tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48148818619776601332024-03-14T05:14:50.523+00:00A bit about everythingRuslan Kabalinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455389293184492230noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4814881861977660133.post-51357389984216921872014-05-25T12:24:00.001+01:002014-09-18T15:36:52.375+01:00Gaggia Classic. Steam wand upgrade.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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You should not expect to have a great steam wand in entry level domestic espresso machine. Gaggia Classic is not an exception - it is coming with a plastic "Panarello" frother, which might be good for the customer who just wants to make "bubbly" milk foam quickly.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://coffeekind.com/sites/default/files/gaggia-classic-home-espresso-machine-steam-wand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://coffeekind.com/sites/default/files/gaggia-classic-home-espresso-machine-steam-wand.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(image from http://coffeekind.com/gaggia/gaggia-classic-espresso-machine)</td></tr>
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Anyone who likes cappuccino and knows what smooth microfoam is, regards this bubbly foam as a result of unprofessional work of barista, in addition to that, it is useless if you want to practice latte-art. In many cases, replacing steam wand is the top item in the upgrade list.<br />
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There are two known methods of upgrading steam wand on your Gaggia Classic. Both of them suggest replacement of existing one with the steam wand from Rancilio Silvia, a higher quality domestic coffee machine.<br />
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First approach is quite popular and easy, all you need to do is to buy steam wand from early generation Rancilio Silvia, it is called "Rancilio Silvia V2 steam wand" and available on the internet for the price of less than £20. In order to replace, you need to undo the bolt that attaches existing wand to brass pipe, remove the steam wand, replace the fitting nut on the new Rancilio one with the bolt from old one, insert the new steam wand in place, and fasten the bolt. You may find some manuals explaining how to do that in details, <a href="http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11548518&postcount=26">here is the one of them</a>. I made this upgrade within first few weeks after purchase. Here is how my coffee machine looked like after upgrade.<br />
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Rancilio Silvia steam wand installed on Gaggia Classic does the job. It allows you to achieve the required consistency of the milk froth and practice latte-art skills. It is definitely better than original one, but missing some features of professional steam wands, in particular there is no way to move it up and down, e.g. to adjust the angle, and that bigger tip and hexagonal shape makes it more difficult to clean.<br />
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Alternative option you have is to fit Rancilio Silvia V3 steam wand that has all features of professional one. Fitting Rancilio Silvia V3 steam wand to Gaggia Classic is not popular. First, the steam wand itself is more expensive; second, you would need extra parts and more time. I did not manage to find the manual explaining how to do that, so here is my story.<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>Disclaimer: The modification experience is described for information only and could be used as reference by qualified person. Replacing steam wand on coffee machine will void its warranty. Anyone replacing steam wand using this publication is doing that at own risk and assumes full responsibility for all undertaken actions. Author of this publication will not be liable for any damage or injures caused to you or your property as a result of using information from this publication.</b></span><br />
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You will need "Rancilio Silvia V3 Steam Wand Kit" that includes steam wand, gaskets, spring and spring seat (do not mix it with expensive full V3 steam wand assembly, that includes valve that you will not need). There are not many places where you can buy it. I bought from <a href="http://www.espressocare.com/products/item/rancilio-silvia-steam-wand-kit-08">here</a>, there are few other places, just make sure it comes with all parts, not just the wand (or order other required parts separately). Another important part you will need is 1/8 male to 3/8 male brass adapter fitting. There are lots of them on eBay, but the trick here is to buy one with inner diameter at 3/8 end at least 12 mm, otherwise the spring will not fit in.<br />
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Now you need to lift the coffee machine top cover, remove the existing steam wand, and remove the brass pipe that goes from steam valve to the hole in the housing where steam wand was attached. Next step will be to fit together the pipe and the new steam wand, using adapter fitting and plumbing thread seal tape.<br />
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Because the steam wand nut require extra space inside the coffee machine (it will shift the bottom end up by about 2 cm), the brass pipe needs to be adjusted accordingly. The pipe is soft and can easily be bended, try to bend it at the locations where it is already bended, the idea it to make the length shorter. This is how the modified pipe looks like, it might need some more adjustment during installation.<br />
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Now it is time to install it. You might need to remove the rubber protective sleeve from the steam wand to make installation easier. The steam wand should be inserted through the hole in the housing from inside the machine, so that the big nut that attaches steam wand is resting on the bottom of the machine housing. Then, you might need to bend the pipe a bit more, but make sure it requires some further push down to attach the pipe to the steam valve, this will make it sit strongly and not moving inside when you are using steam wand.<br />
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Once the steam pipe is attached to the valve and the nut is fastened, you may test it for leaks by turning machine in the steam mode and opening the valve. If you were generous when applied thread sealing tape, you should not spot any leaks, otherwise you would need to remove the pipe again and tighten the connections (or reassemble them with more tape).<br />
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The result of upgrade will look like on pictures below. After upgrade you have everything required to make smooth microfoam and surprise your friends with latte-art masterpieces.<br />
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Ruslan Kabalinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455389293184492230noreply@blogger.com82tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4814881861977660133.post-51425405099080884482014-03-28T22:22:00.000+00:002014-03-28T23:31:41.124+00:00Gaggia Classic. Controlling temperature using PID.<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HajeXUkgcbc/UacIoKAOHXI/AAAAAAAAFAo/4KpwUNfGgm8/s1600/IMGP8116.jpg" height="320" width="212" /><br />
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Introduction</h3>
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This post describes the temperature instability issues with single boiler home coffee machines, highlights the reasons and the ways of overcoming them. Installing PID controller seems the best way to improve temperature stability and introduce possibility of temperature adjustment to achieve better espresso flavours and consistency between shots. The remaining part of post describes my own experience of equipping Gaggia Classic coffee machine with PID controller. The post might be interesting for home coffee enthusiasts with DIY skills.<br />
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It is all about temperature</h3>
Temperature is one of important factors affecting the taste and the flavour of espresso. The recommended water temperature that comes out of the group is supposed to be in a range between 90 and 96 C. The best temperature for particular type of the beans depends on the roast - for example, for the North-Italian roast, the right temperature, as literature suggest, is between 95 and 95.5 C. Dropping it just one degree lower will make acidic flavours apparent. Having temperature higher than that will add bitterness to the taste.<br />
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While the temperature is a key factor, single boiler home coffee machines, not only normally do not have functionality of adjusting it, but also, more important, the temperature they provide is not stable enough. The temperature in coffee machine is required to be stable throughout the shot pulling. If temperature drops due to fresh water pumping in boiler while you are pouring the shot, which is a problem of home machines as they have a small boiler, such temperature lowering should be minimised.<br />
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The device responsible for temperature control is called thermostat. Its simple role is to maintain a required temperature by continuous cycle of turning on the heating element of the boiler, when the temperature is lower than required and turning it off, when the temperature gets above required value. The problem, however, is that, even entry level machines you potentially can make a decent espresso with (I consider Gaggia Classic and Rancilio Silvia machines as absolute minimum you need to have if you actually want to make Espresso at home), have a fixed-temperature bi-metal thermostat (that uses the same principle as an electric kettle switch). As you may expect, accuracy of such thermostat leaves much to be desired and it has a relatively slow response to temperature changes - this results in temperature fluctuation unacceptable for espresso. You may have a look at the temperature graph below taken from <a href="http://coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/machines/409753#409753">this forum post</a>.<br />
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Temperature (in Fahrenheit) is shown on Y axis and time is on X axis. You can easily calculate the fluctuation between peaks - it is about 17 C (or 30 F). The default temperature for this thermostat is actually 107 C (225 F), which it tries to maintain.</div>
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There are some techniques you may come across in the internet that are believed helping home coffee machine owners to pull better shots. One of them is called "time surfing" the idea of which is to start pouring at the certain point of boiler heating cycle (determined by the heating indicator on the panel). The other suggests to use steam switch to reach higher temperature and then start pouring having counted a certain number of seconds to start at the right temperature (e.g. <a href="http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?3732-How-to-change-the-temperature-on-the-Gaggia-Classic">here</a>). These techniques are obviously better than nothing, but still a "blind" way of achieving better extraction. The best way to achieve the higher temperature stability and add possibility to adjust the temperature is to use <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller">PID</a> controller on domestic coffee machine.<br />
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What is PID controller?</h3>
