I found a lever at my local Cimbali dealer and I bought it after he re-conditioned it. I had to choose between buying this or keeping my Cimbali Junior. Finding a buyer for my Jr. made me jump for the lever. I've always wanted one. I can't explain why. It is a M20L with a spring lever. For years I've heard people talk about drinking espresso (I mean without hot water, milk or sweetner added) but have never really understood this taste acquirement. Until now. After spending 10 years trying to dial in grinders, perfect dosing, tamping and roasting, my very first pull on this thing was the first time I've enjoyed a straight espresso. Ditto for steaming. I realize now that my Jr. had some issues that would make it a better steamer (it needs the pressure turned up a bit and a different steam tip), but my first attempt at steaming was better than any home steamed drink I've ever had. There are things I miss about the Jr. already, such as the ease of making coffee for a house full of people, and the short water path of the brew water in the HX system. But I think I'm not going to regret switching to the lever. When i can figure out how to reduce the pixel size of the picture of it so that it is legal to upload here, I'll post a shot.

Congrats on your machine.
There are several free ware programs you can use to reduce the picture, including the software for your camera. Crop it as small as possible, then choose a "custom" option and lower the % till the file is a proper pixel.
Dan K will probably respond here.
Back to the machine. How many shots can you pull before it gets too "toasty?"
It's not HX, correct?

bgn wrote:When i can figure out how to reduce the pixel size of the picture of it so that it is legal to upload here, I'll post a shot.

I've added some freeware suggestions to Posting images on HB.

HB wrote:I've added some freeware suggestions to Posting images on HB.

Thanks Dan. Fortunately, I "sort of " learned how to use Adobe 's Photo Shop version for dummies.

This is the lever machine.
another

IMAWriter wrote: How many shots can you pull before it gets too "toasty?"
It's not HX, correct?

This is so new to me. And I'm quite confused on this point. From my reading here I had assumed that the accepted wisdom, as per your questions also, is that these lever's had a limited use before the group overheated and there was no easy way to cool it down except to let it rest, or play with the on/off switch (i.e. turn the machine off while brewing). But the Cimbali dealer tells me that this machine has the opposite problem when pulling multiple shots. He says it cools down. He is refering to the water in the boiler, I assume and not the group head. I've not had occasion to pull more than 2 shots at a time so far, and this kind of use will be normal 99% of the time so I'm not too worried about it. I'm looking forward to learning lots through experience.
BTW, this machine has autofill, but it also has a very, very cool "lever" knob (the knob to the right of the power switch on the bottom of the machine) that pulls out and pushes down to manually fill the boiler. It is plumbed in, both boiler and drain.

What I have noticed, compared to my Jr. is a very slow recovery time when the boiler pressure is brought way down (like when I use the hot water tap to draw out 500ml of water to force a cycle). I assume this is because it has been converted to 110 from it's original 220 power.

Over all, a super, super cool machine to use.

If the 'conversion' from 220 to 110 consisted solely of putting a US-type plug on the cable, that would pretty much explain a slow recovery. Was the heating element or anything else changed, or just a different power cable? If its just a power cable, step-up xformers aren't that expensive and would make a world of difference in the machine's response time.

the dealer that did the restoration simply said that he re-did the 110 conversion because whoever had done it initially had done a 'brutal' job. I didn't ask the details, but I think he just meant that he did a lousy job of putting a new cord on it. I'm guessing that it still has the same heater because I asked if there was any "issues" with it being converted to 110 and the dealer said that speed was the only issue. Now, forgive my ignorance, but when you suggest a 'step-up transformer,' and I believe you when you say this would make a difference, does this 'step-up' to 220? i.e. this would mean switching the power cord back to 220?

It is an HX lever machine according to this diagram
So yes, it will cool down as you pull more shots with it.
Have fun with it. (i'd get rid of the plastic cover since the la cimbali lever group looks wicked* with the visible spring)

Don't forget to join the ranks of the LMWDP!

*not that that is a picture of an earlier boiler fed lever instead of your group. The upper part looks to be the same though.

I believe you'd actually be doing a step down from 220 to 110/120...so I believe you would put a 220 end (correctly wired) back on the unit, plug into the transformer (many which go either direction), and plug in the transformer into your 110/120.
I could be wrong here, especially if we don't know ig the actually UNIT was converted to 110, or JUST THE CORD.
Nice machine, BTW, looks solid as a rock, more like a commercial thing.