PreM La Pavoni Europiccola skips near the top of pull

[fayemonkey]

My PreM La Pavoni Europiccola skips near the top of my pull?
what causes this?
Also, my basket seems to get stuck a lot, which I just jiggle it and it loosens off the group head. Should I be using some kind of filter in between the coffee and grouphead?
and I am cross-eyed from looking for a naked 49mm pf....where can I find one (I have no ways of doing it myself....and I don't trust me with heavier machinery than the Pavoni).
I got one of the cappuccino frothing attachments and took it apart to fit my preM Pavoni, is it a problem if it spits out the foam at an angle instead of directly down?
Thanks.

[Kaffee Bitte]

Don't know about the frothing attachement since I prefer using the steam tip. I can tell you that the only way to get a bottomless portafilter for the pavoni's is to do it yourself, or send an extra filter in to someone else to do. I don't think you really need the bottomless, given some time with your machine most difficulties can be sorted out. Plus you have all of the other lever geeks to help you through some of the hurdles. The other problem with the bottomless on a lever machine (especially a manual) is how are you supposed to watch the flow from the portafilter when physically pulling the shot?

Could you describe in a bit more detail what you mean by "skips near the top of the pull"? This might help others to diagnose if there is a problem and what can be done about it.

[TUS172]

My PreM La Pavoni Europiccola skips near the top of my pull?
what causes this?
Also, my basket seems to get stuck a lot, which I just jiggle it and it loosens off the group head. Should I be using some kind of filter in between the coffee and grouphead?

Hi,
The skip at the top could be that the piston and rod need to be greased... There is a thread here on Home-Barista that addresses what kind of lube is best to use "cremina-67-piston-seal-jiffy-lube".
As far as the basket sticking up in the grouphead... If it seems to be sealed to the grouphead gasket then you may want to lessen the tork you are applying to the portafilter to seal it and/or you could apply a very light amount of lube to the gasket. If the basket seems to get hung up in the grouphead after it has released from the gasket...I have found that some baskets at the top where the lip is formed, they are sometimes a bit too large in diameter. I have simply taken it out to the shop and ground down the outside of the lip by a couple mm. You can do this with a dremel tool, grinder with a fine wheel, or even 150 grit sand paper if you have nothing else available. Just make sure you are taking down the outside diameter somewhat proportionately around the entire perimeter of the basket. Have fun...

[mrgnomer]

That skip is interesting. I got it with my Cremina after descaling. At first the whole rod was hard to move up and down so I pulled the showerscreen and greased up the inside of the piston. No problem after that with piston travel in the cylinder. Now, though, when I'm priming for a shot I get skipping too at the top. There's no leaking out the cylinder so I don't think it's piston seals. It could be just the top part needs a bit of lubing so if the skipping continues I might lube the inside of the cylinder up some more at the next tear down cleaning and work it as best as I can into the top part to see if that helps. Otherwise lubing up the rod could help a bit with the travel, though I've lubed it up good and the skipping still continues with me.