Apologies for the long delays in posting to this thread for those who are interested.

The work has actually been moving along. And I'm on the last leg of a holiday, computer in tow, so I'm able to spend a couple of minutes updating you on progress and getting some more details down.

You may recall there were two main problems with the rebuild: a sheared/stripped thread issue in the steam valve pipe where it screwed into the boiler, and the electrical leads on the heating element snapped off flush with the element's face. Actually, not quite with the face, because the outside of the element has two protruding receptacles cast into the aluminum, about 3-4mm wide and maybe 7mm tall, within which ceramic (insulators?) surrounded the electric leads. But more about that later.

Despite the delays, the boiler problem was a fairly simple fix. A local machine shop (Custom Prototypes) re-drilled the threads and made a new steam valve pipe of the same dimensions for a very reasonable cost. They brazed a nut onto the pipe and we did have the discussion about appropriate brazing materials (food grade work) and the pressure it would operate at (normally 1-2 bars, but 3 bars to be safe). I don't have pictures on my computer now but will post them when I get home.

The second problem was the snapped leads, and here I am trying a bit of a speculative solution creating insulated steel sheaths that fit over the nubs of the leads. It is unstable and possibly unsafe, and so I am trying to find a way to make it mechanically more reliable and do a little due diligence on the electrical issues to make sure I don't kill the element, machine, myself or someone else.

While all that cogitating is going on, I decided to go ahead and clean the group and piston and replace the seals, and that part is what I'm posting about today, to give you a look at the cleaned and re-built group and seals, and to share the tips on getting it done.

First, a fuzzy shot of the piston I think I posted before that shows it as I pulled it out of the group when I stripped the machine.



Grungy. I used a pick tool to remove the seals and polished the piston up. A small brass brush and a lot of brass polish worked pretty well to get the dirt and hardened rubber out of the grooves and I brought it to a decent shine. The head of the piston looked like this after a decent rub.



Note the four little holes. These are also found on the Cremina and they permit water the flow through the head where it will hit the first seal (shown below). I believe Steve R speculated that these holes permitted water to force the seal to flare out and make a tighter seal against the cylinder when applying pressure.

Next, the piston with the new seals on. This piston is a 3-seal configuration. As you can see, the first two are together and flare out and away from each other, as you would see in most piston assemblies. The third is inserted in the same orientation as the first, flaring out and down. I'll speculate on that in a second.

The Riviera uses a spring-pressure lever (more pic below of same) which requires you to pull down on the lever to raise the piston head and permit the group to fill with water. Releasing the lever then lets the spring push the head back down and push the water through the portafilter. It is in this second step that the four holes pictured above function to flare the seal. The third or top seal stops any leakage through to the top of the group around the piston warm. There is no other seal between the piston arm and the top of the group-head, which makes this design actually very simple and elegant. I can't comment on functionality until I begin to draw, but conceptually it is nice and simple.





Finally, a shot of the group spring alone.



The rest of the assembly is pretty simple. The most work went into cleaning and polishing the group head inside and out. I used a food-grade metal cleaner for a first pass, and then brass polish for the next few passes to bring it out. Inside the group head cylinder, I used a finer brass brush to remove the build-up on the cylinder. No magic to it, it just takes a few hours polishing while watching re-runs.

Here is a shot of the mount of the group head that fits to the boiler, just for interest.



And once all the polishing was done, I inserted the group-portafilter seal.



Now, the trickiest part of the re-assembly of the group is the re-insertion of the piston and spring into the group, and fixing on the lever. This is tricky in spring levers because the spring wants to push the piston down, and you want to push against it up, so the piston rod pushes up and through the group, where you can then fix the lever on to the top of the piston rod with the pins and c-clips. If you had three hands it would be pretty straightforward.

First a quick shot of the spring inside the group.



And then inserting the piston, which will push without resistance up to the level seen in the photograph.



I use a food-grade natural oil along the sides of the group and the sides of the piston to make sure it went through easily.