PID is small electronic device that controls temperature. It replaces the functionality of dumb bi-metal thermostat with a high precision smart control. It continuously monitors the temperature of the boiler using high-accuracy RTD temperature sensor and controlling heating element power circuit much more granular and precise way than bi-metal thermostat. Temperature fluctuation on the machine equipped with PID normally does not exceed 0.3 C. When shot is pulled, the temperature drop due to introduction of the fresh water is minimal, as PID controller continuously keeps required temperature and respond to changes immediately.<br />
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My DIY project</h3>
There are several manuals on the web describing how to install PID controller to different types of espresso machine. Here I will share my experience of adding PID to my Gaggia Classic. I have chosen slightly more expensive way, but paid more attention to electrical safety and minimised intervention to existing circuits of my coffee-machine, making PID installation fully reversible if required.<br />
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First things first</h4>
<span style="color: red;"><b>Disclaimer: The modification described below involves tampering with 220V electrical circuits in equipment that has contact with water - this may result in electric shock, injures or death, as well as property damage. The modification experience is described for information only and could be used as reference by qualified person with good understanding of electrical circuits and safety. Installing PID controller on coffee machine will void its warranty. Anyone installing PID using this publication is doing that at own risk and assumes full responsibility for all undertaken actions. Author of this publication will not be liable for any damage or injures caused to you or your property as a result of using information from this publication.</b></span><br />
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Materials</h4>
I shall start with the list of the items I had to buy.<br />
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The main three components of PID kit is PID controller itself, temperature sensor and Solid State Relay (SSR). The PID and temperature sensor I ordered directly on <a href="http://www.auberins.com/">Auber Instruments</a> website. These guys are actually developing them, not just replicating, like those who sell its cheap clones on eBay. The PID model is <a href="http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=14">SYL-1512A</a>, this is a universal controller in compact 1/32 DIN case. The<a href="http://auberins.com/images/Manual/SYL-1512A2instruction%201.0.pdf"> manual</a> is easy to understand - device is pre-set for being used with SSR, so all you need to do after installation is to configure it to use RTD sensor, set the desired display unit, set the temperature to 105-106 C and run automatic calibration. I have also ordered a <a href="http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_34&products_id=24">matching case</a> to make it look more professional. It is high quality aluminium powder-coated case comes with front panel and also has a hole for cable on the back side.<br />
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The temperature sensor I have ordered was <a href="http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=21">PT100M4</a>, this is high-accuracy platinum RTD sensor with M4 threading on the probe and 45cm Teflon-coated cable (the left one on the picture below). It is ready to be used instead of original bi-metal one (the right one on the picture), no modification is required.<br />
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Solid State Relay (SSR) I have ordered from eBay. It is 10A SRR which is far above the current used in coffee machine, making its usage safe. The role of SSR is to control boiler high voltage power circuit by low voltage signal triggered by PID. In addition to that, I have bought a number of other items like connectors, terminals to make modification look better and less invasive. You can access the full Bill of Materials <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApIlQpVA4yQWdDhITkgtWjlxM0tuZ2JUUGFKN1FoX3c&usp=sharing">here</a>. In total I spent £75 including postage. The only thing I did not buy was the power cable which I already had. Notice, that Auber Instruments also offer <a href="http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6">Coffee Machine Kits</a>. This is basically the full kit to add PID to your coffee machine including all required components. It might be a good option for someone who does not want to mess with soldering, terminals, cables, etc. for me it was more interesting to spend some time and complete my DIY project.<br />
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Circuit diagram</h4>
Before putting everything together, I would like to make clear what actually is going to be achieved. <a href="http://www.partsguru.com/user/ClassicCoffee_V220_Sae0299_Rev00.pdf">Here</a> you can download an original circuit diagram for Gaggia Classic. I sketched its copy for demonstration purposes.<br />
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Recall what PID is doing: it continuously monitors the temperature of the boiler using high-accuracy RTD temperature sensor and controlling heating element power circuit much more granular and precise way than bi-metal thermostat. Thus, PID device should be playing the role of existing bi-metal coffee thermostat ST1. To achieve that, coffee thermostat ST1 needs to be replaced with RTD temperature sensor, which will be used by PID for temperature readings to control heating element power circuit of coffee machine (previously controlled by ST1) using SSR. In addition to that, PID controller needs to be powered up when coffee machine is turned on. The modified diagram is shown below:<br />
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Putting everything together</h4>
First step was to prepare cables. I used a couple of cables to connect SSR to heating element circuit. It was 2 mm cable suitable for 10A current, similar to one used in the coffee machine already. I used spade terminal on one end to connect to coffee machine circuit and spade-tongue terminal on the other end to connect to SSR.<br />
