After messing with that rocker myself I suggest you don't bend it. The adjustment is via the springs that hold the element to the kettle front and back.

To piggyback on what Gary said:

Check out those springs and maybe replace them if they are weak. You just need to remove element and then remove the cool balls that hold the springs located next to the portafilter. Do not lose those balls!!!!

Then pull out the long screws from the top that the balls were screwed into. Now the tray will pull up and out. The tray is clipped into the back on top of a grommet that is spring loaded. Note where it clips into. Now pull that sucker up and out! The springs will be loose down in there.

Check out those springs and maybe bring them to a local hardware store. Not sure if they have Ace Hardware in your neck of the woods, but they usually have an extensive spring collection. I just eyeballed something about the same size, and it did wonders! Now the tray requires a little more force to push down the kettle to lock it in.

To change adjustment for your thermostat to work better, mess with the spring tension on those from springs and the back one, too. Just try to keep them approximately level with each other.

Good luck!
Pete

Thank you, Pete, for the detailed explanation. I needed that since I was wondering where those springs were.

I'll get on looking for them under the hood - and I will be careful. It's all fun and games until someone loses their balls.

I just bent the bar on the back of the kettle. It never occurred to me to adjust the balls/springs . . .


Unrelated to temp adjustment, I saw someone just put up the Caravel patents for order as prints. Pretty tempting!

dumpshot wrote:Check out those springs and maybe replace them if they are weak. You just need to remove element and then remove the cool balls that hold the springs located next to the portafilter. Do not lose those balls!!!!

Dr. Salati must have been spring crazy. Even the tiny ball knobs that adjust spring tension to the element have very tiny springs inside them. If you lose those I don't know where you would find a replacement.

dumpshot wrote:The sealsare crazy looking! (in a cool way)

I am curious about the seals and will order some.
Pete

I've been in slow-coffee-land and haven't been very active espresso-wise or on this forum. I'm only seeing this seals now and they look very good. As I am near the end of my stock (7 pairs left), I may not order any more and forward everyone to this guy. He is clearly more into creating all these parts at the moment. Good that there is still so much dedication to this machine!

Someone is parting out a caravel on eBay.it. No portafilter or baskets though.

A nice find on eBay.it
I already had a Caravel, but this one was too good to be true: exceptional condition, hardly ANY usage traces after so many years! Best of all, everything seems to be there, including a double and a single basket.
All I needed to do was wash, fill and run, adjusted the thermostat with a milk thermometer so it idles around 95C. First shot was already very fine, though I did need to lock the PF very tight, because the seals seem a bit stiff. I ordered the new red&blue seals from brooksespresso.




I feel like collecting a lot of Caravels, since they're no longer being made and coffee lovers seem to snatch them away like rare whisky bottles.

One like that just went off yesterday. Very nice!

OK, so I have a tstat issue with both my new machines. I have not tackled the ball and springs yet on the VAM 1.0 (time seems to be precious).

I put new seals in my caravel 2.0 today and turned it on. The tstat kicked off very quickly. The kettle didn't seat back against the bar well with the thermostat knob turned in to the max. I loosened the nuts on the bottom of the front springs, thinking they would elongate and give more tension and force the kettle back more against the bar to keep the element on.

I turned it on again, and it seemed to sit well at first. If I pushed the tstat screw in, it didn't move and 'klink'.

It clicked off again too soon (170F). THIS TIME though, if I pushed the tstat screw in, it moved and made the klink sound - kicking on the element.

I am at a bit of a loss here trying to figure out what to do next. Dumpshot mentioned replacing the spring on my VAM. Is that the answer here?

I'm not sure why the kettle sat just fine at first but then, when hot, it moved away from the tstat not allowing it to continue heating. The 'klink' noise tells me that the contact is what drives the element on.

** One thing I do want to mention is the little temp adjustment screw. It does not move by hand - it needs a pair of pliers. Also - is there a spring in that screw that could be slack? Perhaps that is the issue at hand? I have no basis for comparison.



Help please!?