Adrian wrote in news:mc31g3$lr6$2
@speranza.aioe.org:

On Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:34:21 -0800, spuorgelgoog wrote:

Mmm. About the crumb tray that nobody's emptied lately...

Obviously the answer to that is a hose connecting the crumb tray to the
vacuum cleaner. Not only will this tidy the crumbs away but it will also
reduce the chances of the smoke detector working.

But what about the bird table...?


Bread isn't ideal for birds.

"Adrian" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 18 Feb 2015 21:15:50 +0000, Sam Plusnet wrote:

If a slice is too long for your slot, just cut it in half. That works
for me, and the bread comes in all shapes and sizes *except* square.
That's because, in the best traditions of this group, I make it myself.

Yerbut. The toaster should be designed to handle bread.

If you have to re-shape the bread in order to fit the toaster, the
designer of that toaster has really done a cr@p job.

Did you miss the point, that bread is not all the same size and shape?

No. Clearly any well designed toaster should be able
to toast any commonly made or bought bread.

What size do you make a toaster that'll handle _any_ bread you're likely
to have handy?

Big enough to handle any commonly made or bought bread.

And how the hell will you ever get,
say, a crumpet out of the bottom of it?

By having a decent high lift lever, preferably
one that operates automatically if you dont
prefer that it stays in the toaster to keep warm
after its been toasted and is manually ejected
instead. It wouldnt be hard to design a toaster
that could do it either way depending on what
the owner wants to do at a particular time.

On Wednesday, 18 February 2015 21:51:04 UTC, Adrian wrote:
Obviously the answer to that is a hose connecting the crumb tray to the
vacuum cleaner. Not only will this tidy the crumbs away but it will also
reduce the chances of the smoke detector working.
But what about the bird table...?

You could use a similar apparatus, but not energise it during feeding hours in case you suck up a chaffinch inadvertently.

Owain

Tim Streater wrote:

We eat both crusts off the loaf when it's fresh, because crusts on a
loaf that finished baking 5 mins ago are so good.

For a minute I thought you meant you /wasted/ fresh crusts by eating
them as toast!

On Wednesday, 18 February 2015 23:04:13 UTC, wrote:
On Wednesday, 18 February 2015 21:51:04 UTC, Adrian wrote:
Obviously the answer to that is a hose connecting the crumb tray to the
vacuum cleaner. Not only will this tidy the crumbs away but it will also
reduce the chances of the smoke detector working.
But what about the bird table...?

You could use a similar apparatus, but not energise it during feeding hours in case you suck up a chaffinch inadvertently.

As a friend used to say - "keep your sordid fantasies to yourself".

Davey wrote:
On Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:07:59 +0000
Chris J Dixon wrote:

and have high enough lift to remove teacakes
and similar small items without having to use tongs.

I reckon there is a market for something like a thin version of the
chip shop frying basket, so that these items can be hung in place and
then retrieved. At the moment, I use the 'eject and spear while in
flight' method.
I will watch this thread with interest.

I have a toaster which has elements with spiral elements in quartz
tubes, you can stick metal things in with a fair degree of safety to
grab the toast.

On Thu, 19 Feb 2015 21:25:03 +1100
F Murtz wrote:

Davey wrote:
On Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:07:59 +0000
Chris J Dixon wrote:

and have high enough lift to remove teacakes
and similar small items without having to use tongs.

I reckon there is a market for something like a thin version of the
chip shop frying basket, so that these items can be hung in place
and then retrieved. At the moment, I use the 'eject and spear while
in flight' method.
I will watch this thread with interest.

I have a toaster which has elements with spiral elements in quartz
tubes, you can stick metal things in with a fair degree of safety to
grab the toast.

Although I have never fully tested the theory, surely, if any toaster is
turned off, then it should be pretty safe, even if metal is stuck down
into the bread cavity? My occasional such operations have never
resulted in any sparks or similar.
If the elements are physically damaged, then that is a different matter.

--
Davey.

On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 7:24:23 PM UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
Gordon Henderson wrote
Chris French wrote

I use various other toasters and they all annoy me in one way or another
and don't seem to add anything. If one was to actually take something
and to be able to toast it automatically to a given brownness then that
might be an improvement, but none has so far AFAICS

You know what....

We've been making toast for 100s of years, yet we've not
come up with a good reliable design that "just works".