At this stage, there was a little serendipity. The new seals require a little convincing to fit neatly into the group head cylinder. The first time I did this, as I worked them gently in and pushed the piston up, the seals had sufficient grip against the cylinder walls to resist the pressure of the spring forcing the piston head down (with slight help from a thumb kept firmly on the piston from below). This is of tremendous help if you can push the piston far enough up to fix the lever on to the rod with the pins. It makes the job very simple.

If you can't, or, if you're like, and you assembled and disassembled it several times to make sure it was right, very quickly the seals do not provide the same grip they did the first time, and the spring works properly to push the piston head down, just short of flush with the cylinder lip, as in the picture above.

First thing to do it ensure the piston rod is inserted in an orientation such that, when the piston rod pushes through the top of the group, the hole in the piston rod will be properly aligned to permit the lever to be placed on top and pins inserted. Make sure to do this, or you'll be re-doing this whole process to get it right.

Now, with the seals already neatly tucked into the cylinder, you need to push the piston head up a sufficient distance to push the rod through to the top of the group and even further, to permit affixing the lever properly. I used a small, thick wooden dowling capped with a bit of felt to avoid scratches to the piston head. The diameter of the dowling was about 4-5cm and it was 8cm long. I set the dowling on the floor, placed the group on top of it, and pushed it gently down so the piston rod was forced up a sufficient distance. I then used one free hand to hold it and the other to align the lever with the holes in the top of the piston rod, and then to push through the pins. Make sure again to push the pins through and settle them where they need to rest, because as soon as you release the group and the spring exerts its pressure they will be difficult to move laterally. When you're ready, release the pressure and let the spring push the piston down, until the lever is engaged. Now fix on the c-clips to the pins, and you should be done the hardest part. See the picture below.



And the other side.



And with this done, you have just one more happy task to finish the group: snap on the dispersion screen. The one I had from the machine was in good shape, except for the black grunge in the screen. So I spent an hour with a pick pushing the grunge out of every hole and cleaning it with metal polish, while watching "Burn After Reading", so it didn't annoy me too greatly. The screen itself is sturdy. You can snap it on to the group head cylinder pretty easily with your thumbs, or give it a gentle nudge with the rubber mallet. Then, it looks like this:



And voila, you are done the group re-assembly.

When I get home, I'll be able to finish and show the work on the boiler, and hopefully execute the Macgyver fix on the heating element, and then we'll be very close to a full re-assembly.

I have a few emails and comments from other Riviera owners and re-builders, most of which I have not had a chance to reply to yet. I will consolidate the information in them and post it as well, and reply to you. Sorry for the delays.

But, meanwhile, I'm going to the beach.

That's awesome Anthony, -- the info from Zacconi and the uploads -- much clearer than the used ones I found. Thanks!

Hi Simon,
Good Luck with the heating element fix - I have a similar need - While I was away last week, the machine was used, left on or the water was too low or something (still getting the details) but anyway, the heating element is done, multiple splits all along the coil - I'd be interested to see if you have found a way / come across other Riviera users who have successfully replaced / fixed their heating elements to get their machines working again.

I' just looked back at the photos you previously posted, and I see your pstat is a little different from mine - I'll post pictures when I am home again.

Also, on the cleaning / polishing of the brass and copper, what did you use? It looks really really nice - The colour of the level looks a little different, and mine is also showing a slight colour difference. Do you also have any clear coating on the machine, and how did you remove it before polishing?

Sorry for all the questions, it looks like I may have some time on my hand looking after the "cosmetic" aspects of the machine, as I search for a replacement heating element

Will post pictures soon
Thanks
Anthony

Just on a side note, had a quick response from Gensaco, the guys who make/distribute the Capucio King:
http://www.gensaco.com/Cap_SITE.html
Apparently a new heating element can be purchased directly from the manufacturer in Milan, and is $250.
Does anybody happen to know the difference between the heating elements on the Capucio King vs La Riviera Eagle? Are they the same size / dimensions etc...
Thanks
Anthony

THAT Anthony is a good question. Someone is just going to have to buy one for a little bit less than the cost of a machine on ebay to take that little gamble and tell us all if it is the same element. From the schematic it looks like a bolt in plate rather than the screw on base plate so I would be wary.

