I found a direct-connect Oscar on a regional Craigslist a few weeks before Christmas, but the asking price was a bit high for a DC pig-in-a-poke (the seller knew nothing about it and was selling it for a friend who moved away). I made a reasonable offer and got an email last week that I could have the machine. So I drove 2 hours each way yesterday to pick it up, and it turned out to be a pretty good one once I cleaned it up and out this morning:



It's got a Sirai 'stat, but the boiler isn't tapped for a vac valve - so I have a few things to do to make it perfect. But I took everything apart, cleaned it, reassembled it, fired it up and flushed / backflushed aggressively, then pulled a really fine first shot with the water feed drawing from a large Poland Spring bottle on the counter next to it. Seeing and tasting a great shot, I cooled my milk pitcher, foamed a bit of milk, and made a wonderful cap - the steam is great, and I had no problem with the 4 hole tip or the increased power. The foam's definitely a bit richer and smoother than with my single hole Lelit, and my rosetta had great definition (I was so anxious to taste it that I drank it before I thought to take a picture...). All in all, it's a great machine that I'll be very happy using once I fix the remaining little problems. I'll be plumbing it into the kitchen in our condo over the next few months while we sell our house and get ready to retire.

The apartment kitchen sink has an instant-hot and a drinking water pipe connected to a filtration system, but it's shut off so I assume one part doesn't work. I'm going to remove the whole setup and put a pressure regulator and softener under the sink in its place to feed Oscar. And I'll use the hole in the back flange of the sink where the drinking water spout was located to secure a right-angle fitting, so I don't have to drill the Corian counter.

There's a minor water drip from the nut that secures the steam wand joint to the bottom of the valve assembly. I suspect I can just replace the gasket(s) in it and stop the leak, but I'd really like to replace the knob with a small joystick steam valve while I'm tweaking. Does anyone have any experience with this? I see a few joystick-steam wand assemblies on the usual parts sites and I can adapt the threads to Oscar's feed or make up a new pipe. But if someone's already found a drop-in, I'd be very grateful to know about it.