NS Oscar Owners Thread

Lacehim

As a few of you are aware the lever went and along came Oscar.  I thought it might be nice have a thread up to discuss the machine with other users.  I know gary has one.

Mine is a 2010 model, in red, and bought it locally via Ebay.  It's had a few mods done, with an antivac and possibly an OPV, but I haven't really looked too far to be honest.  The coffee is pretty good and to me it's an impressive little machine for the price.  I just don't understand why they don't put the antivac there stock.  It doesn't cost an arm and a leg to fit one.

Anyway, here's a few shots of the internals.



So far from my few months of use it seems like an typical HX machine.  It needs a little flush to get rid of any hot steam before a pour, the steaming is pretty good, fast but controlable but the 4 hold tips isn't really good for getting a swirl going so I just use my PV lusso roll off the bottom trick and get great microfoam.

Push button for on, wait 10-15 mins, dose coffee, tamp coffee, purge the steam, lock and load and press a button to brew while steaming.  Easy, can't go wrong.  It has a great little drip tray that slides out without causing spills (All all manufacturers take note!!!!) and a great little drip tray cover that inverts to allow big cups to fit underneath.

Filling was a PITA because I use a funnel and if I'm not paying attention it gets full and water spills down inside with lots of cursing.  I've got the knack of it now, but it caught me out plenty of times when I started with it.  It has low water cut off too which is a bonus and protects the element.

All up a sweet little package.  The plastic isn't to everyone's liking but I love it, it's red and goes faster!   It's also easy to keep clean and no more fussing over finger print marks! lol.  This ones a keeper, and if I ever upgrade I'm going to put it down at my mother in laws or in the holiday unit.

Anyone else got one and love or hate it?

Moon

Hi Lacehim Good to hear you are happy with your latest machine and the coffees you can make with it. You don't hear much about this machine .. so it is an opportunity for any owners out there to come forward and share your experiences. Cheers ... I'll show myself out ...

GaryatGala

Good start to a new thread Lacehim.  :thumb: Good to know you're going well with yours. Mine has the same Campini pressurestat. My current Oscar is quite an upgrade from the single boiler Silvia. Most importantly, the espresso shots are an improvement over the Silvia and the ability to pull a shot and steam at the same time are a welcome bonus. I was well aware about the fact that the steam wand must be activated after a few minutes of heating up to release the false pressure, and then let the machine warm up fully. i can live with that. I can also live with the fact that it's tricky to fill. Easy fix, I use a litre milk jug to fill and simply fill with a steady hand. No dramas. i don't mind the plastic smell emanating whilst heating during the first few months and the gurgling noise it makes is not a problem. What I have as an issue with the machine and subsequently with the seller of whom is the sponsor of the other forum is the steaming capabilities. One of the reasons why I bought this machine was the wows from users commenting on the steam power. Plenty of steam with power to spare, the ability to steam milk in short time on other forums and the internet. I also bought the machine based on the good pricing as a entry level HX. Well, mine with it's standard 4 hole tip as delivered cant achieve a decent vortex on the milk and therefore has coarse microfoam. Tried the standard method, tried the KK method and also tried other methods in a vain effort to achieve the paint finish microfoam that I so desired. As some of you may have seen my displays on latte art, they were done on the Silvia. I have not done one that is satisfactory enough to show yet on the Oscar. Have taken the issue with the seller about it's spluttering steam. Taken to an authorized service center and after a week was handed back to me still in it's original state, they stating it is the way the machine is, and they have no problems steaming milk but stopped short of telling me they could achieve silky microfoam. For the moment, I have a Silvia one hole tip on the wand which has done the trick, but I feel the standard 4 hole tip should have been more than capable of doing the job. Anyway, enough of my rant. The machine apart from the steam has been fine. Will produce a video or two soon to demonstrate and I will ask for your opinions. Now for that Horlicks....

Chaos

Another Oscar owner here. But not for much longer. I recently upgraded to a Vetrano DB  ;D Mine was cheap but a bit rough. I ended up pulling the whole thing apart and soaking all the parts in acid. I added musica restrictors, OPV, and a 0.6mm ptfe orifice just before the HX. Never bothered re-insulating the boiler. I never added anti-vac either. I remove the plastic tank to fill it up. It's real easy to get the tank in and out if the o-ring is well lubricated. The shots are fantastic. A bit different to the E61 but not better/worse. The only thing I really dislike about my Oscar is the noise.

GaryatGala

How did you find the steam Chaos? Was microfoam easy for you?

Chaos

on 1391821882:

How did you find the steam Chaos? Was microfoam easy for you?

I didn't do a whole heap of steaming. But I don't remember having any major problems getting usable microfoam. I point the tip straight down, just below the surface, and against the right hand side of the jug. Then hold the jug still and let the steam do all the work. Here's an old pic I have of Oscar microfoam. I suck at latte art 

Chaos

And while I was digging through the old pics I found this. Naked pour with VST15g.

GaryatGala

Nice looking pour shots there chaos  :thumb: Here's a quick and dirty video of my Oscar's steam coming out of the original 4 hole tip. Does yours do the same?

Chaos

I'm not sure if mine pulses like that. I'll fire it up tomorrow and let you know. You could try taking the plastic check valve out of the back of the steam valve and see if that makes a difference. It could even be broken. They are crappy little flimsy things. The check valve before the HX is exactly the same. Mine broke so I replaced it with the one from the steam valve.

Moon

on 1391847785:

Nice looking pour shots there chaos  :thumb: Here's a quick and dirty video of my Oscar's steam coming out of the original 4 hole tip.

Gee .. they could have used the sound of that steam wand as sound effects for the very first series of Star Trek.

