More progress this morning. No parts in the mail yesterday BTW. Completely tore down the boiler, steam wand, and pressurestat. Descaled the boiler and element in less than 5 minutes with lime remover from KAY Chemical. Am amazed at how small the element seems to be. All looks so clean now. Inspected the inside of the bent sightglass port and it doesn't seem as bad as it looks from the outside. So will proceed with caution there as to not incur more damage upon reassembly. May consult my neighbor the Porsche auto body guy just in case. In the meantime will zip to Ace hardware, I'd like to get 2 new S/S grouphead screws to replace the slightly rusty and almost stripped ones. And i need to figure out what to use to relube the pressurestat. Mark do you remember what you used? I'll look at your old post again as well. (I think it was your post)
Pics to follow later.

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Tom@Steve'sEspresso wrote:And i need to figure out what to use to relube the pressurestat. Mark do you remember what you used? I'll look at your old post again as well. (I think it was your post)
Pics to follow later.

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I used Dow 111, I ordered way too much, I got 150g (3.5 oz) which will last a life time.... The reason I used citric acid is that if I left some in the boiler I wasn't worried about eating it.

Mark

I can tell that the pressurestat gasket needs replacing but I don't see a reason to replace the whole switch...yet. Mark, didn't you get a piece from Doug at OE to replace yours? I've looked at the Mcmaster site but the catalog makes me absolutely dizzy! Which material should i use? Thanks for your help.

Tom@Steve'sEspresso wrote:I can tell that the pressurestat gasket needs replacing but I don't see a reason to replace the whole switch...yet. Mark, didn't you get a piece from Doug at OE to replace yours? I've looked at the Mcmaster site but the catalog makes me absolutely dizzy! Which material should i use? Thanks for your help.

Tom: Check your email and see what you think.

Mark

Thanks Mark, absolutely!

So today I went down to auto zone and behold, spray-on engine enamel- good to 500*. Spent a few hours this noon stripping all the old lacquer off the boiler and the grouphead. I found that 3M safe stripper worked magic on the old yellow peeling stuff. Managed to polish things up nicely and then got a new coat of the enamel on. Doesn't look nearly as nice as factory stock but I think it'll do a good job of protecting the plating and brass until such time that I can have a real electroplate done. Took a little while to get everything reassembled with a few snags here and there. The pressure gauge wouldn't line up back to original so out came the teflon tape. Tried to crack the outboard side of the steam valve but the damn thing wouldn't budge! This after a few glasses of La Crema though, so maybe I was slightly impaired- hehehe. Sightglass needed a little coaxing as far as screwing in the mounts. Remember that the hubs are a little tweaked out of alignment so I tried to be very careful as to not break, crack, or strip anything.

Everything looked good for ignition at this point so I put it up on the stove to see if the Pstat was going to leak under pressure, etc. Filled it up, capped it, and flipped the switch...Got lights, got rumble, got heat!
Gauge started moving; higher; higher; almost .8bar. Bled false pressure off. Gauge rebounded quickly. Got a nice drip going from the Pstat gasket. Gauge climbing past 1.1...continued out of the red brew zone), still going. Killed the switch at 1.25. No need to risk it on the first run. All this within 7minutes of flipping the switch. Wow! I'm impressed, as the element struck me as a bit small. And the steam was strong and dry just like everyone else says, very nice.

I'll get some fresh beans in the morning and pull a few real shots. Suppose I'll have to modulate the power manually until I get the gasket repaired. And I'll get the other pics up as well. All's left to do now is get a brass drip tray and a new base, then the MCal will be a complete machine again. YAY!!

Off to bed now
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Good news.... and fast!

I'm pretty sure I'm drooling... yes, I'm drooling. I lost out on the 80s Elektra that came up on Ebay last month -and then again to the newer Elektra lever today. And yep, that was Edmonton, Alberta (were I grew up) that you got that machine from. My question is how on earth did you find one? I realize it was through Kijiji but did you just do a manual search? Can you help a lever girl wannabe out here? LOL...

doubleOsoul wrote:I'm pretty sure I'm drooling... yes, I'm drooling. I lost out on the 80s Elektra that came up on Ebay last month -and then again to the newer Elektra lever today. And yep, that was Edmonton, Alberta (were I grew up) that you got that machine from. My question is how on earth did you find one? I realize it was through Kijiji but did you just do a manual search? Can you help a lever girl wannabe out here? LOL...

HEHEHE...High and low I searched![b][/b] I saw this one on Kijiji. I think I searched "Elektra MCaL for sale" and varied the phrases until I found something that popped up. Then I acted FAST like a bunny rabbitt. The seller was willing to ship across the border so I wasted no time in wiring money via Paypal. Although the packing could have been better so if you find something like the way I did be EXPLICIT with the seller as to how to pack the machine... ask to take off the steam wand-take off the lever- take out the sight glass-drain the water...You know...

I had fun searching for this one. I guess I much prefer older machines to new ones for some reason. I also have a vintage Hobart mixer that's 2 years older than I am. I spent 2 months stripping and rebuilding it and it's running again. It's not perfect but it's got life left in it and I'm willing to deal with the minor imperfections because I put alot of time and money into reviving it. (Hobart parts are EXPENSIVE).

Keep your eyes peeled and good luck

Tom

Some final pics:

crusty Pstat and element

upper sightglass port, dirty boiler

[i]funky[i]steamwand port

the other half of the steamwand funkiness

clean!

oh, so clean!!!

Here it is, my vintage 1984 Microcasa. Just need a drip plate, a plastic base, and some Elektra-branded cups and it's ready to roll[s][/s]pull!



Ciao!
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