Hi,

I recently acquired this beautiful machine. It works well, but the coffee tastes awful, so I decided to strip and rebuild. I have removed the piston from the group, and separated the base from the tank.

Now I want to open the tank. I believe I need to separate the bottom of the tank from the tank cylinder walls. The bottom of the tank can easily be turned side to side by about 20 degrees relative to the cylinder walls - does the bottom simply unscrew from the cylinder?

Does anyone have a pictorial rebuild of this machine, or an exploded parts diagram?

Thanks!

Fergus.

My Ponte Vecchio has four bolts in the bottom plate, that look similar to yours. Mine are reversed, with the holes in the bottom plate and the screws threaded into the bolier body. Yours looks to have four stud bolts anchored to the boiler, with nuts that come off. Before you open it remember there's a gasket between them bottom plate and the boiler body which you'll need to replace when you reassemble.

You could try descaling before you remove the plate if you don't have a replacement gasket.

PC

Hi,

I took off the four dome nuts, but that hasn't helped. The studs to which they're attached seem to be part of the base. Those studs and the whole base can be turned from side to side by about 20 degress relative to the cylinder walls. I found this with the top too - it can be turned side to side by about the same amount, relative to the cylinder walls. The top and the base can be turned independently of each other. It's almost like the top and base are a bayonet fit to the cylinder.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks,
Fergus.

Hi,

Well I called Thos Cara, and yes, excellent help and advice!

I put the body of the machine back onto the base, then did the following:

1. Undo the 4 dome nuts, and remove the O rings that are behind them
2. Lift upwards with the bolier cap, and the whole thing separates into 3 parts.

Those 4 threaded bars run the whole length of the tank!

Next job is to take apart the sight glass and steam tube. Then a good clean up, polish, and back together with all new seals. I'll take photos along the way, and put them up on a web site, so if someone else wants to do this, they'll be able to just follow along with the pictures.

Fergus.

Hi,

Here's the end result. Totally stripped and rebuilt with new seals. It makes fabulous coffee!

Thanks,

Fergus.

Congratulations on work well done on your beautiful Zacconi. It must be very rewarding to pull a shot of delicious brew on a machine you have brought back to proper working order.

Thanks for the disassembly details and pics. Enjoy.