Perhaps the world needs a toaster IC. It could detect bread type & thickness, & toast until perfect doneness, switching one side element off before the other if need be.


My dualit is almost there

Don't agree with that in a number of areas, particularly
with having to remember what setting to use for the
variety of things you toast and at a sensible price.

In other words that design can't be mass produced in china.

The old Dualits are easy enough to mass produce, they're quite basic. Replace the end castings with thick pressed sheet & there's no reason for them to be overpriced either. But they still wouldn't be as cheap as the plastic ones.


NT

On Wednesday, 18 February 2015 22:54:16 UTC, john james wrote:
"Adrian" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 18 Feb 2015 21:15:50 +0000, Sam Plusnet wrote:

If a slice is too long for your slot, just cut it in half. That works
for me, and the bread comes in all shapes and sizes *except* square.
That's because, in the best traditions of this group, I make it myself.

Yerbut. The toaster should be designed to handle bread.

If you have to re-shape the bread in order to fit the toaster, the
designer of that toaster has really done a cr@p job.

Did you miss the point, that bread is not all the same size and shape?

No. Clearly any well designed toaster should be able
to toast any commonly made or bought bread.

Like those bread sticks and bagettes, I'd like one for those garlic bread slices but tend to use teh oven or grill to do it.
And a hot cross bun with a hot cross on it would be cool ;-)



What size do you make a toaster that'll handle _any_ bread you're likely
to have handy?

Big enough to handle any commonly made or bought bread.

So about 1 metre long ?


And how the hell will you ever get,
say, a crumpet out of the bottom of it?

By having a decent high lift lever, preferably
one that operates automatically if you don't
prefer that it stays in the toaster to keep warm
after its been toasted and is manually ejected
instead. It wouldn't be hard to design a toaster
that could do it either way depending on what
the owner wants to do at a particular time.

makes you wonder why it's not done, why not go on dragons den and pitch the idea. I bet someone could write an app top do it ;-)

On Thursday, 19 February 2015 15:40:17 UTC, wrote:
On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 7:24:23 PM UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
Gordon Henderson wrote
Chris French wrote

I use various other toasters and they all annoy me in one way or another
and don't seem to add anything. If one was to actually take something
and to be able to toast it automatically to a given brownness then that
might be an improvement, but none has so far AFAICS

You know what....

We've been making toast for 100s of years, yet we've not
come up with a good reliable design that "just works".

Perhaps the world needs a toaster IC. It could detect bread type & thickness, & toast until perfect doneness,

you'd have to define perfect doneness first ?
What shade/colour would that be. If there's 50 shades of grey how many shades of brown are there ?


switching one side element off before the other if need be.

How would it know ?

On 18 Feb 2015 09:18:58 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

True, but there are times when we seem to have loads of peope here and
want a lot of toast in a hurry. We also have heavy handed teenagers.

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Lincat-Conv...Detail.raction

On Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 4:49:47 PM UTC, whisky-dave wrote:
On Thursday, 19 February 2015 15:40:17 UTC, wrote:
On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 7:24:23 PM UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
Gordon Henderson wrote
Chris French wrote

I use various other toasters and they all annoy me in one way or another
and don't seem to add anything. If one was to actually take something
and to be able to toast it automatically to a given brownness then that
might be an improvement, but none has so far AFAICS

You know what....

We've been making toast for 100s of years, yet we've not
come up with a good reliable design that "just works".

Perhaps the world needs a toaster IC. It could detect bread type & thickness, & toast until perfect doneness,

you'd have to define perfect doneness first ?
What shade/colour would that be. If there's 50 shades of grey how many shades of brown are there ?

the user chooses of course

switching one side element off before the other if need be.

How would it know ?

optical most likely. Self calibration takes care of bread colour & window dirt, upto a point. It might struggle toasting charcoal biscuits


NT

On Thu, 19 Feb 2015 17:06:33 +0000, Peter Parry wrote:

On 18 Feb 2015 09:18:58 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

True, but there are times when we seem to have loads of peope here and
want a lot of toast in a hurry. We also have heavy handed teenagers.

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Lincat-Conv...ter-CT1/CC853/
ProductDetail.raction

My older son would love one. He reads Nisbets catalogues like people here
read Toolstation ones.



