Mini-MARCFI La Graziella

A haven dedicated to manual espresso machine aficionados.
amajors
Posts: 3
Joined: 18 years ago

#1: Post by amajors »

I've been pondering a used La Pavoni for several weeks, but could never get one cheap enough to please SWMBO. Unfortunately, I stumbled into this place over the weekend and got tired of waiting for the right La Pavoni, so it is your fault that I bought this copy of a chrome peacock.

The E-bay auction was item number 4414841335

Any suggestions where I start looking for information/parts for the thing? alt.coffee, google, and coffeegeek were all pretty slim. Do any of the sponsors here specialize in such odd-ball stuff?

With a little luck, this will become my office machine and earn me a LMWDP number in a month or so.

Then again, there are auctions for Olympias...

Alan

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HB
Admin
Posts: 21981
Joined: 19 years ago

#2: Post by HB »

Someone recently asked about a similar machine in Anyone familiar with a lever machine called 'La Cara'?, shown below:

Image
La Cara Espresso Machine on flickr

I noticed the one you bought has a 220V plug. If you live in the US, you'll need a sizeable step-up transformer.
Dan Kehn

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cpl593h
Posts: 116
Joined: 18 years ago

#3: Post by cpl593h »

It was YOU!

YOU outbid me!

amajors (original poster)
Posts: 3
Joined: 18 years ago

#4: Post by amajors (original poster) »

HB wrote:I noticed the one you bought has a 220V plug. If you live in the US, you'll need a sizeable step-up transformer.
Uh, that's an oops on my part. The plug looked like 120V to me - I just focused on the crack and figured I'll be be replacing it.

Sorry about the outbid. I started to ask about this thing here, but haven't seen any guidelines on posting about live auctions. In ac and coffeegeek, that is not a good way to introduce oneself.

If I can get decent coffee out of this machine, it will probably be a stepping stone to something else. Right now I just wanted to try out a lever. Parts for the thing may be a bigger problem than I anticipated.

Alan

amajors (original poster)
Posts: 3
Joined: 18 years ago

#5: Post by amajors (original poster) »

Update:

The machine heats up well enough to make steam, but leaks badly at the glass and lever. I'll start taking it apart this week to establish what o-rings and gaskets I need to seal up the leaks. The power cord also needs to be replaced. There is a 125V label over the power cord, so my 220 worries are solved. The current cord is not grounded, but it does have what looks like a grounding piece molded into the bottom of the plug?

I'll fix these issues first and then see about a serious de-scaling on the boiler. There was quite a bit of white mineral gunk coming out of it and also some black gunk in the group.

My goal at this point is to be in business by Christmas.

I'm going to use the plethora of pavoni websites as a guide to working on this thing.

Alan