Hi Everybody!!

First off, I am a total newbie to espresso making and espresso machines. My parents have always drunk instant coffee and so I was never really exposed to 'proper' coffee so to speak, that is until university when long nights revising and finishing projects its easy to develop the 'caffeine-bug'!

Liking to learn and make things myself, I kept looking on and off at espresso machines, especially the Dualit espressivo 84200 as I had a Dualit kettle and think their toasters look amazing, especially the older ones. This then obviously led me to look deeper into espresso machine and as all total beginners do, I got obsessed with the idea of lever espresso machines. Not to shy away from a challenge, a La Pavoni was in order.....

So here it is, La Pavoni Europiccola, bought from Ebay a week ago. Description:

La Pavoni Europiccola espresso/cappuccino machine. I bought this machine new about 5 years ago. It's
the newer version of the Europiccola (a slightly larger groupset than the older models).

The machine is in good used condition. I've cleaned it up somewhat but it needs further cleaning to be
spotless. It comes with 2 double-shot and 2 single-shot baskets, original Pavoni tamper, and owners
manual. The grid tray is the better metal one (it came with a cheap plastic grid tray) and it has the older
type water gauge, which is much better-looking than the newer one.

The bad points: the seals all need replacing as it still has its original seals which are now fairly leaky,
although it works fine; the paint is lifting a little beneath the drip tray (but this isn't visible when the
tray is in place).

It arrived really quickly, it was packed excellent and everything was there. Unfortunately the black plastic base was broken but after talking to the seller, he refunded me a very fair amount. It goes to show its not all scams and rip offs and there are good people and deals to be had on Fleebay if you are careful.



After trying the machine for a few days there was a few very apparent problems. It was quite leaky, there is very little pressure when pulling a shot (I tamped extra hard and was letting the grouphead fill and coffee drip through before pulling), the steam release valve was constantly on so it wasn't building pressure properly and the machine definitely need a good clean as there was an unsightly tough brown staining on the chrome.

I fixed the valve (tapped it with a wooden spoon when building pressure to free the spring) so it wasn't filling my kitchen with steam constantly and I figured the leaks/pressure would be fixed by a good strip down, clean out and new set of seals and gaskets. While it was in bits I could also polish the chrome, have the base powder coated black as the paint was flaking and it was rusting where the self tapping screw affixes the plastic base and check that nothing was broken or too worn inside.

So here is the start of the restore, I got some chrome polish today and decided to start stripping it down and spent an hour or so polishing the boiler body, group body and filter holder.

Broken base pillar


Inside



Pretty Gunky


Gunky Piston


1st Polish



It is hard to tell on the pics, but it looks so much better now. Getting the tough brown gunk off is pretty time consuming but its worth it.

I now have to decide whether to upgrade it to a Professional, powdercoat the black base and just install the gauge as I do fancy the gauge, or just restore it to a new like state and not bother with the gauge.... Any ideas guys and gals?

If you've got any tips or advice I would be grateful to hear it as like I said I am pretty new to the espresso game.

Thanks for reading,
Christopher, EspressoPhD.

I use this strip: http://www.orphanespresso.com/index.php...ts_id=1212 rather than a gauge for basic temperature information and it seems to work like a charm for me. Not as pretty though.

mikekarr wrote:I use this strip: http://www.orphanespresso.com/index.php...ts_id=1212 rather than a gauge for basic temperature information and it seems to work like a charm for me. Not as pretty though.

I use the strip, and it works like a charm for me too.

Thanks for the tip guys, the temperature strip is quite a good idea. I remember having one on my fish tank when I was about 12!!

Yeah, I think I am going to give the gauge a miss for now. I've found that the sight glass has cracked and I also need a replacement safety valve release collar. I've been pricing up those parts, the gaskets/seals, black plastic base etc and I think I'm just going to rebuild it for now, get it working properly and improve my technique.

Christopher.

Hi Guys,

Well, after waiting for many weeks finally the parts came in that I needed to finish off the Europiccola.

Totally disassembled the machine, cleaned/inspected everything and replace all the seals.

Also used some chrome polish and polished up the machine. It was pretty tough to get some of the brown baked on crud off but after a couple of hours it came up as good as new.



I hope this might be helpful for someone new like me that is considering buying one of these machines and restoring it. It has been really easy to find and buy the parts and everything is pretty self explanatory. If your thinking about it then I suggest to go for it, there is no better way to learn than actually doing it yourself after all!

I know there are many, many people restoring these and to long term espresso fanatics, perhaps these arn't particularly interesting. I think this was a good start though and I'm planning on a far more interesting espresso project in the future!


Christopher.

Nice job!

Enjoy....

Superb effort there Christopher. They are fabulous machines and it is nice to see that it has found a good home after some much needed care and attention.

Good luck with your pulls. Loads of info on this forum specifically for the Pav technique, but am sure any specific guidance you have will be answered by some grizzled Pavoni masters

Thanks for the positive responses guys!

I was worried that there must have been so many people that have done this that I am just repeating again what has been done/said so many times before.

I've actually just ordered a Iberital MC2 and some espresso beans from HasBean after reading through reviews on here and coffeegeek etc. The grind I was using before I think is too coarse as the extractions are very quick and lever pressure light (I am trying to tamp a bit harder to compensate), plus the very dark roast means its takes very bitter and what I imagine what old leather boots taste like!

So my own 'espresso nirvana' quest begins I think.....

Christopher.

Good choice with Hasbean and the IC2 is certainly a solid place to start to begin your espresso indulgence. General experience suggests that grinding finer with less than a full basket and a light tamp tends to give you greater success. A gentle felini preinfusion technique might also work for you if you are using a double basket. Anyway, enjoy your new toys!