Hello to every body in the board. Actually, this is my first post, so I want to introduce myself, before anything else.
Name's Franco, i'm 46 years old. I've picked up fixing Pavonis because all my family (uncles, parents, etc) own one... or more.
As an enlarged family, we span across the globe, my uncle Pietro and her daughter Irene are in Cambridge, US, my cousin Lorenzo in Montreal, Canada, and then there's England (in Sheffield), Rome, Turin... well, you get the idea. Being somewhat mechanically inclined, I've started servicing all these machines (especially when I visit overseas), and so I think I quite understand the Pavoni in all their variations. Ceccarelli's site filled everything else I did not know, and of that I'm really, really grateful.
Found this magnificent board some time back, and passed about a year just reading all the good stuff in here.
In the end, notwithstanding 40 years of Pavoni (my dad bought one when I was 6 years old), it is thanks to HB that I have such a passion for espresso, now!

So, I will now cut with ranting and go directly with the Pavoni Rebild I've done. Some of you will scream "Sacrilege!", but consider that the way it was, I tried to salvage an otherwise unsalvageable machine.

So here's the condition of the machine when I got hold of it. It was abandoned in a barn, and had been there for many years. I took these photos after I assessed that, indeed, the machine could be somewhat repaired, because the brass sleeve had a detachable shower, and not a built in screen.


here it is in all its ruined glory.



underside of the Pavoni with a burnt coil.



Detail of the rusted switch.



The group.



Odds bits and pieces.

All this stuff, and in my first assessment I realized that I had to get a brass ring, a new coil, switch, every single O ring and gasket the machine uses, a new glass tube, complete rewiring, and some small hardware parts. Plus, cleaning the whole thing up, and do something for the base as well.

Now, I really apologize, because I did not make photographs of the in between work. I have only the shots of the completed Pavoni, next.
I did not think about it, because I actually thought that I would not be successful. As for the parts i had to purchase, even if I had to ditch this machine, they still would have been handy for other restoration projects...

...and this is what it looks like today.




It was a real chore to clean up. Especially the base, it was so corroded that i thought it best to strip it bare and maybe repaint it. in the end, I liked it so much bare aluminum that I left it as is. It does give a much more "retro" look to it.
The pressure indicator comes from a Zacconi Riviera Espresso (a spare I had), and it's much better than the stock Pavoni, since it has improved resolution and precision (end scale is 2 bar, instead of the Pavoni's 2,5 bar). And it's all metal!


Before I go on with the pics, I'll describe what purists will hate about the machine. Essentially, I've converted it to a present day wiring and operating mode, fitting brand new coil, pstat and resettable fuse. All the wiring has been done using hi temp fibergalss and silicone insulation.


The switch is an aircraft grade Carling, bought a few NIB on ebay a while back. it fits in the original switch hole. Apart from Uber reliability, durability etc, the feedback is just short of amazing, you have to try it yourself to understand. Hugues hely pilots and many official race car drivers know what I mean.



I did not want to disturb the outward appearance of the machine, so I drilled a tiny hole on the side next to the switch and placed a Neon-LED lamp behind it. The LED neon lamp works exactly as it does in a current EP: it lights up when the machine is turned on, and it turns off when the pstat says it reached optimum pressure. The pstat is set to 0,8 - 0,9 bar.


Another image of the base. the front logo comes from a 1985 EP I had.

I especially like the fact that I have the brass sleeve for group temp stability with the convenience of pstat operation. One last thing regards the main cup gasket: I machined a 2mm thick ring of brass, so that I can use standard "old type" round section gaskets instead of the very difficult to find and expensive rebuilt square section gaskets.

Tell me what you think!!

I think it's great. Job well done.

Wow! Amazing! Beautiful. A very nice restoration.

I machined a 2mm thick ring of brass, so that I can use standard "old type" round section gaskets instead of the very difficult to find and expensive rebuilt square section gaskets.

Tell me what you think!!