By the way, we have a wholesale price list direct from Zacconi and the element has a listed price of 18 euro, so that 250 number may be something to think about....it is a 2007 price list so the cost might be a bit higher but I don't think it has hit 250 bucks.

the big challenge here is that the bottom opening of the boiler is 1 1/2 inches and so far every element we have tried is just a little too big to fit and we are still waiting for 3 element companies to call back with quotes....funny thing about this economy....you would think that the sellers of things would be really aggressive to sell whatever things they sell, but we have spoken to a number of heating element manufacturers and we are still waiting for those quotes to come rolling in....we are among the heatless Riviera club as well and I think that most of us would just like to see a price and then make the decision on the repair. why should a simple thing be do difficult? My theory is that the suppliers think of us as small timers, but how do they know if we are prepared to order 1 or 1000 heating elements....seems like a sort of gamble to shine anyone on since you never know.....

Great thread so far and looking better for the future!
FWW,
For the electrical heater terminals:
Some of us use a high temperature silicone red RTV that is sold for fireplaces and sealing gas furnace stacks. It is cheap and will prevent the electrics from zzzapping the paying customers. Just build it around the terminal except for the threads. Only build it a little at a time and let it set between. dampness helps it set but not on the parts to be protected.
Cheers and good luck!
-Richard

Greetings fellow travelers. Herewith, the beginning of the end of this thread. the RivRefurb has been pretty much completed now, and I'm waiting to make that first magic pull on it. Only one, hopefully small, little item to ask for HB advice on.

But, for those who want the data, I have the final installment of pix and refurb tips. When I last posted anything seriously I had just done the rebuild of the group. The final tasks were to complete the boiler polish, install the (now fixed) heating element, install the (now fixed) tubing for the pressurestat and external water intake, re-assemble, polish again (and again) and hook up the wiring, re-assemble the sight glass and steam want assemblies, and tighten it all up.

First, let's look at the biggest problem, the heating element. As you may recall, I had stripped the leads from the element in my exuberance last December. The fix was, in retrospect, not so difficult, but I had to get some electrical advice and a machine shop to do the job. We discussed the problem of insulation and resistance, and attempting to keep it within reasonably functional parameters. Here is what they came up with: cutting away the aluminum casing and the lower part of the ceramic insulator from the remaining stub of lead, and placing a new ring of insulator over the lip, and clamping on a new head to the leads, that more easily permit the attachment of the wiring. A picture is worth a thousand, so here it is.





So, there you have it. I can tell you now I've had it powered up and boiling it works like a charm. Of course, I didn't know at first if the element would have any other flaws, which it turns out it does not. So that is how I squirmed out of my biggest mistake in this refurb. The guys at the shop really deserve the credit for this delicate piece of work.

The second major problem I had was the stripped threads from one of the steam pipes, in this case, the one that led to the pressurestat. If you flip back in the thread you'll see my "mea culpa". This fix is somewhat more straightforward. The very same ingenious machine shop re-drilled the threads and brazed together a new steam pipe with the same size brass nut as the original. The pix tell it all:



So, there, the second major problem was fixed. We had some discussions about pressures and clean brazes, and I think we got a decent solution. Who was it who said there isn't much that $50 can't cure?

With those two problems out of the way, the rest was just detail and persevering with the brass polish. Once I had the group put together, I turned back to re-assembling the boiler, and then re-attaching it into the base. First, some shorts of the boiler. Sorry about the finger prints and discolouration, but I wanted to re-assemble before the final buff.

The boiler stripped and polished (mostly).



