Need Faema Faemina repair advice

[PSCOTTON]

I am new to HB and new to owning a (my first) lever espresso. I have purchased a faemina after a deal of searching and I am keen for any advice on its required repair and service and please forgive my inaccurate descriptions of the following.
Firstly due to two months traveling around the world courtesy of Poste Italiane I need to find a replacement for the smashed steam knob with grub screw that also managed to bend. Both switches are the earlier? type, one steel and one bakelite and have also been damaged. Were they originally different?
The boiler and element need a de-scale, I am presuming I can get this from my local coffee supplier. Is there anything else other than running through a number of pumps to get the system clean?
I am aware of the potential need for seal replacements and think I have a good enough handle on where to get them and for what price but if anybody thinks they have the good oil please advise and that definitely goes for a reliable caring person to do the seal replacement.
Finally and on the more cosmetic side, the base has a chrome plate that is flaking in patches. I don't mind this, it is an old machine after all but I am wondering about the difficulty of removing this base plate from the post if I was to decide to re-plate it. I have noticed what I thought was a screw connecting the two but it appears to be a rivet and I am loathed to be too heavy handed on it/her.
So thank you in advance for any input and wow are there some rocking machines in the lever gallery.
Pete

[orphanespresso]

Greetings to a new HB Member! We know there's a lot of lever nuts in Australia, and obviously you're one of them! Welcome to the club!

I think the broken knob is fairly standard part, should be available in the big parts houses - it won't be exactly the same as the old one, lighter plastic than the original, but you should be able to find something that will work ok.

If your machine has the Massimo/Minimo switch on the left side, it would make it one of the earliest models. Believe it is a toggle - on / off on the right, 2 position switch on the left.

You're right on about the descaling - citric acid works fine, and you should be able to find that locally (if not at the coffee supply, try brewing supply).

As far as the rebuild goes, you need a bit of patience, for you will likely need to remove the sight glass, and put some non-food safe penetrating oil on the OUTSIDE of the removable cylinder, and let it sit for awhile. The biggest difficulty is removing the cylinder, everything else proceeds nicely after that. You'll find that the Faemina has a somewhat unusual sealing system, which you will appreciate after it is rebuilt, and you use it!

As far as the chrome goes, it is brass underneath, and there's not much you can do - if you want perfection you can have it rechromed, but the peeling chrome won't affect the espresso...

This may help you: http://www.orphanespresso.com/ind...ge&id=2&chapter=20 - not identical to your model, but very close. Don't know of rebuilders in Australia, but it would seem the old girl has done enough traveling for awhile! With some diligent care, and a few parts, she'll be kicking up her heels again!

[PSCOTTON]

Cheers Doug for your input. My wife does think I am a coffee nut but thanks to her appreciation of a good beverage she lets me get away with it.

[orphanespresso]

About the other switch, the high low on the left side. Does it say massimo minimo? Is it a toggle switch? It is beginning to appear that the toggle/massimo minimo takes a different piston seal than the Faemina with the rectangular plastic switches. Once you get it apart it would be interesting to get a measurement of the piston seal groove. It is too bad one can't go by serial numbers or some other defining characteristic but that massimo minimo designation seems to be a defining characteristic of one group of machines compared to the not so old and the not so new. Lots of variation cropping up in the old machines even with the same model name and appearance and we're trying to gather enough information to make sense of it.
Thanks
Doug

[PSCOTTON]

From further deduction I believe the switches would have been the same, the metal toggle is a ring-in and both would originally have been a plastic or bakelite. Sadly the one original switch broke in transit, the selling photos on ebay show it complete but I have sourced from the UK two new automotive switches for vintage car dashboards which have the same bezel and insertion hole dimensions and should suit well. If they do I will pass on the link. To answer your question yes, on one side the two enamel badges are 'min' and 'max' while on the other side the badges are solid green enamel and solid red enamel. It could be argued that either of these two colours could represent power on.?
I did read somewhere that a seal for this model is a different size but it to be available. I guess my next step is to power it up once the electrics are sorted and see what state the seals really are in. That can be the next piece of the puzzle, I am very glad my old Atomic continues to knock out a good brew while all this continues. Cheers.

[orphanespresso]

It's very nice that there's an uptick in interest in the Faemina! Toggles or no, rectangular plastic switches, badge color, as Faema isn't really free with their info regarding age, and year of production for the machine, it seems up to all of us to put the picture together... We think that Faema miniaturized their commercial machine, the original piston had a solid square ring, 6mm high. Much like a commercial group, somewhere along the line they refined the piston design, and used a 4mm o-ring. The toggle switches, versus the rectangular rocker switches, logic would have it that the toggle was earlier. The Faemina is a frustrating beastie, in that they seemed to refine tolerances over time - we've spent the last week tweaking the seals for the machine because of variances in the tolerances. What fits for the earliest, is just a bit too much for the next model, though they appear the same. This isn't as bad as the Caravel - that one is really whacko for variants! Sadly, our new-type Faemina has a bad element...what to do? It's the 700w element that is bad, so it's very slow to heat, and very little steam. Maybe we'll have to look into Elementary Elementing.

[PSCOTTON]

I had wondered who would have originally bought the Faemina. Whether it was for a small cafe or for private use. I guess with a boiler of its size it really did cater for the later.

