Cleaning/weird finish on my '78-'83 La Pavoni Europiccola

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silentslinky
Posts: 5
Joined: 9 years ago

#1: Post by silentslinky »

Hi all, I recently acquired a used La Pavoni Europiccola. I'm currently in the process of cleaning it up, but would like to ask your advice first before I do anything I'll regret. The top half of it seems to be coated in a weird plastic film which is peeling off slightly, and it has a large amount of ugly blemishes on it. How would I go about cleaning this off properly? Would I just use a brass cleaner? I realise mine is one of the weird plated models.

Would like it looking as new as possible :)

Pictures here: https://imgur.com/gallery/HhYOr/new

forbeskm
Posts: 1021
Joined: 11 years ago

#2: Post by forbeskm »

Search on Pavoni brass finish removal or some variation. For some reason they did brass over chrome and lacquered over top. I have one as well, late night eBay purchase "buy it now" and I didn't look close at the pictures :(. Oven cleaner the cold version helps on the lacquer and brass/copper removal from what I have read. There are a few threads about. Good luck!

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hipporun
Posts: 192
Joined: 9 years ago

#3: Post by hipporun »

I'd start with soaking everything in a vinegar bath, maybe 4-6 hours.

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rpavlis
Posts: 1799
Joined: 12 years ago

#4: Post by rpavlis »

The boiler appears to be the variety with "lips" on the cap fitting. I think this means it must also the flange element mounting rather than the screw on one present on both generation I machines and lipless generation II ones. You can tell the "fake" copper and brass machines generally even when the bizarre finish is intact because the "lips", the group attaching part, and the base are made of brass, and it gets plated in the really bizarre and senseless process of plating the boiler with nickel-chrome, and then plating it with copper again. Copper's electrode potential does not permit it to react with water, though it can react with oxygen. Nitric acid dissolves Cu practically instantly. However, nitric acid dissolves a LOT of other things!

The base looks a bit ugly too. Perhaps the best thing to do with it is get rid of all the corrosion and find a good paint. I painted the similarly ridiculous copper plated MCAL base with hammertone paint. It takes a month or more for that to become cured enough for rough handling whilst the boiler is heated in spite of the manufacturer claiming it is fully cured in 48 hours. It comes in copper and grey.

Perhaps you could paint the boiler too, but the hammertone paint would almost certainly not be appropriate because the boiler gets too hot for the rated temperature of most hammertone paints. There are paints for engines, etc. that might be appropriate. These are stable to 300C or so, as I remember. These paints come in many colours, though a chartreuse or magenta boiler might look a bit strange! If I remember correctly these are available in metallic colours.