One morning my Cremina did not heat up and I located the defect to be a dead pstat microswitch.
A search on the internet only gave information on how to replace a faulty Olympia pstat with a new Mater.
Not willing to sacrifice the original Olympia pstat due to a malfunctioning microswitch, I realized that the microswitch sitting on the side of the Mater pstat perfectly fits the Olympia pstat.
The microswitch is available as Cherry D45U for £1.39 ($2.25)

Don't know if this is common knowledge - if not it may be now..

Nice to know! Thanks for the tip!

Great set of pictures. I never really studied the sub components of the pstat before. Now I have a better idea of how it actually works.

Is the deadband about the same with the new microswitch?

In fact the deadband is very narrow now - and narrower than before.
Don't know how narrow exactly (don't have the OE steam wand manometer available at the moment) - but the heating element kicks in every 20 secs or so which is much more frequent than before the microswitch replacement.

Had no idea that ​​the microswitch has a significant effect on the deadband.

You should be able to increase the length of the deadband by trimming the actuator arm on the switch. The arm on your new switch is much longer then the original which reduces the time that the p'stat base is out of contact with the arm.

I was of the understanding that a longer arm on the microswitch will increase the deadband since the arm is to be pushed for a longer distance to press the switch button down.

If the longer arm gets the pstat to cut off at a lower pressure then it is easily adjustable.

That would only be true if the arm was bending which it isn't. The longer arm comes in contact sooner so the deadband is shorter. It isn't raising the pressure per se so adjusting the p'stat won't fix the problem. Compare your old switch to the new one. If your theory was correct you wouldn't have a shorter deadband but you do.

I had to send my Cremina just bought off Ebay to Doug at OE because of a messed up pressure stat.
Based on your info just Googled the Cherry D45U and got a price of $3.16 on Allied. I'm just blown away!

As an aside talked to Doug for hours on this pstat prob. Course they are unobtanium. He told me he had chased the Mater down years ago. The firm that built them sold all the rights and blueprints to a firm in.....may get this wrong but I believe India????...maybe wrong.
Doug tried negotiating with the new owner, the guy asked, "How many thousand do you want to order?"

He would have to set up an assembly line to make it economically feasible. Makes me wonder if the D45U is made from the same print or was mfg'ed for Cherry by this same guy. Doug would know.

Regardless, would have to modify the actuater per JohnB's suggestion. Even if you have to hire a machinest would be well worth it. This is info I intend to put on my favorites because one day.....
Thanks so much for this thread. This is what makes HB #1 on my Favorites Bar!

Thanks John, next week with my steam wand pressure gauge back again, I'll test the effect a shorter arm has on the deadband.

Gene, the microswitch is available with arm or actuator in various designs (and with no actuator at all). Maybe you can find a variant with a shorter actuator. Do remember one with a short arm and a roller on top.

BEWARE eBay switch purchasers.

My Cremina has a 15 AMP rated switch.
The heating element is listed at 1000 watts. That works out to 8.33 amps in Seattle.
Some of the switches on eBay are rated for only 1/10th of an amp and some are rated at 10 amps.
Make sure you check before ordering.

I don't want to disasemble my p-stat to get to look at the lever arm of the switch, so please tell us how you dealt with making a new arm and attaching it to the switch.

I love finding parts for things outside of the regular channels. New bearings for my grinder were purchased at a local bearing supply house for $3.13 each instead of $22.00 each from an espresso part seller.
Same for o-rings.