Your Unkle, he's pretty good with his tool making, but we just got our straight from the factory La Pavoni boiler element removal tool. It wasn't cheap by any means (and don't ask to borrow it ) but whew, what a fine tool. The inner collar grabs the boiler element by friction and the notches are for the boiler spanner nut. Wow....what a tool!

there is a cheaper way to get those tool
is to go to the factory in Italy for a training class
then they will be given to you......................
ok I'm joking
but is it true at least 6 years ago
PS there is also the other one for the diffrent style gear ( plastic one)

I have now used the early 60'th Europiccola (according to some research it must be 1964) daily for three weeks. Meanwhile, the 1999 Professional has been standing cold, since I thought of learning the Europiccola. However, I have never been 100% pleased with the feeling of the Europiccola. The Professional feels more responding when pulling a shot. So, today I googled about it, and found that there are another sealing that might need to be replaced. The one tightening between the piston and the top of the group. I missed that one when I replaced the other sealings. As I have a set of different gaskets for the Europiccola, I decided to open the machine again...

... Here comes the hard part. Removing the new group gasket... I don't know if there are any good techniques for doing that, but I didn't come up with any. It took me half an hour to remove it, and unfortunately, I made it some damage. Why didn't I order two? Anyway... When the gasket was finally removed, I used the "onkel" tool again, removing the screen and then the cylinder. There it was... The sealing I missed the first time. It looked pretty stuck, but it was not as hard to remove as it seemed to be. I found a replacement seal with almost (!) the same dimensions. I gave it a try, and it seemed to fit.

Reassemble... Yeah, well, not very much struggling. I found that the damage of the group gasket was not as bad on the upper side, so I turned it up and down, hoping that it would not leak. Power on... Grind and tamp... Try pulling a shot... Voila! No leaks anywhere and the feeling was exactly like the 1999 Professional! The shot was almost a killer, but maybe a few seconds to quick. Seems like I must adjust the grinder after the seal replacement.

While spending some time on the machine, I also cleaned the steam pipe, which was totally stuck. I wondered why there was no steam at all, but that was just the head that was totally dirty. Now, yet another feature is working on this oldie.

I have never owned a better and more beautiful coffee machine, and will probably never do.

Hej Johey! Its great to hear that the '63 is living up to (or beyond) expectations. I think that particular vintage La Pavoni is up there with the best home levers. When we get together sometime we'll need to be sure to test a matching hand grinder of the same vintage. A have a few....

Hand (grinder) Jive - a photo essay

I've been grinding so oldish La Bomba beans I get here in Värmland. I'm planing to ask the retailer when they get freshly-roasted batches.

Ciao,
PC

Actually, I'm looking for a hand grinder. I would be happy to try different models and compare the end result to my Compak K3 Touch. Using a modern big ugly automatic grinder with a vintage small beautiful manual espresso machine has some contrast.

I have been sneaking at Orphans youtubes demonstrating the Japanese hand grinder. By no means vintage, but still simple and efficient. But of course, there would be some value in having a grinder from the same age as the coffee machine.

One thing I don't like vintage though, is the beans. Too bad you have them so, PC.

By the way... Would you mind selling one of your vintage grinders? It doesn't have to be your favourite, but still good enough producing a fine espresso grind, with consistent result. The goods are hard to find here on the Swedish buy and sell sites.

hello all,

there seemed to be some demand, so I thought I might resurrect this thread for the people out there who are struggling with removing the dispersion screen on an early Europiccola (and I suppose Co-Fer and other similar machines)..

I needed more leverage than nails + clamps could provide, so I made up a simple spanner tool for the group sleeve..
so, if anyone is despairing and interested, I can provide one.. just get in touch via email or private message here..

hope i can be of some help, attached find pics:

That should work for a La Graziella aka La Cara aka Mini Marcfi as well. Beats my 2" x 4" with nails sticking out looking like a back alley weapon.