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £30a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

In article ,
Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 19 Feb 2015 17:06:33 +0000, Peter Parry wrote:

On 18 Feb 2015 09:18:58 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

True, but there are times when we seem to have loads of peope here and
want a lot of toast in a hurry. We also have heavy handed teenagers.

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Lincat-Conv...ter-CT1/CC853/
ProductDetail.raction

My older son would love one. He reads Nisbets catalogues like people here
read Toolstation ones.

Don't give him the Keylink catalogue then ;-)

Gordon
(enbarking on a minor career move)

On Thursday, 19 February 2015 18:43:43 UTC, Bob Eager wrote:
My older son would love one. He reads Nisbets catalogues like people here
read Toolstation ones.

He might like Divertimenti and MSK Ingredients then.

Sort of like moving from Toolstation to Axminster :-)

Owain

F Murtz wrote
Davey wrote
Chris J Dixon wrote

and have high enough lift to remove teacakes
and similar small items without having to use tongs.

I reckon there is a market for something like a thin version of the
chip shop frying basket, so that these items can be hung in place
and then retrieved. At the moment, I use the 'eject and spear
while in flight' method.

I will watch this thread with interest.

I have a toaster which has elements with spiral elements in quartz
tubes, you can stick metal things in with a fair degree of safety to
grab the toast.

How evenly does it toast the toast ?

Davey wrote
F Murtz wrote
Davey wrote
Chris J Dixon wrote:

and have high enough lift to remove teacakes
and similar small items without having to use tongs.

I reckon there is a market for something like a thin version of the
chip shop frying basket, so that these items can be hung in place
and then retrieved. At the moment, I use the 'eject and spear while
in flight' method.

I will watch this thread with interest.

I have a toaster which has elements with spiral elements in quartz
tubes, you can stick metal things in with a fair degree of safety to
grab the toast.

Although I have never fully tested the theory, surely, if any toaster is
turned off, then it should be pretty safe, even if metal is stuck down
into the bread cavity?

Yes, but you can damage the element.

My occasional such operations have never resulted in any sparks or
similar.

There is no way to get sparks with it unplugged.

If the elements are physically damaged, then that is a different matter.

Yes, but its quite likely given how the elements are usually done.

And I much prefer a toaster to eject the bread when toasted
because I normally read the news on the PC while waiting for
the toast to toast and like to be able to hear it pop up when
its done on the other side of the big main open plan room.

None of mine actually fling the toast out of the toaster,
just pop up when its done with the toast still in the toaster.

And reliably turn the power off before popping up too
so that even if the toast does jam, it doesn't catch fire.

In article ,
Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 19 Feb 2015 17:06:33 +0000, Peter Parry wrote:

On 18 Feb 2015 09:18:58 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

True, but there are times when we seem to have loads of peope here and
want a lot of toast in a hurry. We also have heavy handed teenagers.

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Lincat-Conv...ter-CT1/CC853/
ProductDetail.raction

My older son would love one. He reads Nisbets catalogues like people here
read Toolstation ones.

I have both and Screwfix & Wickes.

--
From KT24 in Surrey

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Gordon Henderson wrote
Chris French wrote

I use various other toasters and they all annoy me in one way or
another
and don't seem to add anything. If one was to actually take something
and to be able to toast it automatically to a given brownness then that
might be an improvement, but none has so far AFAICS

You know what....

We've been making toast for 100s of years, yet we've not
come up with a good reliable design that "just works".

Perhaps the world needs a toaster IC.

It's already got more than one.

It could detect bread type & thickness,

That isn't that hard.

& toast until perfect doneness,

That's likely not that hard if done based on the
change in brownness of each side separately.

switching one side element off before the other if need be.

Yeah, that is important IMO, both for asymmetric stuff like
crumpets and rolls etc and for when you have cut a slice
off a full loaf just before putting it in the toaster. The
exposed side would be much drier than the other side.

It would be an interesting exercise with an arduino with
an optical sensor and maybe even an IR thermometer too.

My dualit is almost there

Don't agree with that in a number of areas, particularly
with having to remember what setting to use for the
variety of things you toast and at a sensible price.

In other words that design can't be mass produced in china.

The old Dualits are easy enough to mass produce, they're quite basic.

Yes, but not at a price that will compete well with the cheapest toasters
from china.

Replace the end castings with thick pressed sheet
& there's no reason for them to be overpriced either.

Dunno, the element alone isn't that cheap to make they way they do it with
mica.

But they still wouldn't be as cheap as the plastic ones.

There are plenty of cheap metal ones. The problem isn't the body.

Even full stainless steel is surprisingly cheap now with bowls
particularly, but even the very heavy roasting pans and stockpots.

"whisky-dave" wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, 18 February 2015 22:54:16 UTC, john james wrote:
"Adrian" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 18 Feb 2015 21:15:50 +0000, Sam Plusnet wrote:

If a slice is too long for your slot, just cut it in half. That works
for me, and the bread comes in all shapes and sizes *except* square.
That's because, in the best traditions of this group, I make it
myself.

Yerbut. The toaster should be designed to handle bread.

If you have to re-shape the bread in order to fit the toaster, the
designer of that toaster has really done a cr@p job.

Did you miss the point, that bread is not all the same size and shape?

No. Clearly any well designed toaster should be able
to toast any commonly made or bought bread.

Like those bread sticks and bagettes, I'd like one for those garlic bread
slices but tend to use teh oven or grill to do it.
And a hot cross bun with a hot cross on it would be cool ;-)



What size do you make a toaster that'll handle _any_ bread you're
likely
to have handy?

Big enough to handle any commonly made or bought bread.

So about 1 metre long ?


And how the hell will you ever get,
say, a crumpet out of the bottom of it?

By having a decent high lift lever, preferably
one that operates automatically if you don't
prefer that it stays in the toaster to keep warm
after its been toasted and is manually ejected
instead. It wouldn't be hard to design a toaster
that could do it either way depending on what
the owner wants to do at a particular time.

makes you wonder why it's not done,

Presumably just because most of the designers
choose to do it one way or the other and don't
think to allow the user to select which they want
for a particular slice of toast or to allow different
people to use the toaster different ways. They
assume those who need that will buy two toasters.

Its technically trivial to do. Currently the toaster
tells the eject mechanism to eject when it decides
that the toast is done. There is no reason why there
can't be an eject button that the user presses to
eject the toast instead. In fact some toasters do
have an eject button but it not only ejects the
toast but it turns off the element at the same time.

why not go on dragons den and pitch the idea.

Because its too obvious to need that.

I bet someone could write an app top do it ;-)

The iToaster does it already.

whisky-dave wrote
wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Gordon Henderson wrote
Chris French wrote

I use various other toasters and they all annoy me in one way or
another
and don't seem to add anything. If one was to actually take something
and to be able to toast it automatically to a given brownness then
that
might be an improvement, but none has so far AFAICS

You know what....

We've been making toast for 100s of years, yet we've not
come up with a good reliable design that "just works".

Perhaps the world needs a toaster IC. It could detect
bread type & thickness, & toast until perfect doneness,

you'd have to define perfect doneness first ?

No, just allow the user to specify that with a knob.

What shade/colour would that be. If there's 50 shades
of grey how many shades of brown are there ?

A knob allows as many as you like.

And it shouldn't just specify the shade of brown, it
should specify the change in brownness so that it
will still work fine with the brown side of crumpets
and rolls cut in half etc.

switching one side element off before the other if need be.

How would it know ?

By measuring perfect doneness separately on each side.

Peter Parry wrote
Bob Eager wrote

True, but there are times when we seem to have loads of peope here and
want a lot of toast in a hurry. We also have heavy handed teenagers.

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Lincat-Conv...Detail.raction

Much too crude, it needs a proper bulk feed like a card reader has
so you can put entire loaves of sliced bread into the input hopper.

20min warmup time is completely silly.

Chris J Dixon wrote:
What should I look at?

Well, this /is/ uk.d-i-y...

http://www.thetoasterproject.org/page2.htm

Theo

On Friday, February 20, 2015 at 12:35:21 AM UTC, Theo Markettos wrote:
Chris J Dixon wrote:
What should I look at?

