timo888 wrote:It's the early 1960s and we're Arrarex engineers being told by the marketing guys that unless we come up with a way to steam-froth milk, Arrarex will go the way of the dodo. Do we abandon our beautifully simple temperature-stable open kettle and our gravity-fed stainless steel group? No, we take early retirement and tell the guys in marketing to take a ride on a rolling donut--whatever the equivalent Italian idiom would be. The Gaggia engineers can lose sleep over that one.

Regards
Timo

I'd love to know the story! At some point they did 'get with the times' and make the Arrarex Little with its square edges and cup warmer . . .

Henry

Henry,
Nice little video on youtube!!! I gave you a great rating If you could just get the guys in OKGO to do a doppio shot pull while performing on treadmills you could retire and Mark Prince would sell CG to you.... or maybe not... but it would really be cool to watch... have you seen the OKGO vide I reference?? It is a fun 3 minutes or so.. I am getting my Caravel set up in my office along with a knee grinder. I have to give Peacecup the credit for wanting a simple accomplice for the Caravel. This will get her down off the credenza and back in to action.......

Thanks

greg

Well Greg I just happened to be wandering through past HB threads and came across this little number-

Considering a espresso machine from Italy- circa 1960s

My two Italian E-bay'd levers thank you!

Henry

Well, I saw them first! Here's a photo I downloaded on 15 March 2006:



Actually I had been watching a few of these Caraveli just before Mogo got his. I was afraid to take the plunge, but after reading all this, I think the Caravel and I would get along very well together. Timo has convinced me that an open boiler is for me. Here's a plea to all HB lever folks to keep me in mind should you ever come across an extra Caravel!

PC

I'm just saying I would never have thought of buying something on another country's ebay and having it mailed to me. Greg's posts gave me the courage to try it myself!

Henry

ps. Looking at that photo I suddenly realized I put my lever/handle on backwards! No wonder I was getting such a wet puck!

timo888 wrote:My Caravel's thermostat is finicky.

At long last I figured out how the thermostat works - well sorta - and was able to fix it last week. Both, the "thermostat screw" outside and the On/Off switch activate the same microswitch at the inside. There is also a small screw at the inside (actually it's part of the On/Off switch unit) which just like the thermostat screw adjusts travel of the entire metal rod. Hence these two screws influence each other, meaning that my first attempts of setting the thermostat either activated or deactivated the On/Off switch permanently. Only with the correct setting of the screw inside the On/Off switch it was possible to adjust the thermostat as well...

Eventually I can turn my Caravel on and off with the switch and the thermostat activates the heating unit at around 90°C and deactivates it at 97°C...

timo888 wrote:It's the early 1960s and we're Arrarex engineers being told by the marketing guys that unless we come up with a way to steam-froth milk, Arrarex will go the way of the dodo. Do we abandon our beautifully simple temperature-stable open kettle and our gravity-fed stainless steel group? No, we take early retirement and tell the guys in marketing to take a ride on a rolling donut--whatever the equivalent Italian idiom would be.

That would be vaffanculo in Italian, I'm afraid...

Walter wrote:Eventually I can turn my Caravel on and off with the switch and the thermostat activates the heating unit at around 90°C and deactivates it at 97°C...

Boy, that really makes me want one of the older models!

This is what the thermostat looks like on mine-



It is set into the wall, high enough that the "drip pan" under the heating element has an indentation to accommodate it.

Would you mind posting a photo of the thermostat on yours? I'm especially interested in the position relative to the heating element.

Thanks, Henry

hbuchtel wrote:Would you mind posting a photo of the thermostat on yours? I'm especially interested in the position relative to the heating element.

Thanks, Henry

Will do, but it may take a day or two, as I have the Caravel in the roastery and I'm there only twice a week, currently...

Here's the image (sorry for the poor image, but I was in a hurry):


Click to enlarge

Walter wrote:Here's the image

Hi Walter, thanks for posting that photo!

I have two questions I hope you can help me with-

Does the thermostat physically contact the heating element base?

The 90-97C range was measured in the water, right? What temperature range do you think that corresponds to at the thermostat? (microswitch)

My thermostat has stopped working so I need to get a replacement- I'm thinking about the temp range and possibly a new position for it.

Thanks, Henry