Like many home baristas, I admire the heavy-duty espresso machines of the world, especially ones that have heat exchangers. Unfortunately, those machines are expensive and not realistic for my budget. The Brugnetti Simona Project is my own personal solution to that problem. It is a budget-conscious way of getting a big, shiny, HX toy to play with.




The Brugnetti, next to the Gaggia 105. The Brugnetti is pretty big and heavy - 40 lbs.

I spotted this Brugnetti Simona Top on Craig's List over the weekend, and it looked promising. I did some research and found that it is does have a heat exchanger and has some relatively high reviews on Coffee Geek and Coffee Snobs websites. I also found that there is not much information out there about these machines. Not much at all.


Rear View. The water tank is not easy to remove.

-James

Against my wife's wishes (and perhaps better judgment!) I picked up the machine today. As you can see, it hasn't been well maintained. The dispersion screen is covered in black, crusty, coffee residue. The group head is also covered in gunk. The 3-way solenoid valve doesn't appear to be working, and the machine will not dispense any steam at all. I have my work cut out for me. I'll be re-reading HX articles on H-B late into the evening and getting greasy tomorrow.


Yuck!


More yuck!



I have a few questions for you:

- Do you have any information on this machine?

- Can you spot the 3-way solenoid in the pictures? Where is it? (I have never had a machine with one.)

- If this machine has not been back-flushed in years, is too late for the existing solenoid valve?

I'm sure I'll have more questions later. If you have any pointers at all, please give them. Your three cents are more than welcome here!

- James

Hi James,

3 way sol is on top of the gr, in your last pic.

I rebuilt the big brother of this model a while ago. A solid, plain fellow. I am sure it will be easy for you to sort out. Fire away if you have any specific questions.

Looks like a fun project. Here's a website showing a restoration of a machine that looks exactly like yours, might be helpful ... especially if you can read German!

John

Having just done an Elektra and never having done stuff like this before, I can recommend taking plenty of pictures.

1. You'll also need Cafinex (or equiv) for cleaning off the old rancid coffee oils.
2. Citric acid, pick some up at a brew supply store
3. large bucket to soak things in
4. a vendor that has spare parts, all the washers and O rings should be replaced.

Mark

Thank you all for your input, so far. You provided some encouragement, pointers, and resources that will be extremely helpful as the job progresses.

So far, I have been taking things one step at a time, cleaning the parts as I go. I have decided to not pull everything apart on this machine. I only want to fix what is broken, especially since one of my goals is to keep costs and labor hours low.

It has become clear, after reading Why can't Anita steam as well as her sister machines? that I need to replace the steam valve. It is has a compression (non-replaceable) seat, which seems to be floating around in the valve. I am now able to open the valve (which I could not before), but it is sporadic. I am impressed, however, with the steam power that the 1.8 liter boiler produces.

I also need to replace the group gasket, which is now brittle and hard.

The good news is that the machine is getting cleaner! The other good news is that I see a lot of potential in the Simona Top. This should be a real work horse when the restoration is complete.

Enjoy some photos.


I really have an awesome wife. She scraped the edges of every single hole on the dispersion screen!


Compared to the picture in a post above, it is a night and day difference.


Much cleaner, happier group head.

Things are moving along with the Simona Project. The machine seems to be pretty clean now and ready for the parts I will order tomorrow. Luckily, Brugnetti USA is about a 30-minute drive from my house, so I should be able to pick up the parts this week.

Here's what I am ordering: 1 steam valve, 2 group head gaskets, and 1 blind filter basket.

We removed the old, baked-on, brittle group gasket today. It was not easy! First, I tried to screw a woodscrew into the gasket and pull it out, which only pulled small chunks with it. I finally ended up using the screw to break the gasket up so I could pull it out in pieces.


Woodscrew: first to try to grip the old gasket, then to break the brittle thing up.


This is what we ended up with...

The good news is that the group is ready for the new gasket! With really good luck, I may pull a shot through it tomorrow night!

hi James,

tip to make future gasket removal easy - use a little food grease on the new gasket when you're putting it in. Also, if you haven't already done so, polish the gr surfaces with a scotchbrite pad and coffee detergent until everything's smooth and shiny.

This is a photo of the steam valve I'll be replacing. At first, I thought I would be able to repair it, but it seams to be a simple, non-repairable (compression) version. I learned that from this post: Why can't Anita steam as well as her sister machines?

Anyone recognize this from any other machines out there?

That looks a dinky wee valve

I have never seen one like it before sorry. Why not try contacting Stefano? He might have some ideas for replacements or substitutions for you.