Well, this /is/ uk.d-i-y...

http://www.thetoasterproject.org/page2.htm

Theo

his sites refuse to give any more than about 0.01% of info about it


NT

whisky-dave wrote:

On Wednesday, 18 February 2015 22:54:16 UTC, john james wrote:

By having a decent high lift lever, preferably
one that operates automatically if you don't
prefer that it stays in the toaster to keep warm
after its been toasted and is manually ejected
instead. It wouldn't be hard to design a toaster
that could do it either way depending on what
the owner wants to do at a particular time.

makes you wonder why it's not done

Probably because a common way of arranging matters is that the
power to the elements is switched by contacts operated by the
handle being pushed down.

The handle is then retained in position by a small electromagnet,
until either the timer or the manual eject button turns off the
supply to this coil. The cage then rises, opening the supply
contacts as it goes.

This has the advantage that the timer only has to switch the
small holding current, but it could not turn off the elements
without ejecting the bread.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
news
whisky-dave wrote:

On Wednesday, 18 February 2015 22:54:16 UTC, john james wrote:

By having a decent high lift lever, preferably
one that operates automatically if you don't
prefer that it stays in the toaster to keep warm
after its been toasted and is manually ejected
instead. It wouldn't be hard to design a toaster
that could do it either way depending on what
the owner wants to do at a particular time.

makes you wonder why it's not done

Probably because a common way of arranging matters
is that the power to the elements is switched by contacts
operated by the handle being pushed down.

That's a separate issue to what happens at the end of the toasting.

The handle is then retained in position by a small electromagnet,

Not normally, its more common to have a simple mechanical
latch that is released at the end of the toasting.

until either the timer or the manual eject
button turns off the supply to this coil.

The manual eject button isn't normally that sort of switch.

The cage then rises, opening the supply contacts as it goes.

And that isn't always the way it works either.

Its more common to turn the elements off at the end
of the toasting and release the catch on what the toast
sits on so that if the toast stops it from rising because
its jammed, you don't see the toast catch fire.

This has the advantage that the timer only has to switch the
small holding current, but it could not turn off the elements
without ejecting the bread.

And that's why only the most badly designed toasters do it that way.

Rod Speed wrote:
F Murtz wrote
Davey wrote
Chris J Dixon wrote

and have high enough lift to remove teacakes
and similar small items without having to use tongs.

I reckon there is a market for something like a thin version of the
chip shop frying basket, so that these items can be hung in place and
then retrieved. At the moment, I use the 'eject and spear while in
flight' method.

I will watch this thread with interest.

I have a toaster which has elements with spiral elements in quartz
tubes, you can stick metal things in with a fair degree of safety to
grab the toast.

How evenly does it toast the toast ?

Fairly even but it toasts fairly quickly and you end up with outside
toasted with a very soft centre
It does have a setting to slow it down (on off on off etc)
It has settings,bagel,frozen,crisp etc.
It came from Aldi three or four years ago,I bought two on special when
they did not sell at the high price they wanted.

On Thursday, 19 February 2015 18:02:30 UTC, wrote:
On Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 4:49:47 PM UTC, whisky-dave wrote:
On Thursday, 19 February 2015 15:40:17 UTC, wrote:
On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 7:24:23 PM UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
Gordon Henderson wrote
Chris French wrote

I use various other toasters and they all annoy me in one way or another
and don't seem to add anything. If one was to actually take something
and to be able to toast it automatically to a given brownness then that
might be an improvement, but none has so far AFAICS

You know what....

We've been making toast for 100s of years, yet we've not
come up with a good reliable design that "just works".

Perhaps the world needs a toaster IC. It could detect bread type & thickness, & toast until perfect doneness,

you'd have to define perfect doneness first ?
What shade/colour would that be. If there's 50 shades of grey how many shades of brown are there ?

the user chooses of course

How from an LCD panel showing the availble brown shades ?
or a numeric keyboard or Perhasp speech...
I want it the same colour as an oak timber frame of 50 years of age ;-)
or I want ot lighter/darker than the last time.

Can you describe the colour brown you'd like ?



switching one side element off before the other if need be.

How would it know ?

optical most likely.
trouble with that is yuo get a coating on the optics you'd need 'windscreen wipers on them.

Self calibration takes care of bread colour & window dirt, upto a point. It might struggle toasting charcoal biscuits

I don't think you can use self calibration as there's too many varibles.
Anyway dont;l want to make a toasterc too integilent don't want to end up with a red dwarf situation.



NT

I like my toast to be cold so I want a pop up toaster.

