Here's another Olympia Cremina Story. It's long But it got pictures...a lot of pictures. I think the story will be useful to the ones contemplating a used machine just to give them a taste of what they might get into.

I've became a member of this forum just over a year ago. Being on a tight budget I started with a simple Saeco Aroma. Rapidly I got hold of a non pressurised filter and a manual grinder from Doug. Things got a little bit better but I was far from the espresso heaven. I always wanted a lever but never found any good deal when I had the money ! Just before christmas I decided to be on my watch to buy one. I bid on two sama export but lost both.. Then an 1988 Olympia appeared on ebay. The seller was selling it saying that there were a few problems. Since I,ve been burned many times on ebay I decided to call the owner to know exactly what was wrong ? He mention that he could'nt bring it to pressure anymore and that a repairman said that the pressurestat was defective and that the whole steam valve should be change, he mention around 150$ to 500$ to bring it back to life. Since the seller was a bit worried about selling a defective product on ebay he was glad that I called and offer to sell it to me for 300$. I decided to take a chance and jump on it.

The machine arrive well packed and without any damage. When I opened up the package I saw one of the dirtiest machine I ever saw there was burn coffee and coffee spill all over, I even clean it a little before taking the first picture but you can see what kind of state it was in by this picture of the grouphead. I was not sure anymore I wanted to do this, and wish for a moment that it got all damage in transit so that I could have my money back!


Since I saw many clean machine with awful internal I was really scared of opening this one up. First look, I was happy to see that there was no asbestos inside, but there has been clearly some water spill and gunk that never got cleaned. It get you wondering what the last person got in is cup with a shower screen like that ! It's about time that we start the MSC club (My Screen is Clean Club)

I fill her up and plug it quickly just to see if it was heating. At least that part was ok.. I could see that the cord and plug has to be change since I saw all the wire just out of the plug. The internal weren't so bad afterall.


At least we could clearly see that the safety valve has seen some use so it's working.....hey a man got to find good in every little mess! The seller did tell me that he did have the element change a few years back, I'm guessing that it might have burnt it by leaving the tank empty, maybe that 's explain a bit of the neglected appearance of all this and all the baked coffee and scalded milk on top....i think the owner was just simply careless...a bit worrying!

At least I could confirm the element replacement since the date is stamped on the part you see here 1992.

So i decided to record everything, dismantle everything, order the replacement gasket from Doug and some replacement parts from olympia. Starting the dismantling the list of things to repair grew a bit longer.
-Replace power cord (Fortunately a block heater extension cord is exactly the same gauge)
-The original switch has been replace in the course of it's life by an inappropriate one that didn't fit the hole and didn't light up. (order a new one from Olympia)
-The pilot light seem to have been remove carelessly more than a few times, so there's no more tab on the plastic to hold it in place (order a new one)
-The wiring seem to have suffered a major heat wave maybe when the element blew off and the coating melted on the switch. (redo wiring with the left over from the extension cord)


The boiler cap has some crack in the plastic. It is still holding on the brass cap but I don't want to take any chance (order new cap and use the old one to build a pressure gauge, see later)


Dismantling everything on this machine is so simple that I think it could be manage by anyone with basic manual skill and two open wrench. Dismantling the boiler I was surprise to see that there wasn't much scale inside the boiler (about the first quarter of it's height only) and not too much on the element but still....The gasket was burnt as hard as ceramic as all the other one I would encounter for the rest of the rebuild .



Now the fun part the group head. I was a bit worried about those allen screw for the head but everything unscrew nicely at least that's what I thought. Until I tried to put everything together to realise that one of the hole was strip of it's thread. After an helicoil kit and a few bucks less in my pocket (mechanics will understand here !) I was able to fit everything back together. That might explain the trace of silicone sealant I found around the group head and on some of the screw. The last person doing repair on this machine, although the owner told me it was a reputable repair shop in New Jersey, do strange work! I suppose that if he would be doing a good job I would'nt have had the chance to get this machine, so I must not complaint too much.

The dismantling continue. I have no picture of the internal of the group head but by the look of the piston and the shower screen you saw before it might give you an idea.


Then there was a long, long .........long, long time of soaking and scrubbing and finding the right polish for all those different metals. All the brass and copper parts went into a citric acid bath for a night and then some more and got polish with steal wool. The chrome parts were soak in Joe Glo multiple time, and even then some of the black gunk on the group head had to be remove with metal tool as even coarse steel wool wouldn't take it off, I also used a metal tool to remove the scalded milk in the top round tray. By being really careful the marking by the tool was really minimal and a lot better looking then the gunk. Then I used the polish recommended by Doug on his web site for stainless and chrome with great result.....no professional repolish but it still look pretty good to me.


I used a round wire brush to clean the interior of the boiler, and the result was perfect, did the same with the piston but with softer bristle..

