Has anyone turned their own handles/knobs for a pavoni before? I've always wanted to do it and have decided to finally do it after looking at srobinson's amazing photos of his wooden handles on his cremina. If anyone has done this for their Pavoni I'd love advice. I got a nice piece of cocobolo today. I figure the handles will be fairly easy, but I'm not sure how to make a knob for the water tank that will screw in perfectly, and I'm not sure how the pin attaches the steam release knob to the pavoni - is it threaded or does is just slide in snugly? If I can't make the knobs work that is fine, I'll still be happy with the handles, but I'd love to replace all 4 pieces.

Also any advice on how to treat the wood is welcome, too - linseed oil, wax, naked?

(Yes I know that I could order them pre-made, but I think it will be fun and cheaper to make them myself).

Hugh

I can't find any other photos, but I know if have some. I had my dad turn me some cocobolo handles for my machine. The hard part was making the thread insert for the wood. At the time I knew someone that had a metal lathe so he turned me a couple of inserts from brass bar stock. We used a satin urethane finish. That was a couple of years ago and they still look as good as the day they were turned.

I have a small lathe and was thinking of turning a fill set for my Elektra.

found them...

That brass insert and threaded stud were custom made from stainless rod stock and brass rod stock.

Very nice handles. Which Elektra handles are you thinking of making?

When I was rebuilding my Elektra T1, I tried to remove the steam/water wand handles, at some point I decided I was putting enough force on trying to get them off and stopped as I didn't want to break them.

Mark

Hello Hugh,
The lever handles are about 12mmx1.75 tapped and the pf grip is ~10mmx1.5 as a stud ( on mine it is a perfect fit for a 3/8ths- 16 stainless steel bolt.) I say "about," because I have found LaPav to be a bit over or under sized in their threading. You could cut the head off a 3 or 4 inch bolt from the hardware if you wanted and then epoxy the shank end into the wood giving strength through the whole length.. Old hardware stores and auto parts stores are wonderful for finding odd stuff and metric stuff!! J-B weld is the great answer to metal to wood. Clean the wood and metal well first with alcohol or better yet, M.E.K. to remove oils.. The Lever handle could be made the same way using a piece of 9/16ths round brass or bar from the Hardware store. The taps and dies are about $15-$20 and the brass or pipe would be what you can get locally. Or PM me and I can make and send you a core for each.
The Boiler cap knob presents a problem. You could have someone use a lathe to cut off and drill and tap the existing knob, It may be of Bakelite with brass inside or may be all Bakelite. For the steam tap the pin is through the shaft and must be pressed out one side, that makes the steam tap the simpler project.
I use Mahoney's Walnut oil and beeswax for a finish. They are food safe and, if the owner takes care of salad oiling them, they are holding up well. You might look at the "Rebuilding the Oly Twins" site for some other ideas as to shape. HERE
There are a few hints as how to proceed on page six.
HERE
Cheers
Richard
P.S. have fun!!! I did!

da gino wrote:Has anyone turned their own handles/knobs for a pavoni before? I've always wanted to do it and have decided to finally do it after looking at srobinson's amazing photos of his wooden handles on his cremina. If anyone has done this for their Pavoni I'd love advice. I got a nice piece of cocobolo today. I figure the handles will be fairly easy, but I'm not sure how to make a knob for the water tank that will screw in perfectly, and I'm not sure how the pin attaches the steam release knob to the pavoni - is it threaded or does is just slide in snugly? If I can't make the knobs work that is fine, I'll still be happy with the handles, but I'd love to replace all 4 pieces.

Also any advice on how to treat the wood is welcome, too - linseed oil, wax, naked?

(Yes I know that I could order them pre-made, but I think it will be fun and cheaper to make them myself).

Hugh

Wow, thanks for all the great advice and the inspiring photographs. Being new at this I know my handles won't look as great as yours do Richard and Dave, but they'll be unique and fun. I got to start the project today and it is going slowly, but I wouldn't have even had what I needed to get started without all the advice above. I did indeed have to go to an autoparts store to find the metric stuff I needed, as none of our hardware stores had them (nor did the first four autoparts stores I called), but in the end it took about half an hour from picking up the phone for the first time until I was home with the taps and dies in hand - not bad considering I didn't even know they were called taps and dies before reading this thread (which I further demonstrated by calling them puts instead of taps).

My friend who is letting me use his workshop also owns a Pavoni (in fact he introduced me to them) and now he may make a set for his own machine, too.

Hugh

Hello Hugh,
Always does my heart good to see someone carrying on the do it yourself idea. Good luck and please post photos of your work here!
Thanks
Richard / espressme
PS I'd call them taps and dies. Every area has its own terminology among the folks what work there. Taps and dies will help you if you mailorder or try to find them from sources away from the home town. I came from an area where we had twirlies and burrs for nuts and screws.

I don't know how long it will take me to finish the project, so here is a photo of what I have so far - the first handle...



I'm sure the next one one be exactly the same - we'll pretend like that is by design and not lack of skill!

Nice!
rp

I too think it looks good. Wood has character, plastic is well, kinda plasticy.

Mark