pacificmanitou wrote:Creminas hold value, and used ones are often $1500, new they're over $3000.

If you use eBay's advanced search function, you can see the prices of recently closed auctions. Right now, used Creminas are routinely selling in the $600-$800 range right now, with some approaching $1,000.

Hard to go wrong at that price-just plan on tearing the machine down and replacing all of the gaskets and seals. Orphan Espresso has the parts and the smarts you need to get the job done. They have a 40+ episode YouTube video library describing the rebuild process, as well as a detailed text and photo description of a rebuild. (Plus there are threads on HB describing the process.)

In the summer they seemed to be worth much more. Im not sure if machines fluctuate in price with the seasons like some things, but its worth considering if they do.

Back to the Sama.

The silver solder showed up today so I decided to tackle the leaky boiler tonight.

I used a dremel tool to grind away the JB weld and the plumbers solder around the leak in the seam.



I then silver soldered the exposed seam which caused the soft solder to melt away on either end of my joint. After some more clean up with a dremel and mini belt sander I built up the seam again with plumbers soft solder. This was hard to work with since I was using oxy/acetylene with too large a tip, in the end I got an ugly but leak proof joint. I'll do some more cleanup work when I remove the boiler for descaling.



The sight glass joint was an easier fix but still requires some cleanup.



Anyway, I reassembled the machine and eased it up to 1.5 bar without any leaks, pulled a shot at .9 bar...it looked great and tasted pretty good...I'll try it again in the morning when I can actually drink it.

Tomorrow I'll try leaving it on all day making sure it doesn't develop any leaks. If all goes well the cover goes to powder coat to get back to the stock orange, and the rest of the plumbing will get an acid bath and new gaskets.

Just to be sure, did you test the pressure relief valve as a backup?

It's nice to see an old Sama come back to life. They are great machines. I recently turned up my Pstat a little when I replaced the pressure gauge. It now cycles off at about 1.05 bar. I find this a little too hot for the espresso blend I use, although I do like the massive steam power.

PC

Finally it is time to finish up this project. The repair on the boiler has been working well but I wanted to do a better job of it.



I striped the paint and sanded the soft solder away. After cleaning everything, I then silver soldered the whole joint. This was probably enough to seal the boiler but I then soldered it again with soft solder.

In the meantime the frame was cleaned up and repainted.



I then modified these rubber stoppers into taller feet.





The boiler isn't the most beautiful thing in the world but I think the repair is solid this time.





The Sama pressure relief valve wasn't releasing any pressure until 2 bar which seems too high. A new one is $40 and is not adjustable so I silver soldered a 1/4" BSPP fitting onto the machine so I could use a standard adjustable pressure valve.



I adjusted the new valve to start releasing pressure around 1.1 bar, with the heater stuck on it will produce 1.7 bar but no more. This is much safer.



I had the surround powder coated a while ago, I left off the stainless face because I thought the machine needed a bit more contrast.



My next project is going to be a dual boiler "robo pavoni" inspired machine. It will not be pretty like this one.

I recently did a more intense re-furb on my sama, and wanted to leave the front plate off because mine is damaged. I found the design of the drip tray made me keep using it though. How do you get around this. Also, if yours is in good shape and you don't think you'd use it again I would happily buy it from you.


Machine looks brilliant, by the way. I love the longer feet.