Hi all.

Alongside the Astoria I picked up for restoration and practice for the food truck, I also grabbed a Gino Rossi RR45 grinder. I intended to start on the actual Astoria last night, but the grinder caught me on the way across the workshop as a possible easy win, and so the strip down and clean began. Having rebuilt a LOT of motorbikes, I'm a swine for photographing to the extreme, so apologies if this is a bit dull, but thought more photos would be better than less



The wiring on the auto switch in the "bit where the granules go" (yes, abuse me for not knowing this stuff yet ) was a horror and I'll be dropping down Maplins on the way home to get some new curly cable and new mains cable, whilst I'm there...

Anyone any idea of what cable I'll need for the two core to the microswitch?

There was an inordinate amount of coffee making it's way over the workshop floor at this point, so I slung some newspaper down and stopped worrying about it. I decided to take the whole thing apart and it was going to be washed and dried (except the slippery bits of course - which will be relubed...)



The myriad of small bits was getting bigger now, so I started taking notes and laying things out (like I knew what I was doing )

The label is where I sussed the RR45 moniker from. From what I've read it seems a decent grinder.



The internal wiring seems in very good condition, so I don't think I'll be replacing that. Just a darn good clean with some contact cleaner and a good vac.



All the appropriate bits were washed in soapy water and then rinsed to death to air dry in the workshop. Tonight I'll autosol the shiny bits, polish/wax the painty bits, replace the wiring and then pop it all back together. I'll take a look at the grinding blades too.

You don't need to bother with the autofill. Just connect the leads internally, ditch the flaps and such and plug up the holes in the grinder body and doser lid (the doser is the bit where all the coffee goes).
To get good espresso, you'd want to not use the doser, but rather dose each shot manually. So turn on the grinder, flap the doser while grinding and move around the pf to distribute evenly, just before you've got enough you turn off the grinder, flap some more, and then do your distribution/dosing trick on the pf. For more consistent results, you weigh the dose each time you brew a shot.
Something like this. (your grinder won't be quite as fast).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD4nj4_hEDo At the 13.00 minute mark. Do look at all the videos, you'll get up to speed espresso-wise very fast.

Thanks BC - that's really good advice. I didn't like the hanging wire anyway, so this gives me an excuse to get rid of it...

I'll check the switch to see if it's constant or break on switch and whip that element out.