The sight glass re-inserted. This one held some special problems. I got a new sight glass from Doug - thanks Doug - and got the new seals inserted into the top and bottom. The sight glass itself was a perfect size, but the painted strip down the outside (the red stripe that is the indicator) was a little rough in places, and it took some convincing to go in. A little fine, fine grade sandpaper helped along and some food-grade oil. I have yet to get the astro - glide that Doug swears by, but it crossed my mind. It went in before lube was needed. I left the nuts at the top and bottom loose until I did the final tweak up, just in case stuff had to come part again for some unseen reason.



And now, a quick shot of the top of the boiler. Still a little tarnish there, but otherwise polished and scraped to a respectable level of cleanliness. One of my best friends in the polishing phase was a small brass brush that worked wonder on the little amalgams of rust/grime/gunk that would form pockets or pitting every now and then. In the top here, as it is covered by the cupola, I felt I could be a little more aggresive with the brass brush and not ruin the visuals.



And a quick shot of the bottom of the boiler before insertions. While cleaning this puppy inside you run into the problem of the boiler being bigger than the access hole created by the element. So, I used brass brushes for as much as I could to get off the calcification, but I have to run a de-calcifier through it once it is finished.



The threads here have been re-drilled (the one on the top). Otherwise, scraped and polished to rid it of grime.

Now, a picture of the safety value which screws into the top. I decided to take this to pieces and make sure it was working and greased right. It is a really simple design. A plunger inside the casing is held down by a fairly strong spring, which itself is held in by a screw. You screw the screw in further, the plunger is held in by a greater force, and vice versa. Everything has holes in it, so that when steam pressure builds enough to push the plunger up against the the screw, the steam escapes. Nifty design, all basic pieces and not a lot to go wrong with it (one hopes). So first the basic elements of the safety valve:



and again...



and re-assembled, like this...



It took a little polish and some food grade oil, and it worked like a charm. I re-screwed it in with some t-tape and it has worked well since. You can adjust the pressure on the internal screw to ensure it blows off steam at 2.9 bars or the pressure that makes you feel right.

Next, there are two brass lip-rings one at the top and one at the bottom of the boiler, which I had popped off to polish. Back on they go...



And in preparation for re-attaching the boiler to the base, I prepare the heat break and gaskets. In this case, the teflon heat break that came with the machine was still in excellent shape, but the paper gasket was completely shot. It was an unusual shape, so I just made one out of cork, from a sheet of gasket materials sold by most hardware stores. I thought cork would be good enough for now, better than paper and rubber, which were my other two options.



I also got some other seals from the local hardware store that fit the other fittings on the base of the boiler. You'll see them in the pictures below. Once I had these pieces in place, I was ready to begin re-assembling the boiler's base.

Here is the element, again, showing the lip that goes over the base of the boiler. It has two gaskets that go inside it, one a teflon heat break and one a gasket-paper seal.



Then I screw it in and also the steam pipe that will fit to the pressurestat. Note that it took some serious strength to screw in the heating element, even cleaned and lubed, and using the oil filter tool. But it got in. If you are doing this spend some time to do this right -- it is murder to undo everything once assembled in order to just get good clearance and leverage to screw this in properly.



The next little project is the regulator for the external water intake pipe. This is a nifty little device which I'll show in several views below, and taken apart as much as possible. The valve permits the flow in of water from an external pipe, when pressed from the button which is next to the base of the boiler. The button pushes a spring-loaded rod down that opens a seal and permits water to flow (under pressure) into the boiler. I took the thing down and cleaned it out, and once-reassembled, it worked like a charm. The pictures are probably the best way to explain this mechanism, so...



and



and



and



and



and



I hope that gives a decent idea of this mechanism and how to assemble/dis-assemble it. It is not that complicated even if it seems a bit impenetrable at first. I'm warned that for these machines, it is not really recommended to use the water-pipe intake (instead of filling through the top) and I'll heed that advice. However, it is nice to have the thing in good working order and to keep it from getting clogged. Here is a shot of the exterior once I have it installed, to show how the button looks.



