Rebuilding the Oly twins... a saga - Page 4

[Fullsack]

I pick up the pieces Monday and will post pics.

Original chrome vs. nickel plating.

[timo888]

Is the piston cylinder replated with nickel too?

[Fullsack]

Is the piston cylinder replated with nickel too?

Just plated what you see. After I got it together I noticed some exterior nuts and bolts I wished I would have gotten plated. The lever pins and clips would have been a nice touch also.

[TUS172]

Wow... "Wolf-Whistle"... It really adds a deep luster to the look. Very nice!

[timo888]

It looks deep golden in the pic. Is it the color of a satin faucet?
Regards
Timo

[Fullsack]

It looks deep golden in the pic. Is it the color of a satin faucet?
Regards
Timo

It is a deep color and a darker chrome, but with a tinge of blue. The golden hue is from a reflection from my kitchen. Yes, I've seen faucets with this coloration.

[Fullsack]

Is the piston cylinder replated with nickel too?

I thought you were kidding about this until I read your brass boiler thread. What internal parts of a Cremina would you nickel plate? I drink a lot of coffee from this machine and the hot water comes in contact with a lot of its brass.

[peacecup]

I've seen some discussions of the potential for metals to leach into the water from brass. I recall someone suggesting that current EU standards would require that manufacturers use brass that does not leach, but I did not see this substantiated, or know whether it is even possible. The new Creminas have steel boilers if I recall.

PC

[Fullsack]

I don't know that much about leaching, but keeping the boiler completely empty, (turn it upside down over the sink to get rid of the last few inches of water), when not in use and only having water in it during the 15 minutes or so of use, I would think, would minimize the problem.

[mogogear]

I thought you were kidding about this until I read your brass boiler thread. What internal parts of a Cremina would you nickel plate? I drink a lot of coffee from this machine and the hot water comes in contact with a lot of its brass.

With regards to Timmo's question remember back in this thread- you seal off the area of the internal cylinder from the stripping chemicals and the plating process. So no food contact areas are plated in the process...... I asked this question of my plating company, too so I DID NOT have my PF's replated since they would be food -contact surfaces....

[mogogear]

P.S. Nice looking machines Doug!

[timo888]

With regards to Timmo's question remember back in this thread- you seal off the area of the internal cylinder from the stripping chemicals and the plating process. So no food contact areas are plated in the process...... I asked this question of my plating company, too so I DID NOT have my PF's replated since they would be food -contact surfaces....

There is a kind of nickel plating that is food-safe. It keeps the lead in the brass from getting into the water.

Regards
Timo

[Fullsack]

For the entire brite work for the one machine, it was $332.

A less expensive option would be a professional polishing of the chrome. The place were I got the nickel plating done, High Lustre, Hayward, CA, offered to polish the chrome rather than doing the replating. I bet it would have looked great.

[mogogear]

Got the call today from the Chrome Folks! All is ready- I picked them up -

they did a great job- So pardon my hurry to post the shots while real life is waiting on me. I didn't wipe them perfectly clean so there are a few fingerprints etc in the pictures- I say this to make sure that no one thinks they did a poor job- the pieces are flawless- no pin-spots





I will not use up webspace to post a side by side shot of where I started, the stripped version and the final... You can do that on your own. So time to run a quick clean up of the inside of the cylinders and start to reassemble them. Then off tothe powder coaters for the body surrounds.

[sneakymagic]

Fantastic Greg - very pleased for you and selfishly glad to see this as it offers (expensive!) hope for keeping the old toys running!

So, a question from the sheap seats:
Has anyone tried shimming the lever slot to slow down the ravages of the lever over the years? Is this even worth trying to do? I ask as my own machine is showing signs of such wear: chrome's gone and I guess the brass is likely to wear out at an even faster rate.

Or maybe replacing the roller in which the lever pins sit with something sacrificial...

Any thoughts?
sneaky.

[timo888]

Perhaps hammering a piece of thin copper pipe into the shape of the slot and "lining" the slot with it?

[mogogear]

I thought about that a little when I first started thinking about what to do to remedy the situation. I felt I was less able to make a precise insert for a imprecise slot worn from wear, even though idea is sound. You would have to have smaller rollers made also - or have the current ones turned on a lathe to a smaller O.D. Sacrificial rollers? Which side to make softer would be a question for a more engineering oriented contributor. These seemingly little details can be more expensive than you think unless you have a lathe and skills to accompany it. Many small jobs for skilled craftsman have minimum charges. So all in all I don't feel too bad about the fix and the costs.

All in all the cost of the group head work cost me about $145 each head. On the Oly Site I do not see a head for the 67 available- on the 2002 the head shows to be $126 - not a bad price- I don't know if it would work on an older model machine- a very good chance that they WOULD NOT.

All in all good questions SM- I hope that helps.

[timo888]

I thought you were kidding about this until I read your brass boiler thread. What internal parts of a Cremina would you nickel plate? I drink a lot of coffee from this machine and the hot water comes in contact with a lot of its brass.

I overlooked this question. I would do the inside of the boiler, the inside of the piston cylinder, and, while I am at it, the portafilter. I need to find some gaskets and then I will be able to test the lead levels in the brew water. My expectation is that with all that brass, the high temperatures, and the soft-ish water, the levels will be high enough to warrant the expense. BTW, my Cremina is a 1992 and is in like-new condition. I am its second owner and the first was a woman who used it perhaps a half dozen times with a can of Lavazza, couldn't get good espresso, and gave up The machine that concerns me is a 1970s era Oly Club in a state of disrepair that I recently acquired.
Regards
Timo

[sneakymagic]

I was thinking that a coke can would be the easiest thing to cut a shim from as per bikestem shims: may try this at some point soon as I don't fancy the brazing and re-plating costs this side of Christmas.

Possibly a nylon roller would work as a sacrificial part but I am not in anyway familiar with this - maybe easier to drill a solid plug to fit and then grind/ lathe to size: anyone got any suggestions as to material types?

Maybe Steve is in a position to see if the new groupheads would fit?

sneaky

[timo888]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delrin

EDIT: I don't know Delrin's hardness relative to brass. It could be harder. But if it is softer than brass, a sacrificial bushing might be used to prevent or reduce deformation of the slot. If it is harder, perhaps a thin slot liner could be made from it?

EDIT: Delrin's hardness.