RapidCoffee wrote:Just to be clear: on my 2003 MCaL, the drip tray is made of black plastic with a perforated metal cover. There is no screw in the drip tray. Underneath the drip tray is a circular indentation in the base. There is a screw in the indentation, offset near the boiler, and centered on the base. Removing that screw allows the bottom cover to come off.

The vacuum breaker sits on top of the boiler, just behind the cap.

I definitely have no screw in the drip tray. I don't have the black plastic tray under the perforated cover. To take the bottom cover off there were 3 sheet metal type screws.

I don't have access to the machine or my pictures right now but when I do, i'll post them.

I'm just curious what the difference is between this "SCN" model vs and "S1CO" model. I'm thinking the grouphead is the same and that the difference are what I noted. I do notice that the base on this one seems pretty big. Hard to tell just by looking at the pictures but suffice to say it sure dwarfs the europiccola.

cannonfodder wrote:...............
I would remove the wand to get it out of the way and just use it as an espresso only machine as is.

That's what I'm thinking.
I'll probably remove the wand or bend just the wand portion so it can be somewhat usable.

BTW, in terms of BOOOOM!!!, keep in mind that pressure tubing is bent all the time (controlled yielding I guess) and there are no issues doing it. And gas/fluid tubing is much thinner wall than this.

caeffe wrote:BTW, in terms of BOOOOM!!!, keep in mind that pressure tubing is bent all the time (controlled yielding I guess) and there are no issues doing it.

That isn't my main concern. The weld between the valve assembly and tank body took a serious hit. I'm not qualified to judge whether its integrity was compromised, so I would err on the side of caution and replace the boiler.

Ceasar! Wow, so you're the one that beat us on the Elektra! LOL (only that we didn't know it was you). Too bad it was more damaged, rather than less! Sounds like you're on the right track here.

We once had a 1940's era guitar amplifier, needed all new capacitors - when we fixed it, we were aware tha if the capacitors weren't put in properly the amplifier would explode. So, we repaired the Amp, took a 100 foot extension cord, plugged in the Amp, hit the switch, and then from 100 feet away, plugged it in! Ready for explosion, sparks, something! It didn't blow up, and as it turned out, was one SWEET Amp!

So you've done your due diligence, and you've got a real bargain! YAY! How is it working???

Caesar,
I'd show it to an engineer who deals with pressure vessels (preferably a friend or a friend of a friend). Sudden failure at the weld would be bad, but how likely is it really? We are only talking about maybe 50psi after all, so sudden (note: slow is a different matter) rupture doesn't seem likely unless the weld is really quite brittle. Without someone actually looking at it, there is no way to know and all this is speculation. Replacing the boiler is unlikely to be cheap.

Greg

Fortunately I do have a working background with pressurized systems (ASME code, NASA, etc...).

Next thing I was planning to do is a proof pressure test - essentially overpressurize to 1.25/1.5 x max operating pressure or rather, max possible operating pressure. I'm not sure what this is - maybe folks here can tell me as I'm not a steam boiler kind of guy. Back of the envelope tells me roughly 1.5-2 bar. This pressure needs to be if the p-stat was never there. Also, I didn't see or notice a relief valve device similar to my europiccola, I don't think I can take the cap as a relief valve.

Caesar,
There is usually a pressure relief in the cap, a simple spring and ball arrangement in the center of the screw-in cap in old models and something functionally equivalent in the new ones (I've not seen inside the new one yet, but I've heard it working on rare occasions).

Greg

IMHO I think a skilled metal smith is needed to repair the boiler. And it will most likely be expensive because of the difficulties and processes involved. The following are some reasons/comments:

Heating the boiler near the steam wand boss could melt the silver brazing alloy detaching it from the boiler.
Continued heating to soften the boiler for dent removal could open other brazed joints because of the high thermal conductivity of the boiler - sophisticated techniques are often used to heat sections very locally to avoid this problem.
Also it is not uncommon for different melting point brazing alloys to be used so that the parts can be brazed sequentially - most likely only the manufacturer knows these details.
If the boiler metal is softened and the dent removed how will the original strength properties be re attained, and then verified.
After repairs the boiler will require appropriate hydrostatic pressure testing to ensure it is safe for use.
All of this work will destroy much of the plating so the boiler will need refinishing.

(There was a fellow who did this type of work who advertised on the web but I cannot find him. Maybe others know who and where he is?)

Good luck
Geoffrey

Not sure I want to go to the point of 'working' the metal back into shape.

I went ahead and cycled the machine a couple times last weekend. This weekend, I went ahead and tried a couple of pulls - it's definitely finickier compared to my 'piccola. Maybe cuz the spring doesn't allow you to adjust the pull throughout the pull, per se.

One of these weekends, I'm gonna have to do hydrostatic proof testing to ensure safety.

It does go without saying to other folks reading this. Heat and pressure can be dangerous - I have some advantage in having knowledge of high pressure systems. As Dan has already said - I may end up parting this out for safety's sake. Hopefully, I can keep her in a safe manner. Right now for me to use it, I power up and pressurize outdoors, i'll use it in the kitchen once i can reproof her.