Some updates on this project. I took off the steam and water valves to look if there were some obvious issues with them. Everything looked ok, some scale, but pretty clean and the washers seemed fine. I cleaned the insides and added some food grade grease. As they seemed to function ok I just decided to put them back on.



I also checked the pressure gauge with some air pressure and it seemed to work. Cleaned the pipe and the gauge as well as I could and screwed it back in. I did not screw the toggles back on the steam and water valves to find out if the leaks were in the valves or if the toggles were just constantly pressing down the "button". So, everything back together and lets turn on the machine.

Building some pressure. Nice.
No leaks from the pipes. Great.
No leaks from the pipes. Great.
The gauge showing pressure build up. Even better.
Pstat turning off when gauge at 1 BAR. Oh yeah.



When putting back the toggles I also got some steam and water, but there is some fiddling to do to get them perfect so that they are not constantly pressing some air and water out of the pipes, but they are not too loose either. Think I got them pretty good now.

I pretty much did nothing special to the machine, but everything is looking good now. Seems like no new parts are needed and I will soon get to drink my first coffees from this one. Pics will follow

beer&mathematics:
You probably have tried already to turn on the machine without the toggles screwed on, but if you haven't I recommend you to try. It is possible that they could cause the problem. That and some grease seemed to have solved my problems.

Great work! You are almost there! Lucky

Actually, I didn't think to try the toggles without the caps put on. Will try that when I have the time in a few weeks. Thanks for the tip!

Some more pics. Slowly getting there. Already made a first espresso and it tasted ok, not much body or crema, but good layered flavours. Really like this small machine. Great build quality.

Wow! The outside of this machine is utilitarian minimalism at its best, but the internals are the real stunner - simple and beautiful. When were these machines made?

+1

dmw010 wrote:Wow! The outside of this machine is utilitarian minimalism at its best, but the internals are the real stunner - simple and beautiful. When were these machines made?

I don't know when this machine was made and can't find any information on Ater at all. This is pretty much the same machine as Sama Club and really similar to Bezzera Family, that I believe are from the mid 70s. I really like the internals too, nothing unnecessary just simple and beautiful good quality parts and workmanship.

Can you bolt the Bosco group onto the front panel and connect to thermosyphon to the group..

Can you convert this into a Bosco spring lever beast?

Heh.. if the answer's yes i would immediately start building a "FrankenVecchio"

So here it is!

When buying this is was pretty sure I was going to get it repainted as the yellow really isn't my favourite colour, but the more I have worked on this, the more I have started to like the yellow colour. There are some cracks in the paint and bits of rust as well so I probably have to get it repainted at some point, but I guess I will keep it as it is at least for now. The group bolts I'll probably change to stainless steel ones and I'll also buy a naked portafilter at some point. Really happy with the machine. Could have spent my EUR 150 a lot worse

Very nicely done. There's nothing quite like vintage, is it? You get a great quality machine with a classic look -- because it is a classic -- and if you choose carefully, it's at a bargain too.