Hey everyone,

This little one needs some TLC and I thought I'd share it with you guys.



Element is good.



Not sure what I'll find in the group when I open it up, but that will be later.



Most of the bolts came out except for three.





Time for a little heat.



Lucky there was enough to grab onto.



Two frame bolts also came loose with a bit of heat.



This one didn't.

Mercurio's are my favourites. Wonderful machines, thanks for the pics.

Thanks Paul.

It was your various posts, and the wonderful work you do in restoring these old machines, that insipred me to get started on this one.

I popped the boiler on the drillpress.



To see if it would budge with the ezi-out.



The amount of force I was exerting had me worried it would break. It has happened to me before and I didn't want that happening in this case. The only other method I could think of was to get out the die grinder.





Even though I managed to get out the bolt, I will however need to put in a helicoil.

I spotted a 'square' inside this pipe, and that can only mean one thing.



Yep, the two bottom fittings unscrew. Not sure if I noticed this in any other threads about the Mecurio, maybe I didn't look closely enough?

Yep, the other threads clearly show that it can be unscrewed.

My machine is #1009 with an 'F' which means that it was made in France. Also, there is another number on the boiler. Does anyone know what this mght mean, and also if a date of manufacture can be reasoned from it?





The bottom of the boiler has 'solder' which looks out of place. I will have a better idea what this might be after the acid bath. Maybe it was a previous 'pinhole' repair?



Now I don't like the look of the ridge inside the bore of the lever body.



Worst case senario is a crack in the sleeve.



Yep, worst fears are realised! It definitely looks like a crack. Will know more when I get this sleeve out of the lever body.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Hi again, the date and country of manufacture is usually on the plate covering the holes at top of front plate?

Bad luck about the crack!, if repair is not possible i'd try Enrico or Piero for a parts group.

The sleeve issue looks like a pain but probably fixable. Have you managed to get it out yet? The sleeve can easily be mounted into a lathe chuck enabling turning of the outside diammeter and inside bore after brazing. Nothing to worry about just yet. Challenges like that are what it is all about.

I too had the issue with the stuck mounting bolt on my Urania. I was able to dislodge them with an impact wrench. I remember doing something silly and standing on the frame and whacking the impact thing with a hammer.

I did also try and remove those bottom fittings, that use the radiator square driver. No luck at all, I tried absolutely everything and had to leave them be.

Paul

Hey Kitt, the top plate has 'made in france' stamped on it and 110 and 220 over an L and F respectively. I'm assuming the numbers are for voltages.

Thanks Paul, silver solder was my immediate thought on how to repair the crack also. I will probably get the old man to do this for me since his skills are a lot better than mine. If that fails I will get an over size brass cylinder cast and then get it turned down to the right dimensions in a lathe. Just need to get it out! Its soaking in penetrating oil at the moment.

The boiler bottom is covered in black soot. Just wondering if these machines were ever fitted with a gas kit?

Will keep you posted on my progress.

To get my sleeve out I made a tool from some 2 pieces of angle iron I had and then had 4 bolts stick through. The end of each bolt was turned down so they fitted into the 4 holes in the sleeve. It took a lot of force, heat and oil to get it to budge, and it does go anti clockwise.



Having one made would be possible but there is a very fine thread on there.

Hey Paul,

I also tried your approach after seeing that on your thread. This method didn't work on mine, as I only have two holes on which to grip onto. Thanks for all the suggestions, please keep them coming.

Anyway, I then tried the following approach;



Cut the octagonal bit off.





Did a little shaping.



With the socket in an air-impact 1/2 inch driver, I was able to put a little weight on it through the shoulders and using penetrating oil and then heat the following was the result..



She's stuck and she's a right royal PITA too!! This is going to take a while..

Heat the outer portion of the group with a heat gun and chill the inner section (maybe freeze the entire assembly, then heat the outer). Application of penetrating oil for a few hours (days?) may also be in order.