Espresso Funnel
To eliminate coffee ground wastage, I created an espresso funnel that efficiently guides coffee grinds into my portafilter.
Problem
I never knew how tough it was to maintain and clean an espresso machine until I bought my first one. My espresso holder would spill extra grounds all over the base and every day I had to spend at least five minutes cleaning them off. Out of curiosity, I decided to measure how much grounds were being wasted and discovered that I was wasting about 2 double shot espresso’s* of coffee's worth of grounds per week after weighing the amount of grounds I spilled. I then understood that I needed to effectively funnel the grounds to the portafilter in order to lessen the amount of grounds spilled.
*I weighed the wasted grounds and discovered that I was wasting close to 2 grams per double shot of coffee. Depending on my coffee consumption for the week I discovered that I would be wasting maximum 2 double shot espresso’s per week.
Solution Design
With the help of my partner who is a mechanical engineer, I came up with a list of features for our MVP product.
In-scope
Easy to clean
Must fit 54mm Breville portafilter
Design to eliminate coffee spillage from overloaded portafilter
Out of scope
Dishwasher safe
Magnetic attachment
Approach
I measured relevant dimensions from the portafilter to design the features of the funnel. After taking measurements, I discovered that I had to build a 54mm funnel that would fit my portafilter with no gaps.
I had to make sure the design wasn't overly complicated because the funnel would be 3D printed using PLA. I used the following strategy to reduce the following risks:
Avoid ground wastage: The funnel should be tall enough to catch all grounds produced, but short enough to fit in between the portafilter and the grinder.
Carry over the three-tab design: The portafilter that the manufacturer provides has a three-tab design. I wanted to mimic the same design to ensure that the funnel snugly fits with the portafilter. I also made sure to maintain radial symmetry for the funnel to be used correctly when installed in different directions.
Easy to install/uninstall: Use a familiar clockwise twist-on motion similar to many household products. I also added radius features to reduce sharp edges - resulting in a more comfortable part to hold.
Materials Used
White PLA Filament
3D Printer (Creality Ender 3 V2)
After I provided my design considerations to my partner, he helped draft some initial sketches of what the funnel would look like and they designed it in CAD software and printed it.
To review some of my partner’s work please click on this link.
Result
Because of this funnel, I was able to reduce the amount of coffee that I was grinding since there is no longer any ground wastage. I also saved ~2 double shot espresso’s per week.