Outstanding Doug, I'll keep checking your site for more details!

Seals up and ready to go BUT...... have you measured the height of the piston grooves? All 3 of them, not just the bottom one, as I originally did? Different sizes. To get an economical seal setup we were about to go with O rings and shims in the groove, but then the light dawned, the cursed aluminum piston. So, making lemonade from lemons, I took a file and made all 3 grooves the same size to accomodate a very nice seal fit. I knew that soft aluminum piston was used for a reason. It's a simple mod to get it all back into alignment with the world, and the machine works quite well with a good seal and lube. Now to get some portafilter gaskets.

Doug

Doug sadly I've not yet started the rebuild. In fact we are just preparing a move across town so I wanted to hold off until we're settled.

And I must say excellent job on the seals and the write-up with photos is very helpful. Rest assured when I'm ready I'll be checking back for all my gaskets.

Nice work and thanks a lot!

That's great news on the seals Doug, it will definitely save me some hassle.
If you think you'll find some group seals in the next couple of weeks I'll hold off, else I'll order a set straight away.

I tried stretching my group spring in the vice as I said earlier, but it didn't make a big difference.
I'm getting ok crema. Great tasting shots, but I know there's more flavour to be pulled from the beans.

Compared with my europiccola, the shots are smoother and sweeter. The body is better, but this is probably because I'm using a single in the euro, dbl in the amore and the shot's about the same length.

The best shots from the pavoni are more exciting, with more of the brighter, fruity flavours. I still get as many sub-par shots as great ones, whereas the spring lever has great consistency. The amore shots highlight the darker flavours such as blackberry and licorice. I get about as much if not more crema from a single in the pavoni as a double in the amore. I'm currently using the amore more, but that may change when I get a double basket for the pavoni. The amore's definitely the winner on thermal stability though, so it's the obvious choice for groups.

I may have found a good spring to replace the old one, but have to check it out a little more. There's a minimum order of ten, so if there are a few people interested (probably around $15-20 inc postage), I'll order some to test.

We have been contemplating the spring issue as well. Really wondering if the spring has gotten weak over time or is designed (possibly just sourced for length and diameter but not really load) that way. We have been using one machine day in and day out for about 3 months. Over this time the shots have gotten better and better and this may be from the slow learning and refining the grind, dose, tamp etc, and not obviously not from any machine variables. It could be that with the amore there is a sweet spot for all of the factors and it just takes time to get it all to come together. I do wonder about the springs, and there are a lot of spring companies with calculators and long parts lists on the web, but I think the spring replacement idea will need some truly controlled experimentation to prove out to be a central issue in the crema production department. Just my opinion, but as I say, we have begun to study the spring replacement or even using a stronger spring in a couple of machines which we just don't get good espresso from.
We'll get on that group seal project soon.
Doug

After using my pavoni (now with double basket) exclusively for a week and a half with great results (only one sink shot) I fired up the amore and ground up some panama carmen estate.

This tastes real nice in the pavoni, but I wasn't expecting all the flavour in the amore shot.
I guess it's partly the better stability of the large group and pid control, partly the fact that the amore's double holds two pavoni 49mm doubles.

There doesn't seem to be much interest in springs, I'm thinking about maybe converting it to manual operation.

I think you're right Doug. The spring must have compressed over time, but I doubt it was strong enough at birth to give nearly 9 bar. I think it would benefit from any increase in spring pressure though. email me on my username at gmail.com if you want to discuss this further.

Jeremy.

Orphan Espresso rocked for me.
My Amore is chrome not copper...

2 issues:
1. The seals leak a little until the group gets hot.
2. The spring is not an adjustable force.

At the moment I have the coffee quite fine but do not tamp.
It could be stronger...
Should I make it coarser and tamp a bit?
Is there a rule of thumb?
Whats the science of this balance?
Any way of increasing the spring 'torque'?

Any thoughts?
Marc

cubastreet wrote:I took the spring out last weekend and bent it as hard as I could against a pole to try and elongate it and it made a big difference. Before I'd get a little crema that would disappear within half a minute, but now I get a lot more, with a lot more staying power.

I've been using it all week and the coffee's been fantastic.

I can leave it on for an hour and it doesn't overheat either, which is great. Not a single burnt shot.

This Saturday I'll take the spring into work and force some steel rod between the spring in the vice, that should get some more life back into it.

Are you still feeling good about the 'streched spring'?
Does it make it hard to pull?
TX
Marc