I've been looking for a straight-forward buyer's guide for lever machines but I haven't seen one here yet. I'm currently using my Presso, which I'm very happy with, even unmodified. But I am concerned about it's longevity.

I have broken one piston but that was due to letting a friend use it without explaining it's ins and outs to him while he used to fine a grind and to heavy a tamp. I was across the room, not paying attention, I turn around and see him pressing with all his might with no shot coming forth and before I could yell to him stop it was: snap, crackle, hiss. Crack in the piston. The current US distributors are awesome and replaced the piston as quickly as possible, I received mine two days after emailing them.

And I see a lot of old posts about the Presso when All Clad was distributing them but interest seemed to have died after All Clad stopped carrying them? Anyone here currently using one?

Anyway, enough of the Presso, due to my experience with it I'm pretty certain I want to go with a lever machine. Does anyone have a link to a post or FAQ on what to look for/what to look out for?

Thanks,
Greg

I dont know if there is one tell all thread or link. If you buy used try and stick with something that you can get parts for. There seems to be a pretty good selection of La Pavonis on the used market and that helps hold the price down. Many of the other brands (used) can have some more "collector" value and tend to go higher than what the average folk wants to drop on a used lever machine to learn on

Heck if you want new its really just a matter of how much you want to spend

In addition to the good points already made, you may want to think about spring vs manual, boiler type (hx, boiler pressure vs gravity fed and now pump fed) and in conjunction with that, how much use you're going to want out of it - from what I've read some are better at pulling consecutive shots than others (finicky cool down routines).

Did you have an old model (e.g. all-clad) presso? IIRC there have been improvements made to the durability and perhaps that may mean the newer ones have greater longevity. You also may be giving too much credit to tamping pressure on shot permeability as has been discussed here previously.
There seems to be several happy presso users here and on CG I've noticed along the way, the big threads occasionally get some chatter. There is a twitter and facebook account for some presso stuff that also get traffic if you want some slightly less involved discussion than we tend to get here.

I'm thinking spring and gravity fed but I'm still reading up on the pluses and minuses. Thanks.

IIRC there have been improvements made to the durability and perhaps that may mean the newer ones have greater longevity.

Ah, cool, that's good to know. I have a recent one since presso.us started selling here in the USA around a year ago?

You also may be giving too much credit to tamping pressure on shot permeability as has been discussed here previously.

Thanks, definitely too fine of a grind then.

aecletec wrote:
Did you have an old model (e.g. all-clad) presso? IIRC there have been improvements made to the durability and perhaps that may mean the newer ones have greater longevity. You also may be giving too much credit to tamping pressure on shot permeability as has been discussed here previously.

One quick Presso question, have you, or do you know if anyone on H-B.com has had it's portafilter modified to bottomless?

This gentleman is a member and has uploaded some vids to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/hbuchtel#g/u

aecletec wrote:In addition to the good points already made, you may want to think about spring vs manual, boiler type (hx, boiler pressure vs gravity fed and now pump fed) and in conjunction with that, how much use you're going to want out of it - from what I've read some are better at pulling consecutive shots than others (finicky cool down routines).

Does anyone have a recommendation for lever machine that I could use to serve espresso to most of a dinner party of 20? But mostly it would be used for my morning cappuccino and smaller dinner parties.

20 people???

This one perhaps
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...ESINDXX:IT

Hahah, for this monthly dinner party maybe two La Pavonis that I switch back and forth between.

the_trystero wrote:Does anyone have a recommendation for lever machine that I could use to serve espresso to most of a dinner party of 20? But mostly it would be used for my morning cappuccino and smaller dinner parties.

How about this single group commercial lever at Orphan Espresso? They're an H-B sponsor and trusted member. http://www.orphanespresso.com/1992-CMA-Astoria-One-Group-Lever-Espresso-Machine_p_3910.html. It's a classic that would work great, without any remaining servicing issues.

Or, maybe a two group Ponte Vecchio Lusso, a home machine known for temperature stability and quality shots. They're sold by another trusted H-B sponsor, 1st-Line Equipment: http://www.1st-line.com/machines/home_mod/ponte_vecchio/ponte_vecchio_lusso_2group.htm. There's a very favorable review of the Lusso on this site here: http://www.home-barista.com/ponte-vecchio-lusso-review.html

If you like DIY projects, you could keep your eye out for something like this one being restored by another H-B member: Conti Monaco Restoration, or this one by me: Conti Prestina Restoration. Those old Conti commercial levers get good reviews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7cyA6SJAzw, but get ready to roll up your sleeves! (Stuck bolts anyone???)