First of all I would like to thank you all for the info provided in various threads here. It was of great value as I reconstructed the machine. I'm not a coffee guru, a Bialetti has up to this point served all my needs. But I am somewhat familiar with machines so I thought it would be a good idea to reconstruct a machine for my girlfriend. So I restored the machine with parts from OrphanEspresso and gave here the Microcimbali as a christmas present. But she is more familiar with professional equipment so we are struggling to get the right results with it. A grinder is not in the budget at the moment so were using preground from a local coffee shop.

The restoration went well, although it was a pain to dissasemble - everything was really stuck together. There was a lot of scale and the boiler has some pits. I did a light descale for a 24 hours and lightly scrubbed with scotch brite but I was afraid to do harm to the boiler so I had to leave some scale. I decided to not remove the cylinder. It did not pop out when I removed the spring and after I tapped it lightly from above to knock it out it did not move. I saw some warnings against knocking it out as it could be impossible to put it back together again as that part seems especially prone because of the thin aluminium the sleeve for the cylinder is made of.

After the restoration I have no leaks, it heats up quickly and seems to build good pressure. I'm still working on polishing the boiler. I was a fool too soak the whole boiler in a light citric acid solution. It did not do good for the outer part of the boiler - i'm still polishing it!

I've followed the instructions on the machine as well as what Doug at OE shows in the youtube video of the Microcimbali. I've managed to get some coffee out of the machine, an "alright" shot on par with crappy machines. Put what concerns me is that I do not get the same lever movement as Doug gets in the youtube video. I have to support the spring on the way up, it does not ease its way up at all. I would like to know how much this is determined by the grind and how I fill the portafilter.

I'm not sure if i'll ever get proper steaming with this machine and I have tried to use it on fulll power - both elements turned on 1300 watts. I can see that the machine is not made for this... As I get water spitting out of the chimney. I get enough heat put very little air into the milk. Do you have any tips on have I could get better results.

It would be very much appreciated if I could get some more detiailed instructions from those of you who have used this machine. How have you achieved your best results?

Thanks again everyone,
Jon.

I am not that familiar with the microcimbali- but for levers in general: you may find you have a hard time getting anything decent from shop bought preground coffee. You must grid your own and find the correct grind and tamp for each machine. I change settings on my grinder all the time- depending on the machine and the bean. A single notch out on the grinder and the whole process does not work correctly. At a guess if the lever is going up really slow- you have gone too fine and/or tamped to hard. A shot liek this would be lowish volume and drip out slowly with weak crema... Other than that it could be mechanical- the spring may be weak- or there may be some other issue in the piston...

Crappy home pump machines do better with crappy supermarket coffee because they have special baskets with few holes- and/or strong pumps. Even if it looks better it often tastes very bitter and even rancid... I shudder to think of all the bad coffee I drank before I realized how much better home or pro roasted fresh grounds beans are. Basically if the beans are over 2 weeks old they are verging on stale- regardless of vacuum packaging. Vacuum packed does keep for much longer but the second you open it it starts declining RAPIDLY...

And home roasting is the cheapest way to get coffee- period- its a budget positive hobby for a coffee drinker. I pay (+/-)12-14$ per KG for the very finest fresh roasted beans.

here is a recent home blend:



and here is the typical result:





if your budget is limited look for an old hand grinder- I am sure if you look hard enough you will find one in no time. Try sesond hand and antique stores- try garage sales- or try local ebay. Not all grind well enough for espresso but many do- good names are zassenhaus, kym, spong, DeVe- but there are many others- and not all of these will be good enough.

Nice looking restoration! You've probably seen that I restored a Microcimbali. I agree that you're grinding too fine or tamping too hard. The spring should move well. It'll make rich, chocolatey espresso and won't produce the dense crema of a pump machine. Also the Microcimbali is a great steamer. The high switch is not meant to be on all the time. You turn it on to heat up fast -- and then shut it off as it warms -- also turn it on just before steaming then shut it off immediately after. Capps with a Microcimbali are wonderful. What else? Don't do multiple pumps to pre-pressurize a pull or you'll back grinds into the boiler. Also completely empty the boiler after each use and insert a sacrificial zinc anode to help prevent further corrosion.

I've done some summary and overview at the end of this thread: Newly acquired Microcimbali Liberty: had a few restore questions

Later add now that I'm not tapping this in on an iPhone: Precisely adjusting grind and dose are two of the most important ways to control flow rate and avoid under- and overextraction. If you're not using a grinder at home and one that's capable of fine tuning, then being consistent at that setting, your espresso making will be hit or miss, mostly miss. Of course you also need fresh beans that are skillfully roasted for espresso. There's lots on this site about these issues.