Rancilio Silvia Retrofit, Overhaul

Key Skills: CAD (Fusion 360), 3D Printing, Electronics, Fabrication

In junior year of high school I fell in love with the world of specialty coffee, and leveraged my previous experiences in 3D printing and electronics knowledge from my drone racing hobby to complete a series of upgrades on my 2012 Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, the most substantial of which was installing a PID temperature controller to improve thermal stability.

The Rancilio Silvia is a great machine and built like a tank, but its analog thermostat causes the temperature to swing from 85C to 115C, causing espresso extraction to be inconsistent. People typically upgrade the Silvia with a PID controller by purchasing a $200 retrofit kit with premade parts and specific installation instructions.

However, by going the DIY route, I was able to retrofit my machine for only about $50. I purchased a generic PID controller, solid state relay, and thermal probe on Amazon, consulted the wiring diagram for the machine, and crimped my own wiring harnesses in order to retrofit the machine. I used Fusion 360 to model an enclosure for the controller and 3D printed it on my school’s 3D printers. I was able to confine the temperature drift to only 1 degree Celsius of my desired setpoint.

This ended up being the first of many modifications to the machine: I also drilled out a water disperser to replace a protruding hex bolt with a countersunk screw that wouldn’t fracture the espresso puck, installed car dampening material all over the chassis to quiet the vibratory motor and insulate the machine, as well as adjusted the over-pressure valve to brew at 9 bar (the “golden pressure” of espresso extraction) instead of the default 11 bar setting.

To some, this project may be "‘overkill,’ but I have yet to find someone say that after having one of my lattes.