Rust never sleeps, as Neil Young said. Great transformation.

Might your restorer friend share his technique for polishing the stainless faceplate?

[quote="jwCrema"]Well done! Really, a nice job on the rebuild.

Hey Jack,

I just saw your old thread about your 1985! Wow, what a find!! That thing looked awesome and I paid about the same for this poor thing. Your boiler looks nickel plated also. Mine is just copper and had asbestos. If you want to pm me, I would like to know if you still have it and how you like it?

Cheers!

wsfarrell wrote:Rust never sleeps, as Neil Young said. Great transformation.

Thanks!

Might your restorer friend share his technique for polishing the stainless faceplate?

He said he just uses a buffing wheel. Stainless is quite hard to make it look new again unless you take it to a professional that does plating or the like. I was considering doing a brushed finish but then it wouldn't look original, so I decided against it.

Fesoia wrote:Congrats! Cremina is quite the ultimate home lever machine

Thanks, excited to try it out! Do you have a bottomless pf for yours? I found a seller on ebay named creativewerk that has some machined ones that look like the R. Penney ones. This persons are only $80 shipped and since they have a 12mm stud they should fit the handles. I'm wondering if anyone on here has bought one of theirs?

Roger

3cordcreations wrote:Thanks!

You mean the previous owners drinking from this? I think it sat around in a garage or storage for quite a while. The rust and spider webs inside and the o-rings were wrong on the piston.

Yes - the portafilter and piston looked like they had never cleaned either of them. It's so easy to use a little cleaner from time to time to keep things tidy

Welcome to the club!
Just another proof, that no matter how bad the original condition is, you can perfectly rebuild these little gems of coffee machine industry, and use them for good. Grats for the job. When I see pictures like yours, I really feel lucky, I found one from '74 in perfect condition, no crust, no scratches, nothing. The only thing I needed to do was find somebody who removed the azbestos coating from the boiler.

Katoci wrote:Just another proof, that no matter how bad the original condition is, you can perfectly rebuild these little gems of coffee machine industry, and use them for good.

Usually yes. There's a video somewhere on the Orphan Espresso site where Doug Garrott shows a Cremina that he would not rebuild. It's great to see the restoration of this one, though.

Katoci wrote:Welcome to the club!
Just another proof, that no matter how bad the original condition is, you can perfectly rebuild these little gems of coffee machine industry, and use them for good. Grats for the job. When I see pictures like yours, I really feel lucky, I found one from '74 in perfect condition, no crust, no scratches, nothing. The only thing I needed to do was find somebody who removed the azbestos coating from the boiler.

Thank you! I am excited to use this out, maybe next week. I decided to order the new style boiler cap from Cerini with the vent. I have heard it makes the machine easier to use.

RB

drgary wrote:Usually yes. There's a video somewhere on the Orphan Espresso site where Doug Garrott shows a Cremina that he would not rebuild. It's great to see the restoration of this one, though.

Thanks!

I hope the matte black looks good on this. I'm debating on whether to add some walnut wood pieces on the side. I ordered the bottomless pf from ebay for $80 shipped and interested in trying it out and reporting here. It looks like the R. Penney one.

RB

update,
The rebuild has been complete for a couple months now and I have had time to use the lever a bit. I bought a few 49mm baskets to compare, the IMS and the Microcasa. I also ended up buying a bottomless pf RP model from CoffeeBos. I added the new stock boiler cap from Cerini to eliminate the false pressure. I insulated the inside of case and wrapped boiler in foil backed fiberglass insulation wrap. I bought a nice gauge and made a set-up from the old boiler cap to measure and adjust boiler pressure. This one also has the newer lever that is more rounded and not so square looking and threaded hex bolts to attach, not the clips.
I have found they are something you have to play around with and they take time to get good results.