LP Europiccola Portafilter Retaining Spring?

[escabi]

Hello Everyone!

I just recently acquired a new LP Millennium. I got a great deal on it - found it stashed away in the clearance isle of Homegoods for 90 bucks! Been playing around with it for the last week and have been getting very tasty shots thanks to all of the great input in the lever forums.

Now to my question: Is the LP supposed to have a retaining spring to hold the filter basket on the portafilter? The machine was out of the box and was missing the single basket so I'm not sure if its also missing a retaining spring. The machine works great as is but its been a bit of a pain especially when emptying pucks in my knock box (feels like I'm playing kitchen lacrosse with the portafilter). If it is supposed to have on where can I get one? Otherwise, any of you come up with a mod to keep the basket in the PF? Thanks for any input.

Monty

[Walter]

It doesn't have a spring and it isn't supposed to have one. Once getting used to the handling you might begin to see certain advantages of this method.

I've removed all springs from my other PFs long ago (since I fill distribute and tamp my baskets outside the PF), hence for me it wasn't much of a change of technique when I got my Pavoni.

[cannonfodder]

Here is a little trick you can try. I took my double basket and punched three small dents into the side using a center punch. I spaced them evenly around the basket and punched from the inside out. So the divot is inside the basket and the raised portion on the outside. This provided me with just enough tension to hold the basket in place when I turn it upside down to knock out the puck, but it avoids the nasty 'snap' that you get with a spring clip and ridged basket.

Sorry about the photo quality, I just snapped it on my phone. You can see two of the small divots on the inside of the basket. I circled all three so you have an idea of spacing.

[Brink]

A cheap, reversable and easy way to come around the missing spring issue, is to put loads of teflon tape around the basket. This way you can make the basket fit tight into the PF. This method, however, requires that you change the tape from time to time.

Good luck,

Peter

[escabi]

Thanks all for the input! Ill definitely give those ideas a try.

Cannonfodder, Ive been checking out your Faema thread occasionally. Very cool! Can't wait to see the finished product!