A very nice job! Needless to say, there are tons of posts on this site about La Pavoni machines but this one addresses the grouphead gasket situation - Video showing my La Pavoni Europiccola modifications .

Great work!

You have made this old machine into what La Pavoni should be making today!

I have a 1964 model that was placed in storage years and years ago. I obtained it from an ebay auction. It is in amazingly good condition, practically like new. It makes wonderful espresso. Mine has soldered on sight glass mounts, and there is no cap on the sight glass, so glass replacements have to be put in from the side. This precludes adding a pressure gauge. (The only practical way to check pressure with the 1964 model is to take a piece of brass and machine an adapter to a gauge that one can screw onto the steam wand after removing the tip. I think all La Pavoni steam wands are M6x1 threads.)

Like many other parts of La Pavoni lever machines, the portafilters made years ago seem to have higher quality.

Again, you did a wonderful thing to this old machine.

erics wrote:A very nice job! Needless to say, there are tons of posts on this site about La Pavoni machines but this one addresses the grouphead gasket situation - Video showing my La Pavoni Europiccola modifications .

Thank you! Well, the additional 2mm flat gasket can also be built using food grade sheet gasket material, very similar to the used to build custom engine head gaskets in automobile tuning. I've built, like ten of these using an X-acto knife taped to a cheap compass to cut out the circles. Normally, you'd find 1mm thick sheets, and you'll need to cut a set of two... these will go inside the grouphead groove, then you'd put the standard Cod. 361028 O-ring Gasket (a 3$ part) and you're set. Actually, since the double flat gasket never wears out too much, you can get six-eight years of service. Then, it's time to cut out another set...

I've built this one out of brass years ago. It was floating around, and I've ran out of sheet gasket material, so I've used that. If I don't get too lazy, I'll take it out of the grouphead to take pictures of it.

rpavlis wrote:Great work!

You have made this old machine into what La Pavoni should be making today!

I have a 1964 model that was placed in storage years and years ago. I obtained it from an ebay auction. It is in amazingly good condition, practically like new. It makes wonderful espresso. Mine has soldered on sight glass mounts, and there is no cap on the sight glass, so glass replacements have to be put in from the side. This precludes adding a pressure gauge. (The only practical way to check pressure with the 1964 model is to take a piece of brass and machine an adapter to a gauge that one can screw onto the steam wand after removing the tip. I think all La Pavoni steam wands are M6x1 threads.)

Like many other parts of La Pavoni lever machines, the portafilters made years ago seem to have higher quality.

Again, you did a wonderful thing to this old machine.

Hey Rpavlis,

thank you for the kind words! And congratulations for your machine, I'd love to have a "perfect" and completely original Europiccola from the sixties too, just for keeps. Post an image!
Yes, all La Pavoni steam wands are M6x1 threads. The original wand of my machine ad corroded threads on the nozzle end, so you can see I've used a 1985 era wand (much sharper corners, the 1960's wands have nice round curves). I did not even bother to exchange the wand nut.
in regards to the portafilter, it's almost one third heavier than any EP portafilter after 1985, so yes it is absolutely much better built and sturdier too. An asset when you dip it in water to control temp.
As for the group, having a brass sleeve, that is thicker too, I believe helps a LOT with the temp problems almost all sleeveless and many Delrin - Teflon (or whatever other material they're made of) sleeved machines seem to have.

I posted images of this before, but the following shows the 1964 La Pavoni better than the previous posts:



The seals on the sight glass were bad, and I could not find any square ones like the original. Normal O rings work fine, but when I got one thick enough to seal I could not get the metal sight glass cover into the space. I thus am careful not to bump it! I have been watching for square cross section O rings, but have not found any in hardware stores.

I do not understand why no one seems to have made brass sleeves for the groups made from 2001 until now to replace the polyphenylsulphide ones.

I try to keep this machine as original as possible. Each Saturday or Sunday I use it to keep it in running condition. I do not want to wear it out by using it all the time, even though it is superior to my more recent machines.