Packing & shipping tips for a 40lbs. espresso machine - Page 2

[oofnik]

Well I contacted FedEx and apparently they only deal with claims through the shipper. Wonderful. So I'm trying to contact the seller but he is very slow to respond. It will be interesting to see how this will work out, to say the least.

Anyway I intend on keeping this machine and fixing it up to the best of my ability. I'm going to call Espresso Parts soon and get some little replacement parts. After a bit of research and poking around I found out that it actually has two heat exchangers, one for brew, one for hot water. I don't know how rare that is, but it's kind of cool. The grouphead is stamped with the date 7/95. I pulled the mushroom out and the scale wasn't too bad surprisingly, given the condition of the previous head gasket. The only place I could find a similar machine was here. So apparently this is the old style Mininova before the stainless steel version came to the market. I wonder if I could find the new stainless shell and retrofit it to the innards of my machine... that would be neat.
Can't wait to start brewing!

[oofnik]

Just wanted to update in case anyone was interested. I've pulled the machine apart. the base was put on a press and flattened out to its original shape, cleaned, and coated with a corrosion resistant spray. Next time I work on it I'll soak all the fittings in citric acid (already started). Apparently the threads onto which the pressurestat were screwed seem to be very stripped, so I'll either need to get a new T fitting that goes into the boiler, or go straight to PID. I've already got all the parts I need for that. I ordered a new gasket, screen, and various other parts from espressoparts.com, and I think I'll need to place another order for the steam valve gaskets and such. So far this is looking good, and I hope to have it up and running by next weekend.

PS I was a little concerned about the appearance of the mushroom. The scale apparently ate away the chrome plating somehow, and I don't know if that's a bad thing or what. Could this cause problems?

[HB]

The scale apparently ate away the chrome plating somehow, and I don't know if that's a bad thing or what. Could this cause problems?

It's "normal." I wish manufacturers would not chrome the inside since it will eventually flake off as your picture shows. Apparently they believe a little chromium in your espresso is not a cause for concern.

[oofnik]

Yeah.. it's not like you're going to see the inside of those parts anyway. Oh well.
I made a lot of progress on the rebuild today. Well, it was mostly installing the dual pressure gauge. I just happened to have a hole saw that fit the gauge diameter perfectly. That is some tough alloy though, took forever to cut through! But it's all done now and it looks really great. Only problem is I have no fittings! Does anyone know what kind of fittings I need? From pictures I've seen it's apparently some sort of brazed compression fitting. Where can I find these parts since they are all BSPP? I checked out McMaster but couldn't find exactly what I need. Maybe I'm being too specific? I know some of you have installed pressure gauges on some machines out there - I'd love some help with this. Also, what are the best places to splice in the pressure line? Thanks.