After a brief trip to Italy yesterday, I'm back home with this beauty and looking forward to the challenges of a restoration. This is my first go and I hope the collective wisdom will help me out when I get stuck or am about to break something.



On first glance the condition of the chrome parts is not as good as I was hoping (and I probably overpaid quite a bit, but that's part of being a newbie )


The seller said it would be all complete, looking inside at his place, I found no electrics apart from a heating element. Guess it was run with gas...


He agreed to give me a spare mercury switch, so later on I can decide if I use that or buy a modern P-stat:


The boiler lid was a bit of a shocker:


Some screws are already broken off. Others look like the victims of a previous unsuccessful attempt to open the boiler: Someone started to flex off the heads.
I have never drilled out a bolt nor cut a new thread. Guess before this is done I'll have plenty of practice...

Thanks Gary. Yes it seems all complete, I'm adding more pictures.

Another pic from the front with drip tray and all... The water tab is damaged.



Found the birthday: 9th April 1957. Hope when it's time for the next birthday party it will already look like a coffee machine again...


The boiler is my main worry. Seems the main gasket has leaked for quite some time causing a lot of corrosion further below.


Just glad I have seen in other threads that such things can be fixed, otherwise this would probably be about the time I would wonder if this was a good idea.

Ok, photos of all parts are done, I'll get busy taking it apart.

drgary wrote:Til,

Welcome to H-B!

This is a great way to start. Whatever you paid it looks like you bought a very classic machine with the Plexigas and the back in beautiful condition. Is it complete? Are there parts like the drip grate that you are not showing yet? I look forward to watching your restoration.

After a closer look, I don't think the plexiglass is original. The Urania seems to have undergone a series of more or less successful overhauls: Lots of screws replaced with varying wrench sizes... anyway, I'm planning to keep it to make espresso, so I don't really care if everything is original.

couple of hours later. The frame is almost stripped. Didn't all go to plan though.



Just some stubborn bits left: The front feet are replicas and came off easily. The back feet seem original and are firmly corroded to the frame. Nothing there to grab them. I'm thinking to get or build one of these tools that wrap around an object with friction and then have a lever attached to turn. Also a butane torch to add heat would help. First thing to try is to put lots of WD40 and wait a night though. Any ideas appreciated.


The metal cover around the frame was attached with 8 screws, some completely corroded from the leaking boiler gasket. 6 heads broke off on the first attempt with only the slightest force. Only 2 are ok.
I lost several other screws to corrosion, many are in blind holes and will need drilling and tapping - more practice, yeah

I can't remove the cover yet because the boiler fill instruction sign is attached with two pins that seem to run through it and into the frame. Not sure how this was done, but it looks like I have to drill off the heads of those pins. Does anybody know more?

Welcome Til and congratulations on your machine!

Must be the older Auntie of my Miss Urania

Yours probably wasn't running on gas, as the heatshield is not there.

Do you have a neon lamp? Portafilters?

You might have noticed, that there are 3 different configurations of the Zodiaco/T1-group, defined by the different height of the middle pieces, and therefore different spring sizes are needed..., your middle pieces are the largest ones, I have the small ones on the Urania and a middle-sized one on my Lambro.

Before going in hard on your backside legs, you might give the WD40 (or a homebrew mixture of Azetone with automatic transmission oil) another try after itching free the first threads up- and downside with a needle or a pick. Then: time... and finally a blow torch

And where did you pick it up? Maltoni? Alfio? Piero?

Anyway: Take your time (you might need loads of it )

Holger

(Have you seen the Urania found in a barn-thread?)

Very nice! Congrats on the purchase. I don't see anything there to be discouraged about. I'm sure it will work great with a little bit of restoration.

I can't remove the cover yet because the boiler fill instruction sign is attached with two pins that seem to run through it and into the frame. Not sure how this was done, but it looks like I have to drill off the heads of those pins. Does anybody know more?

No need to drill them out, you take a very fine drift or a punch and tap it out from the back.