Next, I install the parts into the bottom of the boiler.



There is a picture of the intake value in, the pipe for the pressure stat in, and the heating element in. These are the most delicate parts of the machine, IMHO, and so, if doing these, be careful and treat them gingerly.

You will also notice that the bottom of the boiler becomes very busy now. This concerns me, because if there is any steam, leaking, dripping, water, any of this, all of this stuff is likely to sit in it to some degree -- there is very little headroom here for water to pool on the floor of the machine, especially given the electrical. I and still trying to think of a solution, but I think meantime I may leave the base plate slightly loose and open at the rear, and place this on a portion of a counter or grill where it can drain properly. I'm pretty sure that the steam or water than just comes from normal use gathers in the base of the machine, and needs regular cleaning, so any steps to ease that would be useful. I may end up punching holes in the bottom of the base plate to make sure it dries more quickly.

Now, I realize I don't have a good shot of the boiler once I re-attach it to the base. So I'm going to do that right now, and finish the post, which still has the steam wand and electricals to get through.

OK, back again. So, below, a couple of pix of the boiler re-attached to the base. Again, apologies for the finger prints and the blotches, but it is much, much better than it used to be. Two or three perspectives.



and



and



Now I have also tightened the sight-glass in and screwed the gauge on. These both went in with new gaskets and t-tape for the gauge. The safety valve is also on. Finally, I re-attached the electricals. A cinch to re-wire. Note that before I did this, I removed all switches and wiring from the base and went at it with polish and my wire brush. It was a long, long job -- took me most of the Stanley Cup playoffs to get it into shape. In order to clean it up to my liking, I decided to remove the "Riviera" sticker from the front, and to remove the chipped and faded ring around the water intake valve. Both made it look more beat up than it needed to.

The wiring...



And now, the final small job, the steam wand. And here, I find a weird and maybe surprising problem, I need help with. First, a few photos of the wand disassembled.



and



and

.

It is a fairly simple operation to take it down and polish it up. The only thing to really watch out for is something Doug warned me about -- the tiny screw in the end of tip that holds in a rubber stop. Ruin this, you will never fix it. So I was very gentle with its removal and all works ok. Doug advises that if it does not budge with normal pressure, you should just burn the rubber out and remove after that. I replaced the seals and re-assembled it, when I came across a problem.

The problem is the removable plug at the tip of the mechanism -- it is removable. As you can see here...



and

.

This is awkward. If you close the steam wand, it seals the bottom of the mechanism where steam escapes into the pipe. If you open the wand, however, it comes out of its housing, and remains plugged at the bottom of the mechanism. I'm not sure how to explain this, but the problem is that it is probably not meant to be removable from the mechanism at all. I suppose schematically, it looks something like this:

steam wand closed: [top]]]]-----[bottom][the steam wand itself]

steam wand open: [top]]]---- --[bottom][the steam wand itself]

and if it worked properly, it would look like this open: [top]]]----[bottom] [the steam wand itself].

If that makes any sense.

Has anyone dealt with this weird little issue before? Have I overlooked something or broken something without knowing it?

That is, I think, my final major issue to solve. I have re-assembled the whole thing now, but for the wand, and I'm ready to put the base plate on, the steam wand on, and finally, dome on top, which seems like the very last thing I should do, as it is the very first thing I (maybe us all) do when we see it, which is to take a look under the hood.

Suggestions? And next post, I'll put up some pictures of the finished machine, I hope, and then do a pull.

Would the steam pressure itself resolve the problem?

Very nice work.

And a beautiful beach.

I'm sure you'll be pulling some great shots after your walks there pretty soon....

