I just recently acquired a used Olympia Club sans the upper tray and drip tray. The steam wand leaked, the group to boiler gasket leaked, the wiring was a mess, and once straightened out with Doug's help, the boiler would not shut off. They had the upper tray pieces in stock from a parted out Olympia Caffarex and Barb was nice enough to place them on hold for me. I drove down to their shop to pick up the upper tray and a seal kit. The next thing I knew I had a new pressure stat and seals installed and the machine was running like a champ. I think it took Doug like two or three seconds to get it done--a slight exaggeration.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Club.



Here is a picture of my temporary drip tray using the shelf from our dish drainer tray and a small glass bowl. I hope that this is very temporary. If I do not find one soon I will probably either make one or have it made.


Doug and Barb were very nice and gave my wife and me a tour of their shop and their massive collection of hand coffee grinders and classic lever espresso machines. I was like a kid in a candy shop and was barely able contain my excitement and not jump up and down squealing like a little girl. I think that I maintained my composure and dignity for the most part. To top it off, we got to sample some really good coffee pulled from his wall mounted Faema lever machine. What a treat.

They have quite the operation. If anyone can help you with repairing or restoring an old or new lever machine, with parts or advice, it is Doug and Barb. They are quite the team. It is quite amazing the time and effort they have put in to finding hard to find parts, and if they cannot find them, making them or having them made. They really have a love of these machines and the craft of restoring them. They really have an impressive inventory. Most business could learn a thing or two from Doug and Barb about service, quality, and integrity.

Thanks and best wishes,
Lance and Marcia

Well, I thought that I had a disaster later after pulling my morning shot. There was a big puddle of water under my Club. It turns out that it was 1) I had not closed the steam wand all the way, and 2) a faulty temporary drip tray design . Below is my new and improved temporary drip tray design

This is me, being jealous

Hi, Lance.

What about the asbestos insulation? Have you removed it or it is in good shape?

Nice setup and pictures!

Márcio.

Hello Márcio,

Carneiro wrote:What about the asbestos insulation? Have you removed it or it is in good shape?

Like my Cremina the asbestos in the Club is in very good shape. There are no flakes or loose pieces. Plus, I really did not feel like dealing with it right now. I figure I will deal with it during the next maintenance. Until then, it is safely locked away inside. I have been wanting to spend some quality time on a spring lever machine for a very long time and never thought is would actually be an Olympia Club. So, I just wanted to get to using the machine reallllllly BAAAAADDD. So, it will have to just wait. I may deal with it when I have Doug at Orphan paint the case.

Carneiro wrote:Nice setup and pictures!

Thanks,
Lance

Nice! I've got an offer of a old Club from Italy (like yours, without pressure gauge). The pictures have showed good shape, and even the asbestos boiler gasket were covered by some red silicon sealant...

But the price was too high...

Márcio.

Márcio,

Be patient I am sure an affordable one will come up. So far I am really liking it. It steams like a banshee like my old Pasquini Livia 90. It is much easier to pull a shot. I just have not been able to pull quite as good a shot or get as good crema as my Cremina yet. I am sure I will be able to with a little time.

Lance

A funny, or rather embarrassing, issue came up with the assembly of my Club. The wiring was all messed up when I picked it up. One of the spade terminals to the pilot light had broken off--I re-soldered it. Some of the wires terminals had melted off. Wires were unhooked or missing. So, I contacted Doug at Orphan and he sent me a really cool hand drawn wiring diagram. So, I get everything hooked up to the diagram and everything turns on fine--except the boiler would not turn off because of a bad pstat. I then noticed that the light on the on/off switch remained on all the time--on or off. I kept going over complicated scenarios on how it could be feeding back through the circuit somehow--wiring wrong somewhere--or there might be some kind of internal short in the switch. I just could not find an explanation that could account for it. Last night at about 1:30 a.m. I was going over the wiring in my head when it hit me, the switch is upside down. I got up and reversed the wiring and bang. It worked. I usually follow the KISS troubleshooting method and rule out the simple before moving to the complex. I guess this was just way too simple and way too obvious