I've recently ordered from Stefano's and had a good experience with shipping to Canada. May just have to do another order.
I did find the minor pitting on the SS shower screen concerning and wondered how or why that occurred.

That is what happens when you allow coffee grounds to accumulate under the portafilter gasket. The coffee acid eats the stainless steel. I suspect it is not a 304 or 316 alloy either. Order a nice new one and clean it regularly, coffee tastes better as well when the screen is clean.

Another reason to replace the 40+ year old switch beyond the fact that it's designed for lower amperage and higher voltage 220v.
The switch is supplying current although low when in the off position. Also ordered some black trim to place on bottom lip of base as per Francesco's idea. http://www.francescoceccarelli.eu/La_Pa ... ma_eng.htm
Here is the machine in it's current state and still in progress. Functions well, great pressure, no leaks (new seals and gaskets). I've added a thermo- switch at bottom that breaks the circuit at 125c don't know if that's too low of a rating but appears to work fine after 5 boiler fills of testing.
Considering adding a pressure gauge \ manometer on top of site glass but will have to source adapter and proper low bar gauge.

(excuse the quick phone photo. I think the black trim on route will complete the balance of the black\white theme.

I have one from 1978. Mine is a "fake" brass model.

There are two holes from the inlet tube into the group to admit water on mine. This really allows water to gush into the group. I made a screw on brass flow restrictor to put at the end of the inlet tube, if I remember correctly, I finally settled on a 1.8mm diameter hole, it may have been better a bit smaller yet. I believe the threads are M7.

I had serious problems with the pressure relief valve, I am not sure what the problem was. It looked perfect, and still it produced wildly erratic pressures. The problem was solved completely by replacing the original steel ball with the more modern plastic "mushroom".

^
Like to see a diagram of that.

redbone wrote:Another reason to replace the 40+ year old switch beyond the fact that it's designed for lower amperage and higher voltage 220v.

I don't know if I'd be too concerned about that, since these machines were made for 110V or 220V using the same switch. It's a different matter on a Caravel where the microswitch is made for 220V. But these On/Off power switches are probably far more robust.

That may be but 40+ years of use has made this one wonky and a candidate for renewal.

For sure. I like the older On/Off switches, which have an incredibly solid feel and don't seem to break down.

If you are referring to the pre 74 switches on the LPE they did not have an off switch only low \ high (minima\massima).
I found a similar toggle switch with a 3 way including off. I also use a power bar with a on \ off switch.

Many vintage lever machines do not have a power off feature. I like the added peace of mind of having two shut offs. Some feel more comfortable with also pulling the plug. I do this on machines with no power off feature.
Don't like the added wear of pulling a plug constantly if the machine has a power off switch and use a power off switch on the power bar.
Would definitely adopt a different process if I had young kids at home.

And on my 1964 Europiccola with Hi/Low, I installed a power cord with its own On/Off switch inline. On my "ultimate" 1st gen Europiccola with a pressurestat and single heating element, the Hi/Low switch now serves as On/Off. I do like the idea of a three-way toggle also.