Here's a clip from the Bezzera diagram. I don't know if my Pasquini is supposed to be identical or if these pieces were not used. They don't seem to be too critical - another screen filter and what seems to be a spacer that keeps the screen in place. Comments?

Ross Leidy wrote:Can someone tell me if this is the gicleur?

Ye, it's similar to others I've seen, i.e., a few small holes leading to another chamber with a screen between them and a gicleur ("jet" or orifice) exit.

Dan - thanks for the confirmation.

After I washed the frame and used the air compressor to dry it off, the existing paint didn't look too bad, at least on the base that is exposed. It still needed some attention in a few places, however. I pondered having the frame powder coated, but ultimately decided on the cheaper auto paint spray-can approach. I picked up a can of hi-temp primer and some engine paint that was a close match to the existing paint (or appeared to be). I setup a makeshift spray tent in the sunporch, donned a respirator, and went to work. I thought the fumes would be confined to the one room, but I quickly stunk-up the house. I finished the job as quickly as I could, including a couple coats of a clear topcoat.

The color is a dark gray with a little bit of greenish tinge and has some fine metallic flecks. The color is not quite as close a match to original as I thought, but it turns out it looks good with the hammered-gold-ish side panels. Here's a couple shots of the final color.

Ross

I'm getting closer to being able to reassemble. I'm in need of a couple parts, and I've placed an order with cafeparts.com. Has anyone ordered from them before? The online ordering system took my cc number happily enough, but I found my order was marked as "back ordered" and emails to their published contact address bounce. I'll have to give them a call to see what's up. Unfortunately, emails to Pasquini have not been fruitful.

Assuming I took enough pictures to start working backwards, I'm not far from putting things back together. Most of the parts I need aren't required immediately, so I can make some progress while waiting for parts. Unfortunately, I won't be able to take my project with me when visiting my wife's family for Thanksgiving.

I did manage to twist off a couple screw heads when disassembling the hot water tap solenoid. I hope to be able to drill out the remnants of the screws and reuse the part.



Some delicious looking Italian spaghetti:

For cleaning pipe dope and spent teflon tape off of threads, this brass bristle brush has been working great. I picked it up in the paint stripping area of Home Depot.

I started re-assembly this evening and took a shot with the side panel in place. I think the gold looks good with the new base color. I'm still waiting for some parts, but fortunately I can still do a lot of the assembly before I have to stop and wait. I've got some stainless to polish, so I'm sure I could switch over to that.

Ross Leidy wrote:I think the gold looks good with the new base color.

Very nice!

I think it's looking excellent! Great work.

Mark

Thanks, guys. I'm having a blast.

I'm coming to terms with the fact that there's no unit-testing when reassembling this thing - it essentially needs to be all back together before I connect plumbing, plug it in, flip the switch, and enjoy the geysers.

I got a little bit more back together today. I'm using blue Loctite threadlocker on the straight threaded fittings. I'm trying to avoid the teflon tape to avoid the cleanup problems in future repairs.

Here's the current state:

I'm using blue Loctite threadlocker on the straight threaded fittings. I'm trying to avoid the teflon tape to avoid the cleanup problems in future repairs.

If you want to be able to take it apart in the future you might want to use Loctite® 565™ PST® Thread Sealant. While blue isn't the strong stuff, on big threads it can be quite strong and brass is soft and bends easily.

Ira