I purchased my VAM Caravel about a year ago on eBay.it. For those of you who follow the Caravels on that site, I got it from the guy that always has the beautiful outdoor scenery in the background of his pictures. Looks like a vineyard. Anyway...

It is a cool machine. It was advertised as a re-paint, so no surprises. It was also modified with the new-style on/off rocker switch on the front of the machine. And finally, the lever handle is a bastardized plastic piece, slightly sloppy and ugly. Other than that, I think it is a very early model, with all the cool accoutrements, lever on the top boiler vein, etc. And more importantly, it worked great. The thermostat has a wider deadband than some of the others I have heard about on this site, but that is about it.

The ivory colored re-paint looked very elegant in the pictures, but when I got it in person, it was not a very good job. The black pinstripe in particular was sloppy looking. What I soon found out was that the paint job must have been recent, or at least the machine wasn't used since it was painted. After a couple of uses, the area around the reservoir and element became discolored. Now the VAM looked, uh, not good. I appreciate and love the weathered original look of many of the Caravels I have seen on this site because it imparts a sense of the history of the machine. This whitish, brownish VAM would not do.

In July, I happened to notice that the heating element was split. The advice I got here was that it would soon short out with the filament being exposed (Zix - hope yours lasts and please be careful). Between that and my fear of electricity, I put the VAM on the shelf and started looking for a replacement element.

My search went on for months. Javier (who has my vote for HB MVP this year) was in the same boat as me with a blown element. We exchanged PMs and vowed to share any resources we each found. After dealing with some less-than-customer-service-oriented folks at Watlow for about six weeks trying to get a quote on a custom element, I gave up. But lo and behold, Javier came through! He found some dude, in Brussels of all places, who offered to make an exact replica of the Caravel element - for 50 euros. Including shipping!

I asked the dude - Gabor is his name - if he could make me one of these elements in a 110v version. Since he is new to this element game, it took him awhile to find out if this was possible. Long story short, he got 'er done!

While I was waiting for the element, I drove by a powder coating business one day. I went home and scooped up the VAM and brought it back. I frankly didn't know anything about powder coating and figured it either a. couldn't be done, or b. would be prohibitively expensive. The guy looked at it and said, "Yeah, we can do it, but we have a minimum charge that you would have to pay." I thought, "Here we go. It is gonna be 200 bucks." He said, "$30".

Yahoo!

So, five months after putting my beloved Precious on the shelf, she is back! This morning, I used my straight-walled double basket, broke out Pharos #32, ground 17 grams of Cartel's Black Market Espresso, distributed, leveled, tamped, Fellini'd, and pulled twice for a delight unheard of in these parts since, well, never.

Special thanks to DDR (Dave) who posted a photo of VAM wiring on page 40 of the Caravel thread a couple of years ago. My impulsive disassembly left me high and dry when it was time to put everything back together. I still haven't quite figured out the wiring for the on/off/thermostat switch. Howard's hand drawn diagram from a couple of week's ago has been helpful, but I still tripped the breaker the first go around with my wiring. I am confident I will get it right. Thank god for circuit breakers!

Here are the photos! (Sorry they are sideways and not the best quality. Taken with the iPhone, which is convenient, but mediocre)

Here is the disassembled version before taking it to the powder coaters


Here is the finished version - the color is called Ruby Red, which was a happy coincidence because our irrepressible 2 year old is named Ruby.






Here is the new element. It is a different configuration from the original, but it fits and works just fine. The 110v works great. It is slightly slower heating up than the original. I didn't specify what wattage to make the element and I don't know if that can be changed, but the original is 650 watts and this one is 500. Not a big deal, but I wish I would have asked.


Here is the old element. Notice the terminal posts - the original has a way to connect the wire on the end. It sticks out of the ceramic insulator that sits below the element . Luckily the threaded post that Gabor included is the same diameter as the old one. I used the old terminal post for one side perfectly. The second one broke off when I tried to unscrew it! You can see the broken thread sticking out of the old post. If anyone has any bright ideas of how to get this 50 year old corroded, broken piece out of the post so that I can re-use it, please let me know! In the meantime, I connected the wire to the thread near the element and used the copper piece as a nut. I *assume* this is OK?


Onward and upward!

Pete

That looks great. I have just ordered some elements from Gabor myself... One question: does the element touch the base of the boiler nicely? I have found on a few machines that if the various parts that secure the element and ensure it pushes flat up against the bottom of the boiler and not positioned correctly then the element overheats- and the caravel body also gets too hot... I imagine the element would also burn out a lot quicker.


You machine is a bit odd: having the rocker switch at the front is a a sign of one of the last run of Caravels: but your machine also has those little balls beside where the PF locks in- they are found on early caravels and an VAMS...

What is going on with the alloy bottom cover? Is that a black strip painted on it- or have you got it mounted upside down? Can't quite tell in the photos...

Thanks Jack.

I don't have a stripe painted at the bottom. It is just the shadow from the lip of the alloy bottom. I looked at it and now I am wondering if I have it mounted upside down. Is there supposed to be a lip like that or is bottom edge supposed to be curved downwards? I guess it doesn't really matter.

On another aesthetic note, I am planning on getting a black pinstripe painted in the grooved area (same as in the 'before' photo). I am trying to convince my artist painter friend to do it for me. It has to be done well.

Pete

Wow Pete -- Congrats on having fixed yourself up a real beauty! From what I could tell of the photos, that paint job is awesome. Your combination of features is pretty optimal I would say; I like having the toggle switch on my late-model darling, yet I'm disappointed by the lack of thermostat control and slightly diminished manufacturing flare. You've got the best of both worlds, and now a 110V element to boot!

I've just started getting into the swing of the stovetop-boiling-transfer method, and it's been working well enough that my desire for a 110V element is at bay. I'm glad my little wiring diagram was helpful, even if only a little. If I do get around to updating the (frayed) cloth-insulated internal wiring on my Caravel, I'll be doubly glad I posted the diagram, for my own convenience as well. Btw, I've found this website to be pretty helpful -- not to mention completely fascinating. This Francesco fella has quite the collection, and documents every piece with impressive thoroughness. His wiring photos are clear enough to be used as a reference.

Re: body heat -- FWIW I have found that I need to be careful where I grip the base when keeping it steady on pulls of mighty resistance.

Congrats again and welcome back aboard!

You do have the base mounted upside down. On the Caravel you can mount the base- and the lever- upside down- and never know...

@ Jack - the body certainly gets hot when the element heats up. I was trying to figure out why all that heat gets transferred to the rest of the machine and haven't quite gotten there. I should say that this was true with my old element also. The element seems to rest nicely on the bottom of the boiler as far as I can tell. I remember reading somewhere in the huge Caravel thread that some guys had hot machines and some didn't. Perhaps the V shaped bracket that the element sits on needs to be positioned just right and the element can't touch any part of the frame.

@Howard - thanks for the nice wishes. I have been to Francesco's website many times, but didn't realize he has wiring diagrams! Will check that out ASAP.

Pete

Hmmm, if your machine gets very hot- particularly if you feel just behind the boiler- then I would be a little concerned- it shouldn't.

Recently I was testing a factory MINT caravel- the back got incredibly hot and the water took too long to boil- if I looked down beside the boiler I could see the element glowing red stronger than normal. I tried to adjust the two springs things at the front (attached to the balls on your model) with no change...

Then I realised that the third spring part- at the rear- had not been properly assembled at the factory- there is a little u shaped clip thing at the end of the tray that sits below the element- that was positioned at the wrong end of the spring. You don't need to undo the spring part to remove the tray part- just lift up the front and then it can pull outwards... For this reason the boiler would not sit flush in on the element. I positioned it correctly and the machine now worked perfectly and stayed cool to the touch. I think that machine was in Mint condition because it never worked correctly right from the factory... with these after market elements there may be other reasons it does not sit flush- personally I would investigate to see if you can improve it- or if it is really a problem... I think an element that does not contact the boiler sufficiently will wear out quickly and the excess heat may even damage the machine...

A-Ha - now we may be getting somewhere. Perhaps if the element was seated correctly in the first place, the body of the machine wouldn't have gotten so hot and the new paint job wouldn't have discolored.

OK, I hear what you are saying about the tray and the U-clip at the back of the tray. There is a round grommet that I have positioned on top of the U-clip. Should the grommet be below the U-clip and be sitting right on top of the spring? See if the attached photo clarifies.



Regarding the front springs under the tray (attached to the cool ball fixtures to the sides of the PF): one of the springs is a replacement. It has a smaller diameter and falls through the hole in the body, only to be held up by the ball. I added a washer inside the body to hold it in place. I haven't ever really messed with trying to adjust them for better transfer to the boiler.

Will go to work in the morning to see if I can correct this. This seems like common sense, but I didn't put these things together. So thank you, Jack.

hmm- that's the part I was talking about- but your looks slightly different (as I said- not two Caravels are the same)... You should be able to push on the tray just in front of the u shaped bit- and the tray should push down compressing the spring... if the tray will not go down that may indicate incorrect assembly... I can see what looks like a washer immediately below the flat head screw slot- is it possible to move the U above that to raise the tray? whilst still having the downward movement? it's hard to tell exactly what I am looking at and I am not with my Caravels at the moment to compare...

basically if you are not getting good contact you want to tinker to see if it is possible to push the element up somehow... Are the top sides of the element flattened as in the original- and is the flat surface created even? If not it may be impossible to get it perfect...

BTW- as an aside- getting these parts correctly fitted also affects how smoothly the boiler clamps into place. The upward pressure from the springs locks the boiler in... An indication that something is out with the three l'levelling' spring pistons (?) would be that the boiler is a little loose- and the clamp mechanism does not hold firmly. When its all correct the clamp is very firm- regardless of the model (there are multiple clamp systems too- as always VAM is the best )

Oh and I can't help it: haven't you learned how to rotate images?

Well, I am seriously intrigued now.

I moved the washer below the U-clip. It seems as if most everything checks out OK in your criteria:

1. Boiler locks in very firmly. In fact, it locks in more firmly now after the paint job and re-assembly than before.
2. The three leveling spring pistons (good description) are all pushing up on the boiler.
3. The new element is fairly flat. It isn't perfect as it looks like it was shaped manually, but seems relatively flat.
4. The only area that doesn't seem quite perfect is the element itself doesn't look perfectly level. In the back left of the element, it seems to dip slightly below the rim of the tray. It may be an area where there isn't good contact with the boiler. But, just by eyeballing it and taking into account the pressure created by the springs, it doesn't seem like an issue. I could be wrong. Maybe if I shored up the V bracket, it would raise the element in that area.

The entire body of the machine gets pretty hot. Is it because when there isn't total contact with the boiler, the ambient heat from the element heats the interior cavity and thus gets absorbed by the body? Or is it because the element is touching some part of the tray and the tray is connected to the body and it gets transferred? Or is it something else?

Thanks for your help!
Pete

P.S. I am normally not this lame with pictures. The picture was correct on my ancient Powerbook, but when I looked at the preview here on the site, it was upside down. I rotated it upside down and re-saved it on my computer, and it was still upside down in HB preview. So I rotated back and submitted. However, when I pull it up now on the site on my computer, it is right side up! What the...? I'll get it together, fellas.