Hi,
i was visiting my sister this weekend and obliterated the plastic handle on her old pavoni when I tapped it against the knockbox that I had made for her (It was ready to be replaced anyway) Are these things threaded into the handle and can it be removed with some penetrating oil to get rid of the rust or is it glued in?

That looks exactly like the handle that came with my old cremina. I was able to just twist mine off. Replacements should screw on easily. Have you been unable to remove it?

Yes is made by 3 different pieces the portafilter body the bolt stock and the handle
which nowadays is smooth not ridged

The handle is stuck -really stuck.

WD-40?

I tried that earlier today and my sister will check on it later to see if it loosened up. Penetrating oil will be tried next.

I believe they use a M10 or M12 sized bolt. You may have to hit that bolt (going into the portafilter head) with some penetrating oil, lock the bolt in a vice and muscle the portafilter loose. You will probably have to break the rest of the handle off so you can clamp onto the bolt itself. They are usually put on with some thread lock but that one is rusted on pretty good.

If you want to see what you are dealing with, you can take the handle off of the lever as they are attached in the same way (and in fact use the same replacement part). It does look like you have a lot of rust on yours and it makes sense that it will be hard to remove. When you do get it to unscrew there is probably a 50-50 shot on if the handle will come off or the portafilter (the are both threaded, but different size threads).

Richard Penney had good info on the handles that might be of help in my turning your own handles thread
http://www.home-barista.com/levers/turning-your-own-wooden-handles-for-la-pavoni-t7583.html

Among other things I found these numbers he gave helpful (and I don't think these depend on pre or post Millennium model...

The lever handles are about 12mmx1.75 tapped and the pf grip is ~10mmx1.5 as a stud ( on mine it is a perfect fit for a 3/8ths- 16 stainless steel bolt.)

Good luck.

Hugh

I Thought I would post a photo of the new wooden handle that I turned for my sister's old Pavoni portafilter that needed replacement. It is actually so nice that I was thinking of keeping it myself because my plastic one is all cracked and horrible. Here are the manufacturing details if anyone is interested. On the older Pavoni machines, the stud that joins the handle to the portafilter has two different threads. The thread entering the portafilter (short end) is 10X150 metric. The Thread entering the handle(long end) is larger- probably about 12X 175 but I am not certain about the exact diameter. Since I couldn't find a two sided stud like the original I used a stainless steel stud that was 10X150 throughout and it worked just fine. I did order a stud from espresso parts but is was too large and didn't fit into the portafilter. I turned a small cocobolo block that I bought at Rockler wood working and then threaded it with a metric tap after drilling the appropriately sized hole. I wanted to get a metal insert for the handle but couldn't locate one. The fit is very snug and hopefully it won't deteriorate. I finished it with minwax antique oil finish and mahoney wax. If anyone needs more details, please contact me.