Just for information, The water fill valve could be replaced by a new valve from Conti. That has a long lever to push the plunger. It is about one inch square by 3 inches long. See photo #2:
http://www.home-barista.com/lever...%20prestina#p17581
Mine has not leaked since it was installed.
Cheers
-Richard

Hello there Richard-

found that part on cafeparts.com....

it must be a mistake???

$524.45!!!

http://www.cafeparts.com/listCategoriesAndProducts.asp?CategoryID=748

'Didn't say they was apt to kiss you first! But there may be a few out there in scrap bins. Stefano may be a contact. Or possibly EPNW.
-Richard

I wasn't looking for a kiss exactly- but a punch in the face?

$524.45?? USD??


That's near what I paid for the entire machine-

I guess my dream is to have the SAMA end up looking like this:



to me this looks like what the machine should be:
Way cooler steam and water arms (with real nozzles)- cool old style red on lamp- very large boiler cap above the top of the machine- I wonder if Ponte Vecchio could be made to consider such upgrades?

Seems much better to have the steam and water at the front than the sides?

I think the steam valve knobs are much more ergonomic on the sides. These machines are good a pulling shots and steaming at the same time (although I need to pull the lever down a second time while steaming). FOr me, the steam valve knob on the right side of the machine is essential to do this.

Otherwise, that's a very nice looking machine, and I agree it would be a pain to remove the cup warmer to refill. But really, it might be best to put a plumbed-in valve on the boiler, which was common with the "family" or "club' style machines.

PC

If the group is Elektra-like, and the seals are as you describe, a v on top and a W on the bottom then it is pretty likely that an Elektra seal set will work....not many others use that setup in the small group models (is the basket 49mm?). Can't say why it is stuck but it just sounds stuck as much as anything....should just pull out.
The water valve I am talking about is like on our Faema wall mount, just a little knob at the hole in the frame where the present button valve resides....a toilet valve but hopefully not plastic (we have a Graziella with a toilet valve on the back of the boiler for fill....pretty classy)...and run it straight to the present boiler fill port. You can likely just take the cap off or open the steam wand when you fill it or add water, since your line pressure is greater than the boiler pressure it might not matter.
The tendency is to go off in a dozen different directions on one of these but you just want to see it work, right? If it is running at 1 bar you are good to go, and likely a little test gauge on the steam wand will tell you the accuracy of the pstat, but they seem to be set hot, or at least most are.
If you figure out the geometry of the boiler and the element and the feed tube to the group you will likely note that even when the water level gauge reads MT there is enough water to cover the element. there was someone who posted that they liked the old Ponte Vecchio without all of the safety features and with a 3 L boiler you are going to have to go away for a long time with that machine running and the steam wand hissing to ever run it out of water so if it was me I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Your cap is kindof ugly....we have some spares and if I recall the price is somewhre around $542.84, but I might be confusing it with some other little trinket for the machine.

The newer Samas are 45-mm group - don't know about the one in question.

Hey that's a great machine. Seems like an interesting mix of familiar looking parts used in there. I'm very curious though to see the back of the very Elektra-looking grouphead to see how the thermosyphon hooks in.
Could you post one please?
Good luck with the rebuild.

Tom

impatient to keep things moving I jumped on the scooter and raced (47km tops) down to my local electronics shop to grab a retro lamp for this machine. Seemed an easy task. Only they only had 12 volt lamps.

So I looked around and spied my junker Caravel on the shelf- I wiggled the lamp out and tried it- it is a 100% perfect fit- it couldn't be more exact. There shouldn't be any problem using that lamp should there? Both machines are 240 volt. I really wanted a great big huge red one like on my Italian martian espresso machine:



I checked the basket size and to my surprise it is 49mm- so all my Europiccola Pavoni baskets fit perfect. Also the group is almost identical to a Pavoni group- and it looks like La Pavoni portafilters will fit on perfectly. Which would be nice as I have several different versions to play with- and they are easy enough to come by. So now I am the lookout for a naked, pre-millenium 49mm pavoni portafilter...


Tom- there is not much to see at the back of the group- just inlets for two pipes. There is a screw on the bottom of the bridge part (great place to insert a thermal probe?). Not sure what it is there for- maybe to clean the inlets? I have not attempted to undo it yet

the shell is at the auto panel shop getting a professional finish. I chose cherry red to keep in near original.

I dismantled the group and thoroughly cleaned it- it seems the seals from the Elekta should be the ones.

The originals look OK- so I am not sure if I should replace them.

Here are images of the group disassembled for those that are interested:







To remove the piston I had to release the spring again- using a clamp to stop the spring ejecting violently. The reason it was so hard to remove from the top seems to be how perfectly the cylinder and top plate match- the microscopic layer of chrome on the brass was beyond the tolerance and made the top plate lock in. I filed away a small amount of chrome material on the top plate edge- and now the two fit snugly- but not tightly. Hopefully next time the piston will simply slide out. Would make cleaning and checking the seals a breeze:

Great pics, thanks. Looks like a very nice machine.

the boiler element came out with the help of an air ratchet- the element looks OK after the scale came off- we tested it and it worked fine- so I re-installed it- Looking at these images does anyone think I may have trouble down the track? Does it look like it still has some life?

the boiler cleaned up very well

before:



after:

nearly there- getting excited- just roasted half a KG in anticipation:

Very nice job and even better photos and explanations!
Many Happy Pulls!
-Richard

Beautiful work.

Wow! I want my SAMA to look like this! Wonder when did they change the steam valve to aside, looks better in front!

Very nice all round! Congratulations.

Nice SAMA!

My sama is just like PV and unfortunately has direct water connect device that I wish mine to have.

The front steam valve looks away better but don't you have problem foaming 20oz or more milk with it? It looks so short.