Hi guys!
Just joined up, great forum!

I've just traded in my Isomac Millennium for something with a bit more grunt, and style.



Visacrem VX lever, or ?Gaggia GX lever.
It's bn modded so manual fill and wall plug. It's taken over the kitchen!

I'm gonna do a gradual refurb and I've managed to get one group off and in bits already. It's dirty! I'll do a blow by blow here on the second one if anyone thinks it would be worthy.

However I didn't think it would be so hard to get parts! Tried the usual suspects in little old New Zealand and cafeparts.com, coffeeparts.com, espressoparts.com, sreweb.com (right diagrams but no reply), qualityespresso.com. Checking with orphanespresso.com.

Best luck i've had is coffeestuff.com, but they don't have credit card facilities and i'll only wire money internationally if it's a last resort.

I particularly need piston seals, springs, shower baskets, group seals, portafilter handles etc.

Anyone got any advice?

http://www.thuisbarista.nl/forum/viewto...?f=3&t=821 <== that guy has a similar machine. Maybe ask him some questions.

I'm surprised that Coffeeparts couldn't help. Something to keep in mind is that there are lots of different parts diagrams for Gaggia lever machine seals, and some of them show the parts in the wrong order. You can probably get the individual parts without too much hassle, but getting them from someone who is displaying the right parts diagram could be much harder. Paul from Christchurch is probably your best bet for local and useful advice (and I'm sure he will be along to comment in a while).

Wow what a sumptuous looking machine. Good luck with the rebuild. I will be thrilled if you can bring her back to her former glory...

i'm sending you a PM

Welcome to HB, good to see a fellow home barista from little old Nelson! Where did you pick that up? Looks like a nice machine, i'm using a Pavoni lever at the moment, but would love to find a 1 group commercial lever. I share your pain with finding coffee parts in New Zealand.Overseas i've had good luck ordering from coffeeparts, and stefano at espressocare.When i used to have a Gaggia domestic machine i got parts from Ian little in Ch Ch, there's a link on the Gaggia website under NZ agents.I'm not sure if they do commercial parts, but it could be worth a try.Good luck with the re-build

Hi Tim

visacrem parts are a little problematic however bits from other makes are interchangeable. A friend has one of these at the back of his workshop. I will check about screens seals and pf's when I am there next week. I am 100% sure we can find compatible bits from coffeeparts to fit.

incidently, the only real thing this gr has in common with italian gaggia ones is the shape. The internals are different. Faema lip seals probably fit but I will confirm for you.

Thanks for your help guys!
Yep Paul, gr internals are quite different to gaggia model, which has seals in the group, where as the visacrem has the seals on the piston. I can give you the measurements for the lip seals if that help. They seem to be a standard diameter but are higher (10mm) than others.

kitt wrote:Welcome to HB, good to see a fellow home barista from little old Nelson! Where did you pick that up? Looks like a nice machine, i'm using a Pavoni lever at the moment, but would love to find a 1 group commercial lever. I share your pain with finding coffee parts in New Zealand.Overseas i've had good luck ordering from coffeeparts, and stefano at espressocare.When i used to have a Gaggia domestic machine i got parts from Ian little in Ch Ch, there's a link on the Gaggia website under NZ agents.I'm not sure if they do commercial parts, but it could be worth a try.Good luck with the re-build

Thanks Kitt, small world!
Picked the visacrem up in Auckland from TradeMe, woulda preferred a single group lever but they seem quite rare on this side of the world. I thought the Visacrem was in better shape (bought it sight unseen) but it's not had much love in the last few years, hence the rebuild.
I used to have a eurocuppola La Pavoni, loved it!

If anyones interested, here's the parts diagram of the gr.



I'll take some pics of the gr in bits too.

Danny McNulty is a name that pops up a lot in regards to these machines.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070203101331/www.danny.mcnulty.btinternet.co.uk/espresso.html

Most group head parts after a bit of a scrub (much more to be done!!)



Top of group looking down bore



Bottom of group looking up. Spot the wear around the two holes which let the water in when lever is down.



Pinion. Not sure if the twist in the splines is original???



Top part, DIRTY! And after an initial clean.



Spring. See the corrosion at the bottom. Hopefully i can replace this as it may not last much longer.



Piston. Can you see the small holes in each gasket slot? What would these be for??



Do you reckon the gap between portafilter and filter is normal? or are they a misfit?



Piston shaft. What would I clean it with? Metal polish?

Nice project!
From thread comments over the years I would venture that the wee holes are to allow some water to enter the "V" type seal to press it tightly against the cylinder walls even before the pull does. It would stop the leakage past the seal when the group fills! It is a common feature used in many lever machines.

As for the basket to portafilter fit; if the PF has a top ridge, that may be the feature that holds the basket to that height. Many baskets do not set into the pf with the rim touching. If the pf will lock fully into the group you are good to go. Otherwise; that may be a triple basket in a shallow portafilter or a double in a single, and that would work if it locks fully ie. the entire lugs / ears are in full contact with the ramp in the group. Some older machines will require a bit of tweaking of baskets to have them all fit properly.

Hope that helps!
Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year!
-Richard
PS, the twist seems to be an artifact of a burly barista and a choked pull!