Cheers

Mike

Beautiful job so far....amazing....and your machine shop guys really know their stuff that's for sure.
Never seen the cup come out of the body of the valve enough to know what holds it in there. I always assumed it was pressed in and this pretty much confirms it. Seems like one possibility is to expand the end just a bit and press it in again, perhaps use an awl or nail or the right size to get it a bit lager on the end so it will stay. I think originally it has a small raised ring near the end and was assembled with a press and I don;t think you can reproduce that ring or rim. It has to be installed in the body so that it will still rotate in the socket or the seal will get shredded so you can't glue it in place.
A second suggestion would be to insert the cup in the end and reach in with a tool to expand the end just a little without buggering the threads.....or maybe the end was expanded when the screw was tightened down? Possibly a small ball bearing that would drop in, and seat at the bottom of the socket and when you put in the screw this could expand the end. that is starting to sound like the best bet, that the screw was responsible for expanding the end of the fitting in the hole. they may have actually put a glob of lead or something in the end and it deformed into place and held the cup in place. I guess it has as much to do with figuring out how they made it and then try to reproduce it, more or less. I thonk I would put a little solder in the end of the cup shaft (assuming it is hollow) and then when you screw in the screw it may just be enough to bulge out and hold it in place.

Thanks Doug, as usual. I will give your suggestions a try and see what I can rig. I'm a little perplexed by the issue because when I originally took it apart this cap slid out - it must have been this way for a while. Anyway, I'll post a couple of more pictures of it just for clarity and then try some MacGyver magic.

Here is the assembly expanded.



and again



and here is the tip out of the wand itself...where it should not be.



and finally, the other parts of the machine, just for reference.



and these.



So now I'll turn to the fixes.

Are the modern Zacconis any different? They look the same.

Do you want me to give them call?

I believe the modern Zacconi's differ in some ways - I was fortunate enough to see a "modern" Zacconi apart whilst visiting Thomas Cara and Sons in SF recently - Major difference was the heating element. The older Eagles have the round screw-in element from the bottom, where as the "newer" ones had a 4 bolt-in element from the top.
I also seem to recall from elsewhere on HB that the newer machine had different sized piston gaskets etc. that weren't 100% compatible (I can't locate that thread right now though) - I'll sure other will jump in as well and mention any differences
Anthony

But if the steam wand valve is the same, maybe they can send replacement rubber/cup parts....

Interesting and quite informative post. Maybe I'll give mine another chance. I honestly did not know that the button on the top of the base next to the water inlet was part of the water inlet. Seems self intuitive but it eluded me.

michaelbenis wrote:Are the modern Zacconis any different? They look the same.

Do you want me to give them call?

Michael -- I'll try Doug's fixes first, before pulling the trigger on actually calling the shop. But any insight you have into the way the plug was originally inserted into the steam valve is helpful.

I'm going to take some high-res photos (in good light) of the pieces and post them to troll for solutions.

If push comes to show, I'll seek replacement parts but I feel as if I should be able to MacGyver something out here.

Trajic wrote:Interesting and quite informative post. Maybe I'll give mine another chance. I honestly did not know that the button on the top of the base next to the water inlet was part of the water inlet. Seems self intuitive but it eluded me.

Brett: yep, it is a pretty simple little device but I have a sense that not properly monitored, it could give problems. However, something kinky about being able to push a button and refill the boiler, no? I am still testing this one out but it seems to work well at this point after being neglected.

Another thing I'm finding as I do the testing (before I give this one away to a friend who sent me to Italy on points last year) is that it gets hot. I know that sounds stupid, all these naked boiler models get pretty damn hot, but I find there to be some serious conductivity happening -- the group gets hot of course, but faster than my Cremina, and the base itself warms up significantly. I'm going to get one of Richard's tape/thermometers and do some readings. I can also see why the original had so much teflon as heat break seals. I have had no real problems yet but it is something I have noticed. And I'm still testing for pressure and functionality, not yet pulling doubles on it until I get the steam valve problem worked out.

That is interesting- filling the boiler at the press of a button. I wonder it if it really worked as advertised. The theory seems sound but I can see it not working out so well in practice. I fill my machines manually with a pitcher of filtered water I keep at the ready. Hooking up a water fill valve and maintaining it seems like too much trouble for a home machine. I also like to take a peak in the boilers with a flashlight when I fill them but that's just me.