Chaos

on 1391847785:

Does yours do the same?

I fired up the Oscar this morning. And yes my steam does splutter a bit. Maybe not quite as much as yours but it's still there. I could hear something hissing inside the machine so I opened it up. Leaky pressurestat 

GaryatGala

on 1391852468:

I'm not sure if mine pulses like that. I'll fire it up tomorrow and let you know. You could try taking the plastic check valve out of the back of the steam valve and see if that makes a difference. It could even be broken. They are crappy little flimsy things. The check valve before the HX is exactly the same. Mine broke so I replaced it with the one from the steam valve.

What does the plastic check valve look like?

Chaos

It looks like the one in the bottom of the tank. But much smaller. If you do a google image search for "ns oscar check valve" you'll see a heap of busted ones. Don't go sticking anything in there to hook it out unless you're sure it's busted. Cos you're really likely to break it. I was thinking the pulsing could just be condensation blowing through the wand tip. The steam valve is quite large and isolated from the boiler so it's going to be very cool compared to the steam that's passing through it. On my machine the spluttering lessens once the steam valve has been open for a while (and heated up?). Maybe  ???

Lacehim

Mine pulses a bit as it steams, not a major issue. I was rummaging in my garage (a dangerous activity) for a new 1/4" washer to fix a small hiss from the T piece and the safety valve.  Fixed that, and found a 10mm female 2 hole tip I forgot about.  It's this one on coffeepart http://www.coffeeparts.com/misc-parts/miscellaneous-parts/steam-tips/product/350-2-hole-steam-tip and it fits perfectly and works great.  Totally different to the stock 4 hole.  You can get a swirl going easy. Also when C-Man was here we played with the pressure with his homemade gauge and it's now running at just over 9bar.  It was at 10bar so not bad to start off with. The coffee is great, but I need a new group head seal because it's leaking when I lock my bottomless handle in.

GaryatGala

That,s the exact same one I am using at the moment. My best results have been positioning right in the center of the jug and let it roll. It,s the only tip that gives the best result for latte art. I may consider the Sproline Foam Knife tip in the future, but it,s not cheap. Available from a non sponsor for around $121.00. Egads.:o From what I read, it fits the Oscar steam arm and certain arms like the Marz and Sneezos.

C-man

I was pretty impressed with the nakid pours from Lachim's Oscar they looked pretty much flawless Now that my grinder is getting better I will bring it over one day and see if it changes anything.

denwol

on 1391847785:

Nice looking pour shots there chaos  :thumb: Here's a quick and dirty video of my Oscar's steam coming out of the original 4 hole tip. Does yours do the same?

Im pretty sure thats not normal. Someone posted something really similar on the other site. I had something like that when I overfilled the boiler. Perhaps you need to push the fill sensor on top of the boiler in a little further. Is the steam wet when it splutters? I can't really tell.

GaryatGala

Lol. I think I got the same response over at CS. All I know is the only way I can get decent microfoam is to put the tip in the middle position of the jug and let the milk roll rather than swirl. This is totally different to what I did to my other domestic machines as well as the commercial machines at work. I thought about getting the Sproline Knife steam tip but the price of the thing is prohibitive. I,ll try and post a video of the modified steaming technique sometime hopefully soon. Looking forward to the responses after.

stevenh

Have you checked the retention valve? It is plastic inside and breaks easily...

GaryatGala

In relation to the retention valve, the service center has given it the machine a thorough check and given the ok. I,ve just stumbled upon this video by the girls at Seattle Coffee Gear. They don't seem seem to have mastered the steaming in the conventional way on the regular jug nor the Steam To Perfection jug. Coarse bubbles which they had to pound away on the table to get rid of. This is the same problem I am having. This guy however, seem to make it very well on the Sproline Knife steam tip. Nice whirlpool going and silky microfoam worthy of decent latte art as evident on this video. The tip is designed to create hydrodynamic cavitation which implodes bubbles into nano bubbles. Would love to have it but the price puts it out of my budget as far as steam tip goes. Hope to produce my own steaming video this weekend. One using conventional whirlpool method, and the other the more successful "stick it in the middle and let it roll" method. To be continued...

stevenh

The steam shouldn't sputter so if it does something is wrong... my service guy checked my retention valve (the one on heat exchanger) and thought it was ok but didn't realise it had split into 2 pieces with the other half still stuck inside the valve body and caused the hx to lose pressure... As for steaming, you can get the Musica tip for your Oscar, the holes are slightly smaller and better angled... Elektros sells the tip with adaptor... For a 4-hole tip should have it angled slightly and a little off centre but not too close to the side of the jug and make sure only introducing air for no more than a few seconds... in the first video she was introducing way too much air and wasn't surfing the milk properly that's why the bubbles wouldn't integrate back in... Practice with water and detergent

GaryatGala

As promised here is my two short videos. First one is the whirlpool method. The second one I got tired of trying to get a decent roll with the 4 hole tip I threw it away and stuck on a Rancilio one hole tip for demonstration purposes which highlights the fact I get better results with the one hole and two hole tip due to the weak steam pressure and not due to any lack of skills. So in summary, ever since I got the machine from new the steam has been spluttering as evident in the video and subsequent check by qualified technicians turn up no problems according to them. Perservered and tried to adapt as best as possible. Found better results with the 1 hole and 2 hole tip which indicates lack of steam pressure as standard. Got better results in the past with the Sunbeam 6910 and Rancilio Silvia as well as the half dozen commercial machines I work with day in day out in the past and present. I am pretty sure I don't need practice with water and detergent as I knock out over 300 cups a day at work which is enough practice I reckon. Standard whirlpool technique   KK style technique "stick it in the middle and roll"