New Olympia Cremina Portafilter Fit - Page 3

July 9th, 2014, 8:11 pm

cerinicoffee wrote:I'm not saying that it's not an issue with Lerch's machine, but I don't think it's related to the whole production.

Just to clarify, it is not my machine that is seeing this issue, it is my father's Cremina.

bronsht wrote:Lerch,
Your pictures of the lugs and the position of the pf w/basket is exactly what I have. I'm going to stop worrying about this, though I have been making espresso without any problems except for using a rubber mallet to uninstall my pf after brewing. Just kidding. No mallet but my wrist is starting to hurt.

Thanks for your help. Didn't mean to cause you to worry about your Cremina portafilter not locking properly, was just curious what experience others have had with the new Creminas.

Out of curiosity, does anyone use the Penney bottomless portafilter with a relatively new Cremina?

#22: Post by **erik82** » July 10th, 2014, 3:26 am

Mine didn't lock in well either when I still had my new Cremina. It really took too much force to get the portafilter in the group. It was a problem at Olympia according to the dealer and Olympia Swiss. The portafilters are made somewhere else and they had a fault in the production process. It took 3 portafilters and a new group (due to the chrome coming off) before I had one that fitted well.

I also had much more problems with the Cremina and eventually returned it to the dealer after 6 months of continues problems andwent back to the Strega again. I also had 3 boilercaps in 6 months time because they where all starting to spit water all the time while the machine was on. Quality control isn't what it used to be at Olympia.

#23: Post by **espressotime** » July 10th, 2014, 4:10 am

Spoken as a happy Strega owner.

July 10th, 2014, 8:33 am

erik82 wrote:Mine didn't lock in well either when I still had my new Cremina. It really took too much force to get the portafilter in the group. It was a problem at Olympia according to the dealer and Olympia Swiss. The portafilters are made somewhere else and they had a fault in the production process. It took 3 portafilters and a new group (due to the chrome coming off) before I had one that fitted well.

I would think this would be something that could easily be caught during quality control by simply test fitting the portafilter into the group but I guess not.

erik82 wrote:I also had much more problems with the Cremina and eventually returned it to the dealer after 6 months of continues problems andwent back to the Strega again. I also had 3 boilercaps in 6 months time because they where all starting to spit water all the time while the machine was on. Quality control isn't what it used to be at Olympia.

That is unfortunate to hear. I currently have a 92 Cremina and prior to purchasing the new one my father had an 88 Cremina and they are both great little machines. The build quality of the new one appears to be fantastic (the boiler welds, etc) but it is a shame to hear that Olympia's quality control may be slipping.

#25: Post by **weebit_nutty** » July 10th, 2014, 11:59 am

Could just be a new GH seal is not compliant to the specs needed for good fit.

July 10th, 2014, 12:21 pm

That could be in which case sanding down the gasket may be enough to make the fit better. I did that with a Cafelat silicon gasket for my Anita to get a good fit with a La Marzocco portafilter.

The problem would be working with the Olympia gasket material, the gasket is difficult to remove from the grouphead and it tears very easily. I imagine it would be difficult to do test fittings while sanding it down without destroying the gasket.

http://users.rcn.com/erics/ · #27: Post by **erics** » July 10th, 2014, 6:36 pm

I imagine it would be difficult to do test fittings while sanding it down without destroying the gasket.

It would be "duck soup" to do BUT then you would be defeating the whole purpose of this thread.

The amount of engagement of those PF ears in your Dad's machine is about the amount I would expect to see NOT engaged when working with all new parts. After some time (a month?) the engagement becomes or certainly approaches 100% mainly due to localized deformation of the grouphead gasket.

Cerini Coffee has stepped in and deserves credit for that. So, I would let them work this out with Olympia and, hopefully, define (in explicit terms) what satisfactory engagement is.

#28: Post by **cerinicoffee** » July 11th, 2014, 11:52 am

erik82 wrote:Mine didn't lock in well either when I still had my new Cremina. It really took too much force to get the portafilter in the group. It was a problem at Olympia according to the dealer and Olympia Swiss. The portafilters are made somewhere else and they had a fault in the production process. It took 3 portafilters and a new group (due to the chrome coming off) before I had one that fitted well.

I also had much more problems with the Cremina and eventually returned it to the dealer after 6 months of continues problems andwent back to the Strega again. I also had 3 boilercaps in 6 months time because they where all starting to spit water all the time while the machine was on. Quality control isn't what it used to be at Olympia.

Erik82,

What year did you purchase your machine?

#29: Post by **erik82** » July 12th, 2014, 2:40 am

Half 2013 brand new. The second portafilter had the exact same problem as the first one which was in the box with the Cremina. The third one was ok. The Olympia bottomless portafilter didn't have the problem.

I spoke with the boss of Olympia Swiss and he admitted that it was a production problem because they where manufactured by a third party.

July 17th, 2014, 9:32 am

Thanks for the information. We are working with Olympia to Resolve any possible issues with the Filter-Holder or related Items.

Both Olympia and Cerini's are determined to make sure everything is perfect when the machine is taken out of the box.

We will keep everyone posted on the progress, and will let you know of any changes.

We appreciate the feedback and look forward resolving this after the factory re-opens from Vacation.