Tim Streater wrote:

In article , john james
wrote:

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
news

The handle is then retained in position by a small electromagnet,

Not normally, its more common to have a simple mechanical
latch that is released at the end of the toasting.

Most toasters I've come across seem to work with a non-mechanical
latch. I base that on the fact that our toaster, a Kenwood that is now
about 8 years old or so, won't latch in the down position if there is
no power to the toaster.

Indeed so. A check with a line of toasters on display confirmed
this. The only exception was one devoid of handle that appeared
to be motorised.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

F Murtz wrote
Rod Speed wrote
F Murtz wrote
Davey wrote
Chris J Dixon wrote

and have high enough lift to remove teacakes
and similar small items without having to use tongs.

I reckon there is a market for something like a thin
version of the chip shop frying basket, so that these
items can be hung in place and then retrieved. At the
moment, I use the 'eject and spear while in flight' method.

I will watch this thread with interest.

I have a toaster which has elements with spiral
elements in quartz tubes, you can stick metal things
in with a fair degree of safety to grab the toast.

How evenly does it toast the toast ?

Fairly even

How many of those elements does it have ?

but it toasts fairly quickly and you end up
with outside toasted with a very soft centre

When I was a kid I used to call that toast with bread in
the middle and it was my preferred toast. Achieved by
having the slices as thick as would still go in the toaster.

I still do my toast that way, but it only ends up with
bread in the middle when I put very thick frozen bread
in the toaster and I only do that when I have to use the
single very thick slice of bread I keep in the freezer for
when I manage to end up with no fresh bread to toast.

It does have a setting to slow it down (on off on off etc)
It has settings,bagel,frozen,crisp etc.

It came from Aldi three or four years ago,I bought two on
special when they did not sell at the high price they wanted.

Unfortunately my Aldi is 2 hours/$50 away.

"whisky-dave" wrote in message
...
On Thursday, 19 February 2015 18:02:30 UTC, wrote:
On Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 4:49:47 PM UTC, whisky-dave wrote:
On Thursday, 19 February 2015 15:40:17 UTC, wrote:
On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 7:24:23 PM UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
Gordon Henderson wrote
Chris French wrote

I use various other toasters and they all annoy me in one way or
another
and don't seem to add anything. If one was to actually take
something
and to be able to toast it automatically to a given brownness
then that
might be an improvement, but none has so far AFAICS

You know what....

We've been making toast for 100s of years, yet we've not
come up with a good reliable design that "just works".

Perhaps the world needs a toaster IC. It could detect bread type &
thickness, & toast until perfect doneness,

you'd have to define perfect doneness first ?
What shade/colour would that be. If there's 50 shades of grey how many
shades of brown are there ?

the user chooses of course

How from an LCD panel showing the availble brown shades ?

By selecting a number from 1-50 silly.

or a numeric keyboard

See above.

or Perhasp speech...

Ditto.

I want it the same colour as an oak timber frame of 50 years of age ;-)

Then you'll have to see what number
that corresponds with by trial and error.

or I want ot lighter/darker than the last time.

Even you should be able to adjust the number
from the one you used the last time.

Can you describe the colour brown you'd like ?

Don't need to when you specify the brownness
you want with a number. That's what you do
now with almost all toasters.

And with a decent app, you can even see the brownness
on the screen before you actually make the toast.

switching one side element off before the other if need be.

How would it know ?

optical most likely.

trouble with that is yuo get a coating on the
optics you'd need 'windscreen wipers on them.

Not if its far enough back from the toast.

There are no windscreen wipers on web cams or borescopes.

Self calibration takes care of bread colour & window dirt,
upto a point. It might struggle toasting charcoal biscuits

I don't think you can use self calibration as there's too many varibles.

Not when all you care about is brownness.

Anyway dont;l want to make a toasterc too integilent
don't want to end up with a red dwarf situation.

You can always unplug it if it gets too uppity.

Or beat it to death with the largest waddy you can find if that doesn't
work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waddy

"DerbyBorn" wrote in message
2.222...

I like my toast to be cold so I want a pop up toaster.

Well you can't have one, go to your room.

"Tim Streater" wrote in message
.. .
In article , john james
wrote:

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
news

The handle is then retained in position by a small electromagnet,

Not normally, its more common to have a simple mechanical
latch that is released at the end of the toasting.

