HI all,

I'm a long time lurker, first time user of this forum but looking forward getting to know the community here

Some friends and I are currently rebuilding a 2-Group Rancilio Z9 Lever machine. It appears to have been made in 1979.
I'll post some pictures ASAP.

We've almost dismantled it all and are currently cleaning the external fittings and heating element and will tackle the groups and boiler next.

One thing I am surprised by is that it appears that this particular machine does not use a heat exchange system as I was under the impression it would. Rather, on opening the boiler, it appears that each group draws water directly from the boiler from two separate pipes each. Is this correct for this model?

I'm hoping someone can enlighten me and would appreciate any info.

Thanks!

seems like the so-called dipper system, used f.ex. by Profitec P800

It's more like an open thermosyphon, the two pipes going back to the boiler are different lengths inside the boiler, so the water constantly circulates - to the group through one pipe, and back to the boiler through the other . It's quite an unusual design i've only seen on Rancilio levers - worked well on my Z9

Thank you. Yes, this is exactly what is appears to be. How interesting. Here's the machine pre-disassembly:

Today has been fun. We've removed most of the fittings and gadgets (pressure gauge, pstat, sight glass, etc.). Much cleaning has been done. So far the heating element has been 80% cleaned, and we've just started with the boiler which isn't too bad considering how much neglect the machine has had. Next will be the group heads to disassemble and refurbish. A couple of questions for fellow Z9 owners:

1. When dissembling the plumbing connected to the the manual fill lever, we managed to somehow knock out two ball bearings from the manual fill assembly. We understand that the assembly contains two ball bearings and two small hexagonal tubes within the valve chamber. We managed to locate the two ball bearing but only one of the hex tubes.

We've managed to put one of the ball bearings and one of the tubes back into the assembly and are wondering if not having this second ball bearing and tube inside the assembly will mean the lever will fail to work. Can anyone help with this one? I've included a photo.

2. Both lever groups have small (I would say minor cracks) on the outer casings. As a side note the overall quality of the groups seem very good. The springs seem very good for their age. I understand welding these cracks in the casings is an option. Otherwise, would a resin-based fix also work? We've found one that is rated for high temperatures and made for repairing things such as engine blocks.

3. We're thinking of replacing the wiring to employ a PID rather than the original mercury pstat. We'll obviously seek professional help to do anything electrical-related, but does anyone think it will be difficult to set up a PID system that controls the heating element. How will this affect the pressure gauge? Will it not work without the use of a pstat?

Thanks!

1 - its a spacer and acts as a one way valve to seal off water going back through the valve the wrong way .They are still available as a part if you can't find it

2 - Ideally you'd get it properly welded or repaired, it's usually the result of someone letting the lever go and it banging back onto the stop without any resistance . The resin fix may work, but you would want to make sure it doesn't happen again .

3 - A PID will work fine, and reasonably easy to install , the mercury pressure-stat they come with are very reliable, but if you'd like to do a PID , no reason it wouldn't work . The boiler pressure gauge will still work fine .

I don't have my Z9 anymore, but it did make some tasty shots while i had it . If you need help with parts sources, let me know

Thanks again. Re: point 2 - you don't happen to know what metal this casing is made out of? I'd like to be able to tell a trades person the exact material if I'm going to go down the welding path.

The spacer for the manual fill. Is this a fairly generic part? I've not had much luck finding it so far.

More photos to come...

Not sure on the metal sorry, i don't have mine any more . The weight and also if it is magnetic might give some clues ? From memory i think it was a cast alloy, but not really sure

The spacer i haven't seen in a lot of machines, i only saw it available overseas, that's where i buy most of my parts when doing a big restoration . I imagine the shape of it isn't too crucial, you could probably make something up that would do the same job

Well, another night and another productive session working the machine.

Tonight we had our first go at the boiler after the acid bath. It's not done yet, especially the pipes but we're getting there...
We had serious issues plugging the boiler to avoid bathing the whole things but in the end decided just to bath it anyway. Yes, it has resulted in a patchy change of colour on the outside to pink in parts, but we're O.K with that.

From here:

To Here:

We've also now also removed the groups, which again, don't seem to be in too bad a condition (apart from the cracks we're looking to have repaired):




It terms of cleaning the various group parts, what should we use?

The frame is now free of all the fittings, except for the old auto-fill, but this doesn't look like it has much of a future left:



The pressure gauge may be broken. It's sitting idle on just under 1 bar despite the fact that it's apparently not connected to a machine...



I've talked about using a new PID system rather than the old pressure-stat. Well, here it is. Seems to be in 'O.K' condition:



So now we're going to continue cleaning the boiler (when is it clean?)...as well as attack cleaning the frame. At some point we'll have a go at the trays and panels. We may just wash them down for the time being:



This weekend will be the job of pulling apart the groups for cleaning and replacement part identification.

The fun continues

Hi all,

So another day and a couple more tasks worked at. Today was focused on cleaning the frame and per-preparing it for painting later on, as well as working on the boiler.

Here's the frame after a couple of hours scrubbing and sanding:



We've worked pretty hard on the boiler to get it as clean and shiny as we can. We'll probably give it another going over before we finally attach it back to the frame, but it's looking pretty good:



The heating element, which is about 90% clean (those bits near the base are difficult to get to!), is looking pretty good:



Now, here's a question. The nice lady we bought this machine off threw in this weird looking contraption, as apparently it goes with it?. Any idea what it is? I assume it's for using the machine as part of a mobile coffee-cart or something?



Also, we're holding off cleaning the groups until we know what to clean them with. Can anyone help? Do we want to avoid citric acid or vinegar?

Cheers!

I believe that's a water softener of some sort. What do you see when you open it?

Ira