angman wrote:A total price of $100 Thats amazing and congratulations. At least it went to someone that will appreciate her.

Considering it's listed locally at $2200 new I do think it's a decent bargain

BTW I took the glass off the pressure gauge display (it pulls right off) and reseated the needle so it's now idling at zero. It oscillates between about 1.2 and 1.4 bar now when the boiler is warm. Also, the boiler indicator light was broken, I think some plastic covering has gone and the whole thing was disappeared into the housing/machine base. I got it back in place now, but I might replace it sometime if I find a spare at a decent price.

Today after dinner I managed my first half-decent shot (maybe my 10th try total). Extraction time was much too long, yet the result was quite drinkable. Too much coffee I reckon with the rather oily beans I have now. (This is actually my very first espresso machine of any kind, although I do have some experience with the Silvia from before.) Still waiting for my tamper to arrive, so my attempts are somewhat half-hearted still. But the machine itself appears to work perfectly, although it is perhaps even more particular about coffee coarseness and tamping than I imagined. The steamer is just perfect, though.

Congratulations on the deal and you first shots, have you tried using a small glass or shot glass for a tamper?

I took an extra look in the cupboard this morning and found a stemmed glass with a foot that must be 50 mm, because I could just squeeze it down there... smaller amount of coffee, and the extraction looked perfect! Not a lot of crema though (albeit in a wide cup), think I'll try some robusta beans next time. Unfortunately I managed to just burn the milk (still waiting for the milk jug too...) so I couldn't taste it properly. Edging ever closer to perfection though!

BTW I'm a bit worried that eventually I'll forget to switch off the machine after I'm done, and the boiler will break down or worse... I'd actually appreciate a mechanism that automatically turned it off after 30 minutes or so. And/or perhaps a temperature-activated breaker. Any perspectives on this from more experienced lever operators?

First, congrats on rescuing this machine!

I don't know about the 1991, but mine (a 2006) has a temperature activated breaker meant to shut down the boiler if it runs dry.

There seems to be some changes between the pre- and post-2005 models, but even the pre-2005 seems to have a breaker. See A-24 at: http://espressocare.com/Qstore/Qstore.c ... 58972009C1

By mistake, I've left mine run for 24h without any adverse effect. The boiler in this machine is huge (the whole tank), so it would take forever to run dry. I frequently let it run for 30 min. to an hour before making a coffee without much issue. If I feel the machine is getting too hot, I sometimes wrap a towel with cold water around the group for a few second to drop its temperature a bit.

Well just to conclude this thread, this little machine has served me very well since october/november now. Thanks to China post I now have not one but two (49mm) tampers (so if anyone in Oslo needs one they can have the spare!) and everything has worked perfectly the whole time really. I'm still not quite pulling consistently great shots, but it's always passable. And probably my biggest issue is todo with calibrating the pharos grinder properly rather than operating the mcal. Anyhow, thanks for all the help here.

I have always found that the Pharos grinder produces near perfect grind when set about 190 or so degrees from closed with most beans. It is especially easy to set if you have the locking threaded collar adjuster as they have put on recent Pharos models. If you do not have the locking threaded collar I would recommend you get one.

I invariably get better MCAL shots by making four or five short pulls, allowing the handle to rise about a quarter to a third of its travel, and then pressing it down again. I try to get about 40 mL final volume. (If one pull the handle all the way a second time it tends to fracture the puck. This has been discussed in threads before.) You can grind a bit finer this way too, because more pressure is produced by the spring system at the start of the pull. You normally get lots of crema from decent beans thusly.

fvf wrote:BTW I took the glass off the pressure gauge display (it pulls right off) and reseated the needle so it's now idling at zero. It oscillates between about 1.2 and 1.4 bar now when the boiler is warm.

As I recall...Stephano recommends the pressure be set at about .90-95 bar. It's easy to adjust once your take the bottom off and find the pressure valve.

The microcasa has been serving me well since my last post here. The other day, however, as I was pulling my breakfast shot into a cappuccino cup, the portafilter somehow twisted itself loose from the pressure, and shot down onto the cup, breaking it and spitting coffee residue all over. My best theory is that I hadn't seated the portafilter properly. A bit unfortunate, in that the cup was something of an antique inherited from my wife's grandparents.

The portafilter wouldn't fit into the grouphead after this, so I left it for a few days until there was time to have a look. Probably the gasket/shower screen were just unseated in the blast. I disassembled the piston etc. and basically performed a routine maintenance (or what should have been routine but in fact has been neglected), lubricating the piston etc. Everything put back together the thing works again