Most toasters I've come across seem to work with a non-mechanical
latch. I base that on the fact that our toaster, a Kenwood that is now
about 8 years old or so, won't latch in the down position if there is
no power to the toaster.

None of mine are like that.

"john james" wrote in news:ckp9rtF35miU1
@mid.individual.net:



"Tim Streater" wrote in message
.. .
In article , john james
wrote:

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
news

The handle is then retained in position by a small electromagnet,

Not normally, its more common to have a simple mechanical
latch that is released at the end of the toasting.

Most toasters I've come across seem to work with a non-mechanical
latch. I base that on the fact that our toaster, a Kenwood that is now
about 8 years old or so, won't latch in the down position if there is
no power to the toaster.

None of mine are like that.



Teefal Avanti is like that.

Tim Streater wrote:
Most toasters I've come across seem to work with a non-mechanical
latch. I base that on the fact that our toaster, a Kenwood that is now
about 8 years old or so, won't latch in the down position if there is
no power to the toaster.

A good idea, saves a few minutes if the toaster has been accidentally
unplugged or switched off.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

On Friday, 20 February 2015 14:08:39 UTC, whisky-dave wrote:
I don't think you can use self calibration as there's too many varibles.


Perhaps the bread manufacturers could put scannable codes on the wrappings, describing the toasting characteristics of the bread, so once you've set desired brownness and crispiness you get consistency across all types of bread.

A bit like wash-marks on laundry

Fingerprint recognition would store your personal settings for the next day, so all you'd have to do would be scan and swipe for each slice.

Owain

wrote in message
...
On Friday, 20 February 2015 14:08:39 UTC, whisky-dave wrote:
I don't think you can use self calibration as there's too many varibles.


Perhaps the bread manufacturers could put scannable codes on the
wrappings, describing the toasting characteristics of the bread, so once
you've set desired brownness and crispiness you get consistency across all
types of bread.

A bit like wash-marks on laundry

Fingerprint recognition would store your personal settings for the next
day, so all you'd have to do would be scan and swipe for each slice.

Makes a lot more sense to have each slice with an RFID
and have the user's ID bar coded on their forehead.

On Friday, February 20, 2015 at 2:08:39 PM UTC, whisky-dave wrote:
On Thursday, 19 February 2015 18:02:30 UTC, wrote:
On Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 4:49:47 PM UTC, whisky-dave wrote:
On Thursday, 19 February 2015 15:40:17 UTC, wrote:
On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 7:24:23 PM UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
Gordon Henderson wrote
Chris French wrote

I use various other toasters and they all annoy me in one way or another
and don't seem to add anything. If one was to actually take something
and to be able to toast it automatically to a given brownness then that
might be an improvement, but none has so far AFAICS

You know what....

We've been making toast for 100s of years, yet we've not
come up with a good reliable design that "just works".

Perhaps the world needs a toaster IC. It could detect bread type & thickness, & toast until perfect doneness,

you'd have to define perfect doneness first ?
What shade/colour would that be. If there's 50 shades of grey how many shades of brown are there ?

the user chooses of course

How from an LCD panel showing the availble brown shades ?
or a numeric keyboard or Perhasp speech...
I want it the same colour as an oak timber frame of 50 years of age ;-)
or I want ot lighter/darker than the last time.

Can you describe the colour brown you'd like ?

what's wrogn with a knob?


switching one side element off before the other if need be.

How would it know ?

optical most likely.
trouble with that is yuo get a coating on the optics you'd need 'windscreen wipers on them.

just make it easy to remove & wash

Self calibration takes care of bread colour & window dirt, upto a point. It might struggle toasting charcoal biscuits

I don't think you can use self calibration as there's too many varibles.

the whole point of a closed loop system is to render the variables of little effect

Anyway dont;l want to make a toasterc too integilent don't want to end up with a red dwarf situation.

I suspect it already happens for a few


NT

On Friday, 20 February 2015 18:30:54 UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
A bit like wash-marks on laundry
Fingerprint recognition would store your personal settings for the next
day, so all you'd have to do would be scan and swipe for each slice.
Makes a lot more sense to have each slice with an RFID
and have the user's ID bar coded on their forehead.

I'm not sure RFIDs that can withstand the temperature inside a toaster are available, and I'm even less sure that I'd want to eat them if they were.

Owain