Finally I decide to devote my attention to the only advertised problem, the steam valve. The owner must have delay the replacement of the 2$ seal and tried to close the valve by tightening with more force everytime, until the thread could'nt take it anymore. Since I didn't know if the thread inside the valve were ok I decided to order a complete valve from olympia, unfortunately this part is no longer available, but they offer me to machine the new valve to make it fit my machine at the cost of the part +20$ if I could not replace just the insert. Fortunately replacing the insert resolve all the problem of the valve (the cost was 24$) but it's really nice to know that the company still want their machine to keep on going, and going ! Since I saved on that one I bought a new steam arm that come with a removable tip with 4 holes (no microfoam yet, but I guess the problem is more on the other side of the portafilter)

Everything was now coming together. I got all my seal from OrphanEspresso and redid them all without any difficulties with the help of Doug videos. I got my parts from olympia quite fast actually, I spoke by phone to someone at the factory that speak french and was of great help....I think phone is the way to go if you still want great service.

So now I had to but everything together........It's even easier with clean parts. I did not completely repaint the frame since there was not much rust, just the plate underneath the boiler. Everything went smoothly together. The brass and the stainless and the chrome. The case was not too rusted so decide to keep it like this until I send it for powdercoating to you know who!




Got a little problem with the wiring and the new switch. The switch stayed on as soon as the cord was plug in. I thought that I did a mistake somewhere. But rechecked everything with my notes and photos but everything seem fine. Finally decided to check Doug video on the wiring and would'nt you know it, the previous worker on this machine did it all wrong. Got it right in 5 minutes.



Since I didn't do anything about the pressurestat other then cleaning the exterior.

I was a bit worry about the warning of the last owner. Since I replaced the old cap with a new one with a breaker valve in it, I was able to use the old one with an omega pressure gauge to test the machine. I was really nervous. I first tried the pressurestat at the lowest setting to be sure it would work, keeping my hand on the steam valve to release all pressure if there was a problem. Once I knew for certain that it would cut the current, being really careful I was able to gradually raise it up so it cycle between .75 and .95 bars. By raising it a bit higher I was able to adjust the safety valve, and then bring it back to working pressure. It seem that the only reason why the last owner was not able to bring it to pressure was the leaking steam valve which was held in place by a rubber band when I got it, good thing the boiler would'nt come to pressure cause I,m not sure a rubber band would have prevent the possible injury, but hey....the theory of evolution still apply in a strange way. What a relief for me!!!


Now everything is in perfect working order and I can appreciate the full capacity of this machine at my great pleasure. Altough I'm still quite new to the world of lever I can already see the potential of this little fellow, altough I'm sure I've just seen the tip of the iceberg.


Sorry for the long post, but I'm sure someone will benefit from it. This project was a bit more then expected, but not that far, mainly because it's such a simple and well build machine. Did I save money on the long run ? I'm not really sure, the total cost of everything must have cost about 600$ if I count my time I'm certainly well over ebay price. But at least I know exactly what's in the guts of this small beauty and I know that it's now in top shape. Would I do it again ? in a heartbeat....but hey, I'm that kind of guy who like to dismantle new stuff just to see how it's working. Well enough said...got to go practice.

Ready to pull !!!!!!


I'm now a proud member of the MSC Club
(My screen is Clean Club)

Wow, great work on the restoration! The machine almost looks new now. Hard to believe it's the same machine that appears in the first pictures. Love how it's possible to do such a nice restoration on these old levers without having to replace a lot of complicating electronics and such. Good job.

I think you still came out ahead even if you spent $600 altogether, considering how much a nice used Cremina costs on eBay these days.

I do enjoy reading these restoration projects. Fabulous effort and thanks for your post - which was an effort in itself it would appear! Hope you are enjoying some delicious coffee from a legendary machine.

That looks amazing. Just for reference - I never use emoticons. When I saw the first pictures I wasn't sure what to expect of the result, but it seems like it's flawless!

Welcome to lever land and enjoy your stay.

Talk about Cremina abuse . And somebody was drinking coffee out of that head? Nice save! Looks great!

Bonjour Rob,
Fantastic story line. Many thanks for the photos as well.
Cheri

I'm pretty happy with the result. It's not perfect cosmetically but mechanically It's up there. The only other thing that I will keep my eye on is the wear on the grouphead slot. It was already pretty large but should be good for at least another thousand pull, in the worst case scenario I will have to buy a new grouphead (at 400$) ten years down the road, in the meantime if I see a good use head coming up I might grab it.

Thanks for all the comment. I must give a big thanks to Doug at Orphan Espresso for the online help that he provided and thanks to all the member on this board who are always there to answer the question in usually less than an hour.I'm wondering if it's that coffee that keep you awake all night!

Still experimenting with the lever, but getting better and better.

Wow, great job! You'd never guess it was the same machine. Were you able to get that rust off from underneath?

The worst rust on the bottom part was on the removable plate. I wired brush it, prime it with rust inhibiter and painted it. So it's not as a new one but there's no rust anymore. But I've seen on recent cremina that this plate was replace with what look like a stainless grill, so i think I will try to fabricate something of this kind. The only uses of this bottom plate is to allow water to escape if there is a leak and keep the element connection out of reach, the plate is also holding the reset button.

Thanks.

What a fantastic restoration job, with some good improvisations along the way (eg the on-off switch). Thanks for posting because this was really interesting. And encouraging too, since it illustrates that a Cremina, in almost any condition, can be resurrected.