After much tribulation I got my 1950s Faemina apart, cleaned, regasketed, and reassembled, only to find it leaking badly from the cylinder. I made a homemade spanner with a PVC fitting and some steel rod and tightened the cylinder, and now it doesn't leak, but also doesn't dispense when the lever's depressed. Anyone have any ideas?

The gommino (sp?) is a tricky part of the re-assembly and has the potential to block water exiting the piston if not installed properly.

Also you haven't specified if you are testing it at pressure or cold. Very little water will exit the group if it isn't up to pressure, in my experience.

I was worried about that gommino; the OE page isn't very clear on that. Is it a quite thick dark disc that seems to separate the two halves of the cylinder?

By the way, here's the spanner I improvised, with a 2-inch PVC plug and two short 1/8" steel rods.

Hi,

That is indeed the Gommino. The original had a beveled (rounded) edge so it's best to round off the edge of the new seal to prevent water blockage when the halves separate. I did have it stick a bit the first couple of times as well, but that soon went away. Give it a couple of pumps and see if any water comes out. When not under pressure water should flow quite freely when the lever is pulled as I can empty my boiler quite quickly.

You can refer to my detailed Faemina rebuild thread for any questions you may have:
Faema Faemina Risurrezione!

It's been a while since I did mine but i seem to remember if the piston sleeve is screwed in too far it blocks the water. Could be wrong as my wife keeps telling me.

I've had the damn thing apart and back together three times now, and it still doesn't disperse, under pressure or not. I re-set and beveled the gommono and cleaned out the six holes the water runs through to enter the piston. There's a bit of leaking from the cylinder; I'll tighten it a bit further. But I'm about exhausted.