The plug on my little project has been changed to suit our socket and the Lucas switches from the UK installed snuggly into the original base cut outs. They look as though they were made for it.

http://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/...urn+switch-details

However I fear that the faema seal kit procured through Orphan Espresso may be required. This is where my complete novice as a lever operator comes out and please excuse my incorrect nomenclature (I couldn't find the glossary of terms link a second time when I needed it).
Am I correct in thinking that when the lever is depressed a measured amount of water is forced into only the chamber above the portafiller and that it is the slow release of the spring loaded lever that pumps this water through the portafiller. Currently if I hold the lever down I will drain the boiler, very quickly when pressure has built up, and I am presuming this is due to failed seals? Is this the case?
I have the link passed on to me about replacing the seals and I will give this a propoer study now that I fear this is all about to occur.
Thanks for any further advice you may have and by the way, I am a sucker at looker at ebay for vintage machines as I like the look of them as much as I like the nectar they produce so I was curious to know what a learned person would pay for a 50's faema mercurio as posted the other week. I fell in love with it and tried in many ways to justify the asking price but as not one person placed a bid it was obviously out of the ball park. Are they as rare as they look? Pete

[orphanespresso]

Well done on those switches...automotive toggles, very good thinking.

The Faemina was (and is) a home machine intended to compete with the Gaggia gilda, but with a closed boiler. Faema used a piston very similar to the commercial machine, and for sure a BIG spring compared to some of the home levers.

Your analysis is close, but....since the cylinder is continuous to the boiler there is no measured amount of water, but when you pull the lever down you are opening up the system, much like removing the stopper from a drain. It will continue to drain even when cold by gravity until the water level reasches the top lip of the cylinder insert, which you can see through the sight glass.

Before you assume the seals are bad do the following test...power up the machine until it is hot and under pressure, then observe for leaks. If no water drips through the group then piston seal ok, cylinder to body seal ok, and inner piston seal ok. If no leak at the top of the piston rod, then rod seal ok. No leaks or hissing, then the seals are holding when machine hot and at rest.

When you pull the handle down about one inch, the water should gush forth through the group, this is the inner piston seal releasing for preinfusion (it is the gommino on the Faemina exploding diagram), and the water should stop when the lever is allowed back to rest.

That's all there is to it, no leaks at rest then a good sign.

The last test is try to choke the portafilter by grinding too fine and tamping hard...if you pull the lever all the way down and release, and the lever just sits there and very slowly, but maybe 5 or 10 minutes later will creep back to the top with a few thick oily drips in the cup, the the piston seal is good at rest and good on the pull and you have no need to wire off for seals!

Most of the time a bad seal is obvious with water dribbling squirting and hissing all over the place accompanied by the complete inability to make iven a bad cuppa joe.

I say go for the Mercurio, after all you are holding Australian dollars, almost as good as Euros. there would be a lot of classic levers crossing the ocean to the states for sure but for the weak dollar, since most people see the vintage machines as not only a good investment but high art, at least we do.
Doug and Barb

[PSCOTTON]

I really appreciate the assistance with this. I did actually load the portafilter a couple of days ago as a test with the grind I have for my atomic and gave it a moderate tamp, brought the lever all the way down and yes as you said it remained there. I panicked and switched it off.

Thank you also for the significant tip about needing to pull the lever down only an inch.

Thankfully though it does sound as though it is relatively watertight under pressure. I do get a little hiss between the boiler rim and the cap and there is a chance I may need to replace the portafilter gasket as there is some leaking between the group and the porter filter. On that note the basket is a tapered and much shallower basket than shown in the portafilter info and spec and I am wondering if is appropriate. It is stamped PM FAEMA, when I get an idea how to reduce the size of my images I will send some to show. It does seem to fit in well though.

One last thing before I turn in for the night is that the amount of steam doesn't seem as great as I would have expected but perhaps it is just a case of running some more descaling mix through it.

Thanks also for the gee up on the Mercurio. It is definitely a piece of art and I will have another look.

[PSCOTTON]

Hi Doug and Barb,
This morning I had my first two shots from the old dear. It wasn't by best coffee by a long shot but it wasn't bad either and I can see the potential. The amount of coffee accepted by the current basket is very small so
I have just had a look at the new 51mm double basket to suit a La Cimbali Microcimbali portafilter from your site and have read the original does suit the portafilter of a Faemina. Is this my best option for a larger basket?

Attached are the images of the one provided with my machine for your information.

thanks

Pete

[orphanespresso]

Hi Pete, Excellent to hear she's back up & running!

Is the rim of the small basket you have a flat one, or a curved rim one?

Your older model Faemina may use a flat rim, the newer Faeminas seem to use either flat, or curved rim baskets (this will determine where the PF handle is positioned when the PF is locked in). Our old Faemina takes a flat rim just fine, and the handle locks in perfectly at center.

Of course, you might have more concern about the quality of the coffee in the cup than where the PF handle locks in!!

The Microcimbali basket we have is a 51mm, with flat rim, and from our observation the OLD Faemina basket is a 51mm, with a flat rim also, so if that's what you have, this basket will fit. The newer one is a 51mm with a curved rim, and we think it may have been changed to mess with us linear thinkers....linear thinking may be overrated... Will have to think about that!

[PSCOTTON]

Hello, the rim is the rounded type and having looked again at the exploded diagrams it is clear that the basket I have is the single basket supplied with the machine. If the new double basket is also rounded it sounds as though I am in luck.

I have also chanced upon these guys http://www.midatlanticrubber.com/stem_bumpers.htm who I am planning to contact to replace my perished foot pegs or rubber stem bumpers as they call them. They should know I guess. I think the MAR 0799 has the right dimensions to fit the faemina pretty well unless of course faema decided in their wisdom to again make subtle dimension changes to their faemina plug holes. Anyway, again thanks for all your input so far.

Pete