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Another cable was used to connect SSR to PID. SSR is triggered by low voltage (8V), so cable used was relatively thin. Again, spade-tongue terminal on one end for SSR connection.<br />
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Both cables were connected to SSR terminals.<br />
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Cables to power up PID were needed as well. I used three cables, but in fact PID manufacturer claims that earth is not needed since the case and controls are made of plastic. The power consumption of PID is less than 2 W, so I used thinner cables here, about 1 mm in diameter. As these cables are connected to terminals that are being used by existing circuits, so piggy back terminals were used on these cables.<br />
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Cables preparation is completed. Now let's move to assembling steps.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">If you are using my steps as a guide, make sure that coffee machine is not powered before doing anything to it, remove power cable from the connector on the back of machine to be completely sure.</span></b><br />
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Next thing I did is fixing SSR to the back wall of coffee machine. I used one M4 screw with a washer to do that.<br />
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As per diagram mentioned earlier, I detached cables from bi-metal coffee thermostat (at the bottom of the boiler) and connected them directly to cables attached to AC terminals on SSR (1 and 2 on the picture above).<br />
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Using small adjustable spanner, I unscrewed and removed bi-metal coffee thermostat (shown on the right on the image below).<br />
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I applied some thermal paste to RTD sensor, before screwing it up at the former bi-metal thermostat location. Notice that I rolled up the cable into small ring to make screwing easier.<br />
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Then I sorted power cables. Neutral and Earth went directly to power connector on the back.<br />
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Live one was connected to the power switch. I used steam switch terminal as it gets powered once machine is turned on and has more space around for piggy back terminal.<br />
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The cables inside machine were organised using plastic strap and fitted through the ventilation holes outside for PID connection. I made sure that no cable is touching the boiler, as this is important. There were 7 cables that went outside: 3 for 220V AC power, 2 from SSR and 2 from RTD sensor. Notice, I have moved SSR to the left - in previous position it made difficult to fit the top cover, but since this picture was made later, you may see SSR located at previous place on some other images below.<br />
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All cables needed to be fed through the small hole in the controller case and connected to PID according to diagram.<br />
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Power cables were connected to terminals 1 (Live), 2 (Neutral) and 3 (Earth).<br />
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SSR cable was connected to SSR output (terminals 9 and 10). RTD sensor was connected to sensor input (terminals 7 and 8, notice that 6 and 7 were also connected together using piece of wire).<br />
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Once everything was connected, I screwed the front panel and the case was assembled. I attached a piece of adhesive magnetic sheet to the case, so that it could easily be fixed to the side of coffee machine like on the picture below. Also I installed spiral cable wrap to that short outside section to make it look neater (not shown on the picture).<br />
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As I mentioned, PID configuration is fairly straightforward. For PID parameters I selected auto-tuning which set optimal PID parameters automatically.<br />
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The main advantage of PID controller is that temperature can be adjusted easily whenever needed. Notice that set temperature is above the actual water temperature in the boiler, it is roughly 10 degrees above. 105 C on the controller corresponds to 95 C brew temperature. If this is not the right one for your espresso, it can easliy be changed using up/down buttons on the PID.<br />
<h3>
Final remarks</h3>
I was inspired with PID installation after reading coffee forums and other enthusiasts websites. I particularity grateful to people from <a href="http://coffeegeek.com/">coffeegeek.com</a> for interesting discussions, and the author of "<a href="http://www.murphyslawonline.com/silvia/">Murph's Silvia PID Page</a>".<br />
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons Licence" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width: 0px;" /></a>Ruslan Kabalinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455389293184492230noreply@blogger.com69tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4814881861977660133.post-43760393702558083422011-12-04T20:37:00.001+00:002011-12-04T22:17:55.026+00:00DSLR Sensor cleaningI have decided that it is a time to clean the sensor in my Pentax *istDS DSLR camera after five years of its active use. The dirty sensor causes you to spend more time on raw photos processing, as you have to remove these spots to make the photo look great. I followed the cleaning <a href="http://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/103052.html">manual</a> described by photograper Pavel Kosenko in his blog. It appeared much easier that I expected - just 40 minutes of patience and persistence.
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On the picture below I intentionally increased the contrast and colour temperature to make the dust on the sensor more apparent (dark spots on the sky).<br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcLw0nyKHR7wQHcCEM5XRQS2YMYiSa_F2C4-yc-hGSqLG4ZO_Uxy3LLmUcTOaPBNb7WKvxAJ2euz7djwgYr5_EOw6nWQDTENH3VGrLQ4nI6Pl7OwiTURFblFmSuIo_iTCbyApsdZBOPkhv/" />
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To see if your sensor is clean, you need to make a picture of white or light colored surface indoors, a wall for instance. Set the high aperture value (e.g. F22) which will make the shutter speed low enough (assuming that you are indoors), so that will have one second or so to wave the camera up and down while the shutter is open.<br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEindTknvGfpgYlly4DTuxLmDPb0s4kjm4NkJiLDsekQAlMTh4q_MQ4PFrB1SDKvAImn_nmlq4K9v1TEEijWDU87hUBpWUcm8ALODYvwvdlJPp8iVE8fzM1aIE-mUhN2zPIes93Lz9FfZoyY/s1600/IMGP5814.jpg" />
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The cleaning process is quite fascinating - you have to remove the lens, set camera into sensor cleaning mode, blow the dust with the blower, quickly clean the sensor, attach the lens back and test what you have done to see how much left. I applied two drops of Eclipse fluid to the prepared wipe (Eclipse E2 mentioned in Pavel's post <a href="http://www.blog.crookedimaging.co.uk/general/no-more-eclipse-e2/">has been discontinued</a>, and basic Eclipse cleaning fluid now has the same features and suitable for all sensor types). The prepared wipe has to be moved along the sensor surface single direction only and this has to be done only once. The wipe needs to be discareded after each move in order not to scratch the sensor with the dust which has stuck to it. I have done the test after one or two passes each direction and started over again and again. In total I needed about 15 wipes to make my sensor clean.<br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNMBLc9wt-sy8AWVfbDq5wUNwKYguX0UmO42P9GUYyjQaKO62C-h9eEgTnv2p1xzPokBic2A7_TN6LOw-FgAyd1URy0yfuyexoQWdDbWVRL3nDwIY2N72tH7-zOp7f11VCg2U1-KkRcUF/s1600/IMGP5829.jpg" />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Please be very careful! If you decide to clean the camera sensor yourself, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">you are doing it at your own risk.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> If you are not sure about what you are doing - use the professional service.</span>Ruslan Kabalinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455389293184492230noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4814881861977660133.post-47495955892739227672011-11-29T21:58:00.001+00:002011-11-30T21:11:46.027+00:00Moustache season - last day<br />
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Hello everyone. Today is the last day of <a href="http://uk.movember.com/about">Movember</a>. As you know, I have been growing moustache for the whole month to rise finds and awareness for prostate and testicular cancers that affect men.<br />
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I would like to thank everyone who donated to my support of Movember this month. I am grateful to all you, and really appreciate your willingness to donate. With your help <a href="http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1009184/">I have raised £50</a>. Though, it does not sound much, it is undoubtedly a good contribution to Movember funds that will be directed to important health programmes.<br />
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My moustache would not be that fine without your support!<br />
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Thanks again,<br />
Ruslan Kabalin</div>Ruslan Kabalinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455389293184492230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4814881861977660133.post-11820785980442858662011-11-25T13:53:00.001+00:002011-11-25T14:13:15.703+00:00Mahara 1.4 Cookbook is out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.packtpub.com/mahara-1-4-cookbook-for-training-education/book?utm_source=pod_mahara&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=mahara_cookbookpod" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/5061OS_Mahara%20Cookbook_0.jpg" width="161" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.packtpub.com/mahara-1-4-cookbook-for-training-education/book?utm_source=pod_mahara&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=mahara_cookbookpod" id="internal-source-marker_0.7585885000880808"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mahara 1.4 Cookbook</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> written by </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.packtpub.com/authors/profiles/ellen-marie-murphy">Ellen Marie Murphy</a> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a great source of information </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">on <a href="http://mahara.org/">Mahara</a> features and functionality. It offers a number of useful "recipes" on Mahara that are grouped into chapters, each of which is focused on the particular area such as Groups, Social and professional portolios, text and graphics activities.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
No matter if you are the teacher or administrator, you will definitely find something new and useful. The book can be used as a reference to find an answer “How to do that in Mahara” or just as a source of useful approaches for Mahara practitioner. Each recipe provide in depth step-by-step guide on how to achieve a particular result, starting from brief description, requirements, steps that user need to perform and explanation of what has been done, which is useful for understanding the logic behind the performed action. Where applicable, the references to related recipes in the book are provided as well.</span><br />
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Being Mahara core developer, I think that anyone using Mahara will find this book pretty useful, does not matter if you are a newbie or an experienced user. The book is primarily focused on Mahara 1.4, which has been released in June 2011, but some recipes may work with earlier versions as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Many thanks to </i><a href="http://www.packtpub.com/" style="font-style: italic;">Packt Publishing</a><i> for a copy of the eBook for review.</i></span></span></div>Ruslan Kabalinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455389293184492230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4814881861977660133.post-62359357247359286772011-11-15T17:23:00.000+00:002011-11-15T19:24:29.258+00:00Moustache season - halfway through<br />
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Hello everyone. This is an update on my moustache growing this Movember. For thouse who missed my post on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I am donating my top lip to the cause for 30 days in an effort to rise vital awareness and funds for cancers affecting men. Just imagine that 1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, that is a dreadful figure unfortunately.<br />
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Thanks everyone who donated so far. If only more people would be able to donate, my moustache growing would be more advantageous to people around. If anyone willing to donate to my support of Movember, you are still welcome to do so. Just follow <a href="http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1009184/">this link</a>, choose the any amount you are willing to donate and complete payment. All money goes to Movember foundtaion and will be spread among the programmes they fund, for more details take a look at the "Programmes We Fund" section on the <a href="http://uk.movember.com/about">Movember website</a>.<br />
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When you have a spare moment, take a look at some <a href="http://mustachiofuriosos.tumblr.com/post/231262878/fun-facts">fun facts about moustache</a>.<br />
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Thank you in advance.</div>Ruslan Kabalinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455389293184492230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4814881861977660133.post-68241463220169203432011-07-28T21:22:00.002+01:002012-01-20T23:24:16.321+00:00МигрируюПривет! Для русскоязычной немногочисленной аудитории я переезжаю в <a href="http://rkabalin.livejournal.com/">ЖЖ</a>. Все мои новые посты отныне будут публиковаться там. Часть своих старых постов я тоже перенесу в ЖЖ. Если вы ищете какой-то пост здесь и не можете его найти, скорее всего он уже переехал :)Ruslan Kabalinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455389293184492230noreply@blogger.com0