I'm seriously impressed anyone's ever managed to blow the seals out on one of these. Without using it as a trampoline at least.

I just set my Mythos Plus to as low as it could go without chiming for a weird experiment (basically it looked awful similar to the Bunnzilla output at that size, just a tad less consistent and coarser, but just a tiny bit. So hey, maybe the increased consistency at a lower grind size will make it somehow work?) and it took a solid few minutes of pulling as hard as I reasonably could. But the seals are just fine.

As for the shot, instead of crema the shot had these weird globs of oil, it was wild. Somehow it wasn't totally 100% awful. I finished the shot without wincing even. I would never have called it decent, good, enjoyable, or really anything positive other than "I am not rushing to spit this out". But that's still way way better than the bitter mess I was expecting. Maybe it's just since I was expecting something so awful I'd need a gallon of sparkling water to rinse out the taste, but I thing it's not even the worst shot I've ever made.

I imagine wear and tear plus old age might do it?
I had a set of soft seals that wore out quickly but a new set were much harder and going strong.

Seacoffee wrote:Doug, from Orphan Espresso suggested a method which I have used successfully. Bend the screen into a curved dish and insert then carefully straighten. If you check on their website you may still be able to find the reference.

Thanks for the hint. When looking more closely I saw that three of the little hooks, where the shower screen is supposed to sit on are missing, so I am out of luck.

I contacted the seller and he said he would look for an replacement boiler or fuse the screen back on.

Given you have got to that stage. Place the screen in and just peen the edges in a couple of places to hold it it.

Not sure I understand. If the little hooks the screen sits on are gone on one side, how can I get the screen to hold just by bending it into place?

You can see in the picture I posted that the hooks at 11, 1 and 2 o'clock are there, however the hook at 4 o'clock is missing.

Push the screen in place into the two remaining hooks. Then with a pin punch, punch an area at the missing position and it will lock the screen in place. It is stainless steel it will detent easily

I can't even get the screen in the right place under the hooks. I pushed too hard at one point and bent the screen such that it was stuck in the piston tube. But can't get it in the right spot.

Try the curve trick

Finally got around to replacing all my wiring in the Vam to CSA /UL approved high temp wiring. Here is the before and after.

Beyond wiring safety I also wanted to move up to 14g from what I believe is bare copper 18g under the original white brittle wiring covering.