I appreciate the advice I've received so far. Today I pickup up a used Orione. It was purchased at auction around 1970, used (mostly displayed) in a hotel and donut shop, and stored in a box from 1995 to present.



The machine is pristine. The original paint on the frame is burnt orange and the paint is in excellent condition with no rust. The whole thing looks like it has been in a box for 40 years. Just a little dusty. It's like finding a 1965 mustang in an old barn with 10,000 miles on it. The only real flaws I can see are the wiring looks old and the plastic knobs on the hot water and steam are degraded.

The seller fired it up before the sale and replaced the pressure stat. I filled the boiler this evening, let it heat for an hour, and pulled a few shots.

Steam is fine, pressure in the boiler is fine. But the shots are not pulling well. I got the grinder dialed in pretty quick so it only leaks a drop or two with a 10 second preinfusion. But they are either two quick or anemic. No creama and the lever lifts very slowly with a couple of stops and jerks. My instinct tells me it is not generating much pressure.

Any advice appreciated. My uneducated guess would be to rebuild and lubricate the group head.

Anyone out there running one of these? I'd like to compare notes. Not a lot of detailed info that I can find on the net.

Thanks

Tom

Tom-
There are several folks here that have rebuilt Gaggia Oriones, likely built by ABC Pasta in CA, now called Deluxe Coffee. They have parts last time I checked as does Doug from Orphan Espresso. I have dealt with both. Most here have nothing but great things to say about Doug and OE's willingness to help out on rebuilds and saving folks a lot of headaches, not that this will be an easy ride for you! That said... being that this machine has been in storage and used, I'd say the piston assembly (gaskets and all) should be inspected and rebuilt, at least. Have fun!

Congratulations Tom, you picked up a goodie. Deluxe was likely the original seller of the machine (ABC coffee) and Sergio a good resource all around for these old machines.

One of the tricky things for parts is to figure out which machine you have, and it does not look to be an Orione which is Gaggia Italia but one of the various Spanish Gaggias....Italcrem, Visacrem, C70, C80, KB and others. You an sort it out from the group construction and the style of knobs and steam and water faucets as much as anything. Could be that Deluxe Coffee has the ABC records to tell you exactly what you have.

Sounds like you at least need a group rebuild.

So you got that one. I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and a friend of mine was interested in it, but I think he wanted something he didn't have to rebuild. Congrats!

Thanks all.

I don't know if it matters but the plate says:

Gaggia caffe espresso corporation, 9063 San Fernando Road, 213-768-6300
Orione 1G-U

I'll be calling about the rebuild.

Interesting. The address on the machine looks like it is next door (or another entrance) to Deluxe Coffee,.

9063 San Fernando Road verses 9071

and the number is the same except for the area code.

it is a gaggia orione made in italy early 70's and redressed and sold by abc, now deluxe. talk to sergio, he did the grouphead of my orione and the 3 on my esportacione. it's around $300-400 per grouphead. espresso parts has parts incl. knobs (unfortunately cheap quality).
set the pressure stat to 0.9-1.2 bar (off-on). take fresh coffee, dial in your grind. flush the grouphead for 1-2 seconds with pf locked in. then unlock pf, wipe it dry, fill with grounds. i do around 18-19 gr in a double basket. level and tamp. you do not need a great tamping force at all. it's not a pump machine!! replace pf and preinfuse for 5-10 seconds; extraction time can be from 15 to 40 sec. one rule is: the shorter the preinfusion the longer the extraction!! and, there might be drops coming out of the filter during preinfusion or not. don't take that as an indicator. ignore it! use a naked portafilter! you will see where the extraction takes place.
also, one click adjustment on the grinder can make a substantial difference.
it will take you a while to get consistency into your shots but it's worthwhile! and then you start with single origin coffee...

I decided to pick up this project again.

I got Sergio to rebuild the group head. Fast turnaround. Got it back today. Rebuild, new bearings, and a couple of new baskets. No problems.

I've cleaned out the light scale in the boiler with vinegar. It's pretty clean.

Only 2 things to go and I've got a couple of questions.

First, when I bolt the grouphead back onto the boiler (I've got a new gasket), do I need to use gasket goop? If so, can someone recommend a food grade brand. And second, I would like to replace the wiring with high temp wire. The original looks pretty ragged. I think it is paper covered. Sergio sent me some, but it is a much smaller gauge than the original. Any ideas where to source that?

Insulating the boiler is on the list as well but that can happen after I get it back in service.

Many thanks.

Food grade grease is mainly used with new seals (rubber, EPDM, Viton etc). Gaskets do not need any lube or grease.
I usually use appliance wire, sourced from the local hardware store, or failing that a Electrical trade supply store.

Good luck with the re-build

I used appliance wire from an appliance repair shop. You can get high temperature 10 or 12 gauge (probably also 14) designed for water heaters and electric ovens and the like. I also got high temperature ring lugs. Easy.