Tonight, I was planning on disassembling my Caravel as it wasn't behaving as usual. I just wasn't able to dry the puck and it intrigued me. I was thinking I might have broken the tiny o-ring as I usually grind pretty tight and pull hard. So when I opened it up I first saw this:



And I had just cleaned it a couple of weeks ago. So, thinking my o-ring theory was good, I disassembled the piston just to see this:



The two pieces are not welded together anymore. Crap!!!! Now, I'm just trying to figure out how to fix this. I'm guessing I cannot get this welded just anywhere, it has to be food safe, the welding should be pretty small and precise and it should hold as well. Is this a case of Doug and Barb to the rescue or you guys think I could get this fixed locally?
(In case you're wondering, I cleaned it before taking this picture.)

Honestly, I'm pretty pi**ed about this as I just started vacation and was hoping to get more time to play with the Caravel. I was even planning on bringing it with me at the cottage we rented in a couple of weeks. It seems my plans are pretty much ruined.
Oh and to top it off, I missed out on two europiccolas of 40$ and 45$ in a single week. They would have made good replacements while I get the Caravel fixed.

Anyway, enough venting frustrations. Any tips on how to deal with this?
Thanks!

D & B are the obvious solution for a certified fix,..but that looks like a simple "spot weld" repair would be a easy repair.
Any good local car repair "Body shop" will have the resistance welding equipment and should be able to help.

This looks like an easy spot weld at a local shop. Save yourself the time and ready your Caravel for vacation. Save Doug and Barb another challenge.

The piston looks like stainless-steel ?

If so then braising it back together with a silver-nickel solder would be best bet. Spot welding will also work but this can be a little destructive if the part you're repairing is small (a good chance of this if you're taking it to a general guy who isn't equipped or doesn't tend to work with small bits).

I use 449 Silver Solder Rod from http://www.cupalloys.co.uk for stainless steel braising and you could do this piece with a standard DIY propane torch. If you have not braised before then you would have a bit to learn before attempting this - note the high melting temp of this product.
I use this particular product because it contains nickel which prevents crevice corrosion on non-nickel bearing stainless-steels. In this case we can't be sure if your part is nickel-bearing or not.

449 Silver Solder Rod
49% silver, cadmium free alloy containing manganese and nickel.
Prevents crevice corrosion on non-nickel bearing stainless steels.
Conforms to ISO 17672 Ag 449.
Melting Range 680 - 705°C

Beenbag wrote:Any good local car repair "Body shop" will have the resistance welding equipment and should be able to help.

+1, or any muffler shop.

drgary wrote:Save Doug and Barb another challenge.

...and the shipping fees.

I just saw the post above (appeared while I was typing). If you can braze I would try that.
I always wondered if there was a good media for brazing steel with a propane torch. I will have to try this material.

Thanks all!

I'll look into car repairs shops around here as I've never braised before (well beside suckling pig shoulders and such )

In my area I Googled welders when I was thinking of spot welding a drip grate. I found a highly recommended place where the guy was willing to do it right then. He had a minimum charge of $50. Others may charge less. I ended up gluing the drip grate because the spot weld would have created a discolored dimple but for your purpose that doesn't hurt anything.

Good news! The Caravel is back in working order. Even the kids are happy (well, mostly because I stopped complaining about my broken Caravel but also because they like to taste daddy's coffee).

At first, a very generous HBer offered to send part of a Caravel's piston he couldn't use hoping it would fit which unfortunately it didn't. Then, I started the quest for car body shops and welders. After my 4th or 5th visit, I found a welder who was able to repair it. Ok, the part doesn't have the exact same shape anymore but it doesn't affect the way the piston works. And the good thing is, I got it repaired right before leaving for vacation! So, I was able to appreciate the transportability of both my machine and grinder.



For the curious ones, I had Ritual's Sweet Tooth (Carrizal, el Salvador) for espresso and Verve's Panama Elida Estate for filter coffee.