December 8, 2024
Description
Maybe you have seen all those electrical portafilter cleaner in the gastronomy sector. Thy work nice but also costs a lot of money. I designed this mechanical portafilter cleaning device which is fully 3D printed and doesn't need any additional hardware.
The cleaninghead features a 4:1 planetary gearbox. For every rotation of the portafilter, the cleaning Head rotates 4 times in the opposite direction.
So just put your portafilter onto the device and give it a few pushes back and forth. It should be clean enough for your next espresso.
Everything can be printed without supports.
The "Rotation Tower" and the "planetary_gearbox" features print in place mechanics with tight tolerances. So you have to make sure that your filament is well tuned, otherwise the parts will bond together.
Sometimes it can happen that they stick just a little bit. For this purpose you can print out the provided "breakfree_tool" to loosen the parts or if you have a 15mm and 8mm Imbus you can try these. Never try to loosen the Rotation Tower Axle on the 8mm hex shaft inside, it could break!
The "Portafilter_Insert" and the "cleaner" must be printed in TPU.
Assembly is straight forward like shown in the picture.
The Portafilter Insert and the Cleaning Head are designed for 54mm Portafilters like the one for the gastroback. You can try if it fits yours but I can't guarantee.
For those which doesn't fit I included the Step files with the crucial dimensions for the cleaner (cleaner_RAW.stp) and the Insert (portafilter_insert_RAW.stp) where you can design around these to get it right for your portafilter. The main device should be big enough to adapt it for even the biggest one out there.
The cleaning head is printed in TPU. There are a few varieties of TPU which includes some additives for better 3D printing experience. As TPU is generally food save, the additives might not. So check your filament to be sure!
For those wich still use a knock off box and want to use the cleaner just for cleaning, you can change the cleaning head with the brush - adapter. It can be printed in TPU or PETG. The TPU Version is softer but way stronger when it comes to wear resistance. But the bristles in TPU can be challenging to print nicely. The harder the TPU the better!
Since a few people had problems with the clearances on the PiP - Parts, I updated the profile with two alternative plates with more clearances.
License:
Standard Digital File License
laisch
