Steam tip recommendations for Faema two-group

[cannonfodder]

I want to get a couple of steam tips for my Faema. Right now I have the stock 4 hole on the machine and the steaming is a tad fast. I steam for one drink at a time and usually only have 6 oz of milk in the pitcher. Right now I run from 40F to 150F in about 8 seconds. Getting good microfoam is some what of a challenge.

I have tried the two-hole gold pro tip that I have on my Isomac and it is too slow. I think a 3 hole tip would probably hit the sweet spot. Any suggestions?

PS, I run my boiler at .85 bar on an 11 liter boiler.

[cannonfodder]

OK, time for a bit of reality check. I had the wife stop watch me to verify the time. It is 10 seconds for 6oz. I have another 4 hole tip that was on a new steam wand that did not fit the machine. Closer inspection, the new tips holes are substantially smaller than the original. Erosion from years of use? I put the smaller 4 hole tip on and repeated the stopwatch test. 14 seconds from 42f to 148F. I kill the steam at 133F the rest is carry over. That is better, but I would still like to get another 4 seconds for stretching.

[HB]

Every Friday I play with the La Marzocco GB5 at Counter Culture Coffee's espresso lab, or the FB-70 at Pheasant Creek Coffee. What you describe sounds very familiar. One week I was preparing a cappuccino at Geoff's place (he tolerates me behind the bar without complaint - most of the time) and struggled fruitlessly to microfoam. "What's up with this Geoff, nothing but soap bubbles?!?" He explained that the machine was just serviced, which included replacing one of the steam arms. Everyone was complaining bitterly about the new steam tip on the righthand wand. Both tips were four holes and the difference in hole size wasn't visually obvious, but oh boy, did it make a huge difference when the "old" tip was returned.

That said, steaming only six ounces of milk on a machine that powerful is always challenging. I would either (a) waste some milk by using a larger pitcher, or (b) practice more. Putting a "cheater tip" on your machine somehow feels like putting wooden wagon wheels on a BMW. It's just wrong.

[cannonfodder]

I took the two hole tip that came with my Isomac (replaced it with a gold pro long ago) and it uses the same size thread. Once again the holes are two small so I got to thinking, why not just open them up? So out came the cobalt drill bits and drill press.

The feeler gauge tells me that the new 4 hole tip and the stock Isomac two hole tip have the same size opening. So I drilled out the two holes to 1/16 inch which is still smaller than the old 4 hole tip. It made a huge difference. The overall volume of steam from the modified 2 hole appears to be very close to the smaller 4 hole. However the angle of the jets works much better in a smaller pitcher with a smaller volume of milk. It generates an incredible vortex in the pitcher and whipped up perfect wet microfoam on the first try.

I would not call it a cheater tip. It is more the right tool for the right job. Those 4 hole tips on a commercial machine are designed for large volumes of milk in large pitchers. If I up the volume from 6 to 12-14oz, the 4 hole works wonderfully. I still want to try a 3 hole tip.

I wish I had a LM to play with. The only one I have been able to play with was Barry's bionic two group. Talk about a wonderful and easy to use machine. Almost effortless shots and foam.