The latest project sucking up all my spare time- and some time that isn't spare is the restoration of a 1970's club machine. I will post some pictures as I go and welcome any hints or tips.

The machine I have is different than others I have seen on here and elsewhere. The group head seems different than the Romana, Ponte Vecchio machines. It has hex screws on the top of he group and if you remove them the piston and lever can be easily removed as one unit.

The machine works fine but there is some rust on the chassis, evidence of leaking seals on the boiler element and pressurestat and other signs that indicate the entire thing should be disassembled and rebuilt.

So far I have managed to rebuild the group head with a new shower screen seal (from a La Pavoni Europiccola- seemed a perfect fit, and lube of the original piston seals (2 seals- one v section and one 'double v section seal, clean piston etc. I replaced the sight glass seals with silicon seals (also Pavoni). Now I have removed the boiler- I am about to attempt to remove the element- it seems a little stiff.

I am just wondering- how should I clean the boiler? Can the element be replaced if it is defective- or worn out? Any thing I should be looking out for?

Also the machine seems to have been plumbed in- there is no bakelite cap on the boiler- just a nut. I need a new cap- or to come up with some new type of cap. I am tempted to cut a hole in the stainless cup holder top and have the bakelite filler knob above the tray- it seems a bit crappy to have to remove the tray to fill the boiler- and the spout hole is quite small- seems like it would be easy to spill water into the machine and hasten corrosion, etc. Any one have any ideas about a solution for this?

here are pics showing the machine as it is reduced to its parts:



here are some pics:

and with the cover off:

and the boiler was such a nice object I photographed it separately:

Hi,
Congratulations on your acquisition. I own a similar machine that I let "on" all day long to produce espressi "on demand". This is my favourite machine in terms of "cup result". The group/pison/PF assembly is similar to the one of an Elektra microcasa, but is not bolted to the boiler, and is mounted in a thermosiphon loop.
Best,
F

Thankyou Francois,

I cannot wait to rebuild this machine and see how it performs. I am encouraged to hear how happy you are with your daily espresso.

Hey there:

A nice looking little project you have. Looks like the machine is in pretty decent shape ATC. Have you had the element out yet? I'm curious about the shape of it inside the tank.

I'm asking partly because Garth Breaks and I are in the (long, slow) process of taking down his Sama Club, which has serious boiler issues. We're going to have to crack it and re-braze it together again. But the rest of the machine looks very similar and we've done a few refurbs now and have experience with most of the issues that will come up with this one. I'm also taking down a Sama Export at the moment, the little sister to your model.

Our experience with the boiler was that the build-up of calcium / lime scale had created a bridge of sorts to the bottom of the boiler, and so when we applied pressure to take the element out, it ground against the bridge/bottom of the boiler and ruined the element. I'm not sure if Garth has sourced a new element yet, he may have, we know a shop here. Your machine has a similar age and so I would guess it will be stiff too. I wish in retrospect I'd taken a de-scaler to it first and then tried to open up the element. His thread on this is here:

http://www.home-barista.com/levers/sama ... t8510.html

Hope this helps. Will be curious about the boiler cap fix, I'd be tempted to mod it too, but there may be parts around from other machines that fit as well. What are the exact dimensions of the fitting?

Good luck with the refurb, looks like a gem of a machine.

sa

Thanks for the info- I am glad I started out with a descale now- I was hoping that would be all that is required but I think I should totally clean the boiler now I have it out- and replace the seals on the thermostat and element. I hope the element is OK. I tested the machine and it worked perfectly so hopefully it is OK.

I will add more images here as I go- and I look forward to any ideas or input as I go,

I am wondering what the best method for cleaning the boiler will be? Ultrasonic Bath?

You could go nuclear and blast it with something, but I just use commercial de-scaling liquid. Takes a bit to run it through but does the job. I also use brass brushes on my drill when I have decent access -- you can get a lot done manually.

Let me know what you end up using, we'll need the advice. sa

took the boiler down to my local roaster/espresso tech guys- as long as they can easily remove the element it will be spending the night in an acid bath. Whilst I wait and hope they don't somehow destroy it- I have taken a wire brush to the chassis- turns out any rust was only surface and with a new lick of black enamel paint it now looks like new. Will post photos when the second coat is dry. I haven't measured the boiler filler hole- looks similar to the Ponte Vecchio.

It's one part I am definitely going to need- and as things are speeding along I may need it soon. Looks like I will need a new seal at the least for the heating element- given the likely scarcity of an OEM part- any suggestions an an alternative?

And if my element shows signs of corrosion- or is otherwise damaged- any one know if a replacement is available? When I seal all this up again I am hoping it will all be pristine at least internally. I am thinking I will insulate the boiler- and drill a hole in the side of the case so the thermostat can be adjusted.

BTW Simon- does your group head look the same as the one pictured at the top of this post? Can you see how the group flares out at the top of the piston? I have not seen this on the other similar SAMA/Romana/Ponte Vecchio machines. This allows the piston to be removed out of the top of the group by simply removing two hex screws. I have been looking for info on Sama and most of the other groups seems to have a design where the piston can only come out the bottom (with some difficulty).

Thermosyphon loop aside, as previously mentioned, it looks very much like the group from the MicroCasa a Leva. Certainly thats how the piston is removed on that machine also.