I remember my machine getting pretty hot which also surprised me. I was expecting it to run cooler than a Europiccola which turned out to not be the case.

Brett

Trajic wrote:That is interesting- filling the boiler at the press of a button. I wonder it if it really worked as advertised. The theory seems sound but I can see it not working out so well in practice. I fill my machines manually with a pitcher of filtered water I keep at the ready. Hooking up a water fill valve and maintaining it seems like too much trouble for a home machine. I also like to take a peak in the boilers with a flashlight when I fill them but that's just me.

I remember my machine getting pretty hot which also surprised me. I was expecting it to run cooler than a Europiccola which turned out to not be the case.

Brett

Agreed with all of that Brett -- we are ad idem. I've seen some plumbed machines on this site but never had one working plumbed myself. One day, when I graduate and get a real espresso bar...

I am trying to do the sweeper duties here on this thread and gather what useful technical information and other tips I can on the Riviera, so I'm going to try and list some useful things that were sent to me via PM during the refurb. I'm also trying to track down copies of the patents for this machine (and others) because those schematics make very useful reference materials, I find, and the manuals are ok, but lack measurements and dimensions, etc.

One set of comments I had were from Hedley Lamar. I am so sorry Hedley that I did not get around to a longer discussion with you this spring about the heating element. I hope you don't mind if I post your core suggestions to me -- which were in the context of "what to do if the element is $%%^&%?"

Hedley was very, very generous with his time and his knowledge and I thought it was really worth passing along. He writes:

I hope I can be of assistance. Concerning the broken leads which usually protrude from the element. I have never tackled that repair. I would be leery to perform a repair in that location. The heating elements are constructed via a porcelain and chrome wire mix. It is very easy to harm these when wrestling with dismantlement. I would be afraid that even if you did a excellent job of scarfing new material to your element you then discover that you have a crack or inop/burned out element. When I have repaired a Riviera with a inop. element I substitute a water heater element for the Zacconi element. The process to modify is as such and is actually very simple.

First you will need your old brass collar/element. Remove/cut off the element, leaving just the brass collar. You are going to bore a hole in the collar to the dimension of the outside circumference of your old element lead dimension to accept a copper water heater fitting which accepts a approx 8" 110v water heater element. I believe this is a 1.25" NPT thread adapter. Just head to a plumbing supply or big box store and find a small screw in water heater element and then find the copper fitting which accepts this. The boring of the hole into your old brass element collar is a simple process. A lathe is required or drill press with proper hole bit. Once the hole is bored the copper water heater fitting is brazed into the your newly bored brass collar element. This could sound complex but is actually very simple. Please use non chromium containing brazing rod. I have written Mr. Penny about this modification and the question arises concerning the length of the water heater element verses the original element? Yes the water heater element is longer but when coupled with the new fitting the protrusion from the base of the boiler supplies a added head space and allows the attachment of the base bottom cover. If you fill your boiler to a level just below the steam wand pickup opening you are still able to pull 3+ double shots in succession before exposing the top of the element. It sounds complex but does work very well. The added benefit is the large savings in cost and availability of elements for machine replacement. When shopping for the modification pieces pickup a cheapo water heater element wrench they are $5.00 or so. If you happen to run your machine dry and burn out the element the fix/replacement is a quick repair. Usually 10 minutes at most.

There is one modification to these machines which I'm looking to the future to perform. This is increasing the spring tension with a stronger spring. Rivieras do make a nice cup but I believe they could approach the creama production of top line pump machines with a stronger extraction spring. Please feel free to write or give me your cell number and we could talk things over.

Yes, that is some DIY! Hedley, I am tempted to crack open another Riv just to try that out. I am also keen to stiffen up the spring. So, if you have specs on a stiffer spring, let's try it. Meanwhile, I'll text you just to thank you again for your help.