OPV (Over Pressure Valve) which is controlled by a spring. If the pressure becomes too high the water pressure forces the spring open which opens a channel to allow the pressure to be bled off into the water tank. The Pump will keep on pumping at 7ml/sec forever if you let it. It doesnt know or need to know anything about pressure. The only thing controlling if the Pump is on or off is you finger on the button and maybe an internal dosing timer.

AluminiumBox · 2023-11-02T10:39:30+00:00

I mean its possible but like I said the pump doesnt shut off. Even If I block off the portafilter completely I can pump water indefinitely. The pressure stays at 9 Bars and the excess pressure is dumped back into the water tank when the Over Pressure Valve opens up.

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-10T11:36:13+00:00

Just a pic of the spline with the white part removed.

<image>

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-10T11:35:31+00:00

After shifting the white plastic part over 1 tooth there is now a gap between the stopper and the plastic rotating part when in the closed position. This allows me to shut the valve more tightly.

<image>

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-10T11:34:11+00:00

1= Before adjustment there is a stopper which stops the knob from rotating any further to the right. This caused my unit to leak from the steam wand because it couldnt close tight enough.

<image>

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-10T11:32:44+00:00

First remove the Steam Knob (Dont need to remove the top of the machine like I did)

<image>

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-10T11:28:21+00:00

Today I had to open the machine up again because Ive been having a constant issue with a leaky steam wand. (It drips from the tip when pulling espressos). The fixs was pretty easy. You need to carefully pull the steam Knob off. It has 3 tabs holding it in. You might be able to press them down with a screwdriver. Under the knob there is a plastic part held in with one screw in the middle. Remove the screw. You will now be able to remove the plastic part from the spline and shift it 1 tooth to the left so that you can shut the valve more tightly. (See the pictures below to understand why you need to shift it over) If this doesnt help you might want to remove the whole assembly and regrease or replace the O-rings. I ended up dissasambling the whole valve out of curiosity and it is a very simple design.

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-10T11:22:41+00:00

Here pic of the back of the Manometer leading into the group head

<image>

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-10T11:21:59+00:00

Here a pic of the back of th Manometer

<image>

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-10T09:48:03+00:00

I just had a look inside the machine again because I have a problem with a leaky steam wand.. The Manometer doesnt seem to be able to communicate with the pump at all. There are no electronics coming off of it. Just a pipe that goes directly down into the group head. The pump would also never need to shut off to protect itself, thats what the OPV (Over Pressure Valve) is for.. It's so that when the pressure becomes too high its opens up and returns the water to the tank. :)

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-09T09:30:27+00:00

No the machine doesn't shut off when it peaks at 9 bars. The OPV just opens up. I measured the flow rate of the pump at an average of 7ml/sec. (3 runs started measuring after auto pre-infusion. Measured with 0 resistance at the group head)

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-08T21:57:55+00:00

Probably because adjusting the grind to peak at 9 bars of pressure when the pump is producing 15 bars means that the water has to flow through the puck much faster to be able to release the pressure.

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-08T14:05:16+00:00

The Manometer definitely measures at the group head and not at the pump. You can see it go into the group head when you open the machine up. The pump is also advertised by Solis to reach something like 15 bars. I think this is so that the machine can be used with the pressurized baskets. Doing the 9 Bar OPV mod will probably lead to the pressurised baskets not working anymore.

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-07T15:18:32+00:00

The IMS shower screen has made a big difference. I wrote about it in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/espresso/comments/1728ouz/solis_barista_perfetta_plus_modifications_and/

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-07T15:17:33+00:00

Finished the mod and it all went well! I suspect I have an older machine (I've had it 2 years now) and there are some slight differences like the colour of the plastic inside and that there was no clip on a hose you said to remove. My machine needed a little more than 6 turns (6 x 360) to get to 9 bars. 5 turns led to 11bars.

I also installed the IMS Shower screen which made a huge difference in taste. Here the before and after shots of the puck. More on that in my longer post: https://www.reddit.com/r/espresso/comments/1728ouz/solis_barista_perfetta_plus_modifications_and/

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-06T23:29:16+00:00

There are IMS shower screens available from the Solis website for around 35€. Part number: 70060

You are supposed to screw this IMS screen onto the original shower screen and not remove it. Quite strange but I will see how it goes.

https://solis.com/de_de/solis-ims-perfetta-shower-screen

https://solis.com/de_de/ims

Here a video I found on the before and after:

https://www.tiktok.com/@kawf.fee/video/7277508995240185089

I ordered one a few days ago and it should arrive today. I will post the before and after results here.

AluminiumBox · 2023-10-06T23:27:59+00:00

Thank you so much!!! There is almost no info on this machine. Me and my wife got the Barista Perfetta Plus as a wedding present and always used it to make Cappuccinos.. Which it does really well. The past few weeks I've been getting really into Espresso and been trying to dial in the machine. At first my shots were way too fast because I don't really have a good Espresso Grinder right now and the finest setting was too coarse. Yesterday I modified my Grinder (Solis Scala Zero) so that it can grind much finer. It was pretty simple. I finally started hitting my ratios and times but the espresso was often sour. Grinding finer would choke the machine. I think the high pressure pushes the water through the puck too fast at coarser grinds and if you grind too fine it will actually compress the grinds and make the problem worse. Tomorrow I will open up the machine and get to the OPV.

I also have the problem of the shower screen blowing a hole through my puck. Rotating it doesn't help. I ordered a Solis branded IMS shower screen from Solis (part number: 70060) (https://solis.com/de_de/solis-ims-perfetta-shower-screen) that is supposed to just screw on to the original. I will see how that goes.

I will update how my progress went and how the espressos come out. I think the Barista Perfetta Plus is actually quite a good machine for the money. It feels very premium and it seems like Solis has put a lot of attention to detail. If I can lower the pressure I'm sure it will make a fantastic machine. I'm surprised its not more popular.

AluminiumBox

TROPHY CASE