Orphan La Mondiale nursed back to health - Hooray!

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earlgrey_44
Posts: 387
Joined: 15 years ago

#1: Post by earlgrey_44 »

I bought a freight damaged Isomac La Mondiale late last year, and have been making coffee with it since last Christmas. This thread celebrates the addition of the final missing part from Italy, and hopefully might provide some interest to the board. It also serves as a shout-out of appreciation for the help I received courtesy of machine dealer, ace repair technician, redoubtable parts supplier, and active HB board participant Stefano Cremonesi of Stefano's Espresso Care.

Here's what the machine looked like on e-bay, sitting in the facility of a liquidation company.



It looked pretty good as far as low res pics will take you. What the seller disclosed was the following: 1) the curved handle on the top, which serves as a railing to hold cups on the warming tray, and also as a handle for the water tank door, had been ripped loose and was missing fasteners. 2) The glass on the duel manometer was shattered. 3) A front foot was missing. Also, no accessories - just the machine.

What else might be wrong with it? Only the Shadow knew, but having maintained a Millennium for a year, I thought I had learned some things and I couldn't go too far wrong if the price was right.


I beat out the next highest bid, which was $400, so I awaited the arrival of the surprise package with anticipation.

When I got it on the bench, it was clear that the machine had not been used to make coffee, so it was indeed new, and aside from some scuffs on the rear plate, the case looked great. A good start!

I worked on the easy stuff first. New tiny SS nuts from the hardware store got me ready to re-secure the top handle. The smashed glass was replaced by the good sports at the Tru-Value with a free sliver of Plexiglas from their trash bin from which I could cut a round.

Parts secured, time to put it on the bench, add some water to the boiler, dip the tubes in a water supply and fire her up. Flip up the levetta - nothing - no pump - bummer! Anxiety level rising...

This one turned out to be simple. In spite of the fact that the micro switches were some of Isomacs new, more robustly mounted ones; the pump switch had somehow gotten wacked off its base. A little epoxy - back in business.

Epoxy hardened - time to try again. With the pump now running, I watched the water circulate from the tank out the bypass and back to the tank again. It was happy to continue this way for as long as I cared to watch it, like a hung computer program stuck in a loop. WTF?

This one baffled me; overfill not working? Bad solenoid? Gremlins? Evil spirits? Nothing made sense. It took Stefano to do remote troubleshooting and set me straight. He suggested the boiler was not filling probably due to blockage. Blockage? It's a "new" unit - what's to block it?

Well, that's what the man said. I sure had no better idea, so I took apart the boiler inlet plumbing. Sure enough - a little nodule of scale had formed at the tip of the inlet. Not being able to get to the boiler, the water just exited via the OPV. This was the last thing I would have expected. Leave it to Stefano, the doctor of de-scaling, to nail it.



After reattaching the fill pipe, success - the gizmo filled up and heated away.
Coffee has made for the last 9 months with the machine sitting on three good feet and a wooden peg leg.

To special order the foot would cost a small fortune - so I decided to wait until Stefano's next parts order with Isomac, whenever that might be, to lower the overhead costs.

About 6 months into the wait period another idiosyncratic problem was revealed. The first pic below shows the power connection block when the unit was new - the second after about 5 hours a day at temperature. The clip with the blue wire is burning up. Why do these spade clips overheat when they look perfectly fine? A new clip - back to normal temperature.



Before Italy's August collective siesta, Stefano placed an Isomac parts order and included the foot. It arrived in September. My departed daddy worked for a truck manufacturer in parts distribution. "Parts are the profit end of the business." he used to say. I can report that Isomac warmly embraces this philosophy with regard to custom case parts, as I rather suspect the other manufacturers do too. Oh well.

In any case, the newly arrived foot has just replaced the wooden block. Thanks, Stefano! It runs a little quieter now that it has rubber all around, and finally looks "finished". :D

Trust your taste. Don't trust your perception.

User avatar
Juanjo
Posts: 153
Joined: 15 years ago

#2: Post by Juanjo »

the machine comes with built-in speakers!!? :o


:wink: J/K
very nice machine..
cheers,
Juanjo

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JmanEspresso
Posts: 1462
Joined: 15 years ago

#3: Post by JmanEspresso »

Hey, where are those full-Chrome Portafilters I always see the Mondiale sporting ehh?

Nice machine man.. Ive liked the looks of the Mondiale.. Not to mention the ball-joint levers for steam/hot water.

Enjoy it!

earlgrey_44 (original poster)
Posts: 387
Joined: 15 years ago

#4: Post by earlgrey_44 (original poster) »

Juanjo wrote:the machine comes with built-in speakers!!? :o


:wink: J/K
very nice machine..
Correct. You plug your mp3 player in under the drip pan. :wink:
Trust your taste. Don't trust your perception.

earlgrey_44 (original poster)
Posts: 387
Joined: 15 years ago

#5: Post by earlgrey_44 (original poster) »

JmanEspresso wrote:Hey, where are those full-Chrome Portafilters I always see the Mondiale sporting ehh?

Somewhere in the machines wanderings somebody lusted after those portafilters and appropriated them, so no cool accessories for me.

What Isomac wants for those things as a standalone product would probably curl ones hair...
Trust your taste. Don't trust your perception.

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JmanEspresso
Posts: 1462
Joined: 15 years ago

#6: Post by JmanEspresso »

Ahh.. I figured they would cost a pretty penny. I thought about inquiring about them at one time.. but I figured if the price wasn't very high, they would probably get real hot too.

earlgrey_44 (original poster)
Posts: 387
Joined: 15 years ago

#7: Post by earlgrey_44 (original poster) »

When Dan tested a Mondiale, I believe he said the "hot handle" wasn't too bad. I think they would cost well over $100 each - not a high priority for me.
Trust your taste. Don't trust your perception.