Sounds as if the crimping had two fold effect- it drew in the side edge of the basket flare AND raised the edge some.... locking in just one lug is a tad dangerous as you could spray really hot water upon you or bystanders.. so careful.... SO CAUTION!

We are mostly a group of improvisers... not all of us but many. The working of the rim is a bit of a delicate operation and I should maybe develop a set of pictures to illustrate what I do so that others could develop a scenario that will help them solve this small but irksome issue.

I will absorb some of the blame-- A new project for the new year!

Merry Christmas!

I've done nothing to the rim of my baskets and I can get both ears of my PF to lock in (just). If you can only get one ear in, then maybe the rim is now too high as mogogear suggests. Keeps me posted guys. Merry Christmas to all too.
Cheers,
Sam.

Update, post Xmas
The seller was kind enough to offer a partial refund due to the steaming issue - A little disassembly and some descaling and flushing and I was soon making some cappa's!


I ended up ordering a Europiccola basket - partsguru.com had them for $12! I also ordered a maintenance/refurb kit from them.

I definitely can see now that the Elektra basket is too tall for my PF.

Here's the Elektra a Leva basket:





And here's the europiccola:



I haven't measured that gap but I think that's the issue. Best solution I can see is to get NaKid PF from Richard.

I also purchased a Trossser & PeDe grinder but I haven't cleaned and calibrated them yet, so I'm still using the Major for grinding.

I've also made some shots, finding out that 10-11 g is the best dose for it. Any more and the shot is too hard to pull or 'push' by the time the lever goes over center. I'm able to get 1.5 oz or so and compared to my Silver Grouch (NS Oscar) the shots have less of an edge but have more flavor to it. Not sure if that makes sense .... I can't quite describe it due to my limited palate experiences.

I also tried the Fellini move (or is it?) - Pull lever up, wait about 10 seconds, push down till some drops appear, pull up again to add more water, then push down. I found I can get ~ 2 oz (my espresso cup is ~ 2 oz) but somehow the taste has some bitter edge to it. So for now it's a single pull, wait a couple of seconds, then push down. The crema is there but compared to the 'grouch' it disappears quicker.

Anyways, next step is to clean up and calibrate the manual grinders. Now, if only work didn't interfere ......

cheers,
Caesar, aka
Caeffe

Hi Caesar,
It does look like the MCAL basket sits slightly higher in your Pavoni PF than mine. It's not by much but I guess it's enough. Strange there should be differences in the manufacture of these PFs. I'd still like to find a PF that accomodates the MCAL basket better. I wondered if the MCAL PF would fit the Europiccola but that would be quite an expense.
Anyway, glad to hear your getting to pull some shots now. I also use a single pull. I also found the Fellini move less than satisfactory but may try it again at some stage.
And yeah, work can really slow the learning curve. My dad always says "Work is the curse of the drinking classes". The other thing that slows the learning curve is that, I can only drink 3 or 4 shots in one sitting before I start feeling a bit sick. Pity that.
Happy pulling,
Sam.

Oh ....
And here's how they compare, outside the PF:



As I said earlier, I crimped the elektra basket to get the outside flare to be narrower as mogo suggested, albeit I skinned the cat differently

It's possible the height may have changed some but I think I may have actually crimped it a bit too much inward as the dia may be out of round and not sitting in as well now. I should have checked the gap before (or is it mind the gap? )