I have recently purchased an Nuova Simonelli Oscar off of e-bay at a low price. I knew that it was missing several pieces such as a portafilter and the grate that the cups sit on. I already had a Gaggia naked portafilter and read that it would fit (which it does), and I researched the price for the grate and will purchase that. I am pulling shots and making cappas for my wife, the unit seems to work fine. I would like some help from y'all if possible on my group parts. There does not appear to be a screen, and I cannot determine if the diffuser that came with it is the one for pods or for ground coffee. Am I missing the screen? Can you help me determine which diffuser I have, and whether it is important to get the correct one? I really appreciate the assistance. I am reading and re-reading the HX guides to learn about this unit, all the posts and FAQ's are extremely helpful.

Some additional information. This is the ground coffee kit:

This is the pod kit:

Exploded view:

oconee wrote:There does not appear to be a screen, and I cannot determine if the diffuser that came with it is the one for pods or for ground coffee. Am I missing the screen? Can you help me determine which diffuser I have, and whether it is important to get the correct one? I really appreciate the assistance.

I'ver never used the Oscar, but judging from your picture, that's a pod adapter. The main difference between pods and grounds setups is the thickness of the diffusion block, size of the screen, and hole pattern; in order to hold the pod tightly in place and force more water through it, the diffusion block is thicker and the screen area is much smaller.

You could use loose grounds in a pod adapter in a pinch, but the dose will need to be smaller and it will be difficult to get even wetting across the surface of the puck, leading to channeling.

Definitely pod. I've got an Oscar setup for grounds and the dispersion screen looks much different.

Sorry for the delay, I've been helping to smoke 100 Boston Butts for the Boy Scouts. Anyway, thanks for the responses. Am I correct that since I already have filter baskets I can just buy part numbers 7 and 8 in the exploded view? I would also like to purchase a gasket at the same time since I will need one eventually, but I understand that there are two different thickness gaskets and I would have to know more about which one is installed on my unit? And Dan, I am experiencing exactly the symptoms you are describing. I'm down to 13 grams doses and still have spritzing.

Thanks for the help. I was able to purchase a new diffuser, screen, screw and grill locally. Attached are some photos to perhaps assist someone else in the future. This is the pod diffuser (as y'all had properly identified):

This is the ground coffee diffuser:

New ground coffee diffuser and screen installed: