Bottomless Portafilter for Vintage Pasquini Livietta

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SpromoSapiens
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Joined: 12 years ago

#1: Post by SpromoSapiens »

I did it! After searching patiently and extensively for sources & resources, the effort has at last paid off. My tale will be of particular interest to fellow old-school Livietta owners, however it might also be of some strategic benefit to anyone desiring an additional non-standard size portafilter for the purposes of bottomlessness without having to endeavor any risky maneuvers with your stock, vintage equipment.

I'd been scanning the various BST pages, CL, eBay, and even reached out to manufacturers and importers associated with my machine, a '91 Pasquini Livietta. Finally I noticed someone on eBay selling a bunch of older-model "manufacturer refurbished" Pasquinis, both Liviettas and Livias, as well as parts, accessories and portafilters --- but no PF for my '91 Livietta. I figured this person might at least know where I could find one, though, and so I emailed through eBay. It turns out to be a guy that runs his own side business called "The OC Coffee Dr" which apparently specializes in Pasquini parts & service, but is also a sales rep for an official Pasquini import company called Pasquini OC, which you can find here.

He told me there were several (more than 2) different size groups/PFs for the Livietta and if I sent him a photo he could probably tell which one I have. I was dubious but he said that even if he was wrong, he had them all, and I could always send it back and he'd send the next size bigger or smaller. I texted him a pic of my PF; he told me it was 55.5mm, and that was that. I paid him via PayPal and 24hrs later he gave me the shipping number. Package came swiftly, the PF looked identical to my original, and it fit perfectly. No problem whatsoever. I'm not sure what the etiquette is about revealing names and emails so I won't be that specific, but you can reach him at the above business and I highly recommend it for anyone needing help with their vintage Liviettas.

So now that I had a spare, next came phase 2: The Modification.
I don't have tools. Nothing major, anyway; just some household basics. About a year ago I had a different machine and an extra portafilter and took it to a machine shop near my home. Talked to the guy there and in the end he said that if I didn't care how long it took, he could bottom out my PF at a time when he already happened to be working on that machine, in which case it would only take a minute and he'd do it free of charge. A few weeks later it was done, no charge! I'm sure he didn't expect me to come back, but indeed I returned a few weeks ago with my Livietta PF and of course this time they wanted to get paid. I totally respect the value of their work and I take no offense to their stance whatsoever, but they wanted to charge more than what I paid for the portafilter, which was a pretty steep mark-up from "free," so I figured I'd shop around. I went to a different shop that was recommended by a carpenter friend, and without any haggling or finagling he offered to do it for $30. He did it in less than a week and did a fine job. The brass on the edge of the cut has some texture, but it's buffered down smoothly enough for me and it's otherwise perfectly clean & even. I told him I'd be bragging about his service online, and he said he didn't mind, so for anyone interested, you can reach him at andersontool@gmail.com. His name is David, the company is Anderson Tool Co, he's a really nice guy and his shop is located in New Haven CT. You could probably work something out in terms of shipping him a part and having him ship it back, but I don't know, you'd have to bring that up with him.

So now that it's all said and done... Behold! My new next to my old:



On the machine:



And as added plus, it turned out that by chance, the new spare PF came with a basket in it that's substantially bigger than my original! One of the most exciting aspects of going bottomless for me was that I could venture into the realm of triple shots with an extra-deep basket, but I had no idea where I'd find such a basket. I guess this big basket fit inside the unmodified PF just fine, so going bottomless wasn't necessary just for the updose, but, well, here it is. My original basket doesn't perform well with much more than 18 or 19 grams in it, but the new one could easily accommodate 23g or more:



Not knowing what to expect, I loaded up my naked newbie with a slightly larger-than-usual dose (around 19g; I don't remember exactly), and found that it hardly filled the basket. With no doser on my Vario to dump the dose back into, I figured what the hell, tamped and pulled it anyway. For those of us that haven't seen what happens when you drastically underdose & pull a shot... well, here's what happens:


I had my camera at the ready because of course I wanted to document and publish my dazzling, syrupy tiger-stripe victory lap. As soon as one actually happens, I will. :lol:

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gyro
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#2: Post by gyro »

Ha, I love it - well done.

jonny
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Joined: 13 years ago

#3: Post by jonny »

Howard, I took this advice and contacted Tyler through eBay. Really nice guy. I acquired a Cremina with no portafilter, so it has been sharing with my 49 mm Livietta. He didn't have any 49 mm portafilters, unfortunately, but he came up with another solution. He hooked me up with the larger 54 mm group head and matching portafilter for the Livietta, and now the Cremina can have the 49 mm pf for keeps! I just paid him today, so I'm sure I'll see it sometime next week. I asked for two portafilters, but he only had one available right now :( I guess now I'm in the same debate as that other guy... chop or not!? I use a bottomless primarily, so it makes sense for me, but what if I sell it? Tyler said he'd let me know when/if he has another one available. I guess he takes in many machines, and some become donor machines to refurbish others to sell. Thanks for the tip, Howard!

jonny
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Joined: 13 years ago

#4: Post by jonny »

Good news! Tyler found me a second 54 mm portafilter! What a nice guy. I happily took it off his hands and proceeded with the 'bottomotomy' :wink: Such a relief. I highly prefer bottomless portafilters to spouted. I like that I can make sure the puck is behaving properly from beginning to end, not that seeing this makes it taste better, but if something does taste off, I can immediately know if it was distribution related or something else. Also it makes dialing in easier since I can tell within the first few seconds if the grind is in the ball park or not. As a bonus, it just looks enticing, but I think I'm preaching to the choir here!

I accomplished this with a 2-1/8" hole saw. perfect fit for this size, though I had to be very careful to keep it centered since there was some wiggle room. A drill press would have made this operation worlds easier, but I don't have access to a drill press. I still need to clean up the inside edges. Enjoy the espresso porn!

I think seeing these first droplets form evenly is crucial to predicting an even extraction is about to commence.


yup


And a very tasty cup of 2 week old Rwanda Buremera from Ristretto. This was a generous gift, but definitely worth the premium to get some!

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SpromoSapiens (original poster)
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#5: Post by SpromoSapiens (original poster) »

Well done, Jonny! I'm elated that I was able to help hack a path through the vintage espresso wilds. Tyler is really on his game and it seems like he goes out of his way to do a great job in helping people with this stuff. The bottomectomy looks like a success from here. And now the real healing can begin. :wink:

My roasts have been somewhat off the mark for a while now, so I still haven't gotten into a groove reliable enough to bother keeping a camera handy to film the glorious pull I promised in the first post. However, the thread feels unfinished until I do. One of these days.

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drgary
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#6: Post by drgary »

I wouldn't worry about posting info about the "OC Coffee Dr." You're just telling us a source for hard to find parts. Also anyone wanting a 49mm portafilter that's bottomless can buy one of the great Richard Penney portafilters still being sold on Orphan Espresso. This is about the price of a new La Pavoni portafilter but it's really nice and hefty and is an effective heat sink if you want to cool the group.
Gary
LMWDP#308

What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

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SpromoSapiens (original poster)
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#7: Post by SpromoSapiens (original poster) »

From what I've gathered lately the OC Coffee Dr is no longer a reliable source of old portafilters, but he's still out there. Either way, the ebay sleuthing method described above is still a worthwhile pointer.

As for my "triple" basket -- though noted in other recent threads of mine, I figure I should report here as well that I was wrong, it's not a triple basket. I don't know why the disaster shot happened, it's kind of embarrassing now. Probably a combination of coarse grind, light tamp, general incompetence, and gremlins. Anyway I'm still loving ol' Liv and my shots are much better these days. :mrgreen:

Espresso_Monkey
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#8: Post by Espresso_Monkey »

SpromoSapiens wrote:


I had my camera at the ready because of course I wanted to document and publish my dazzling, syrupy tiger-stripe victory lap. As soon as one actually happens, I will. :lol:
I made the mistake watching this at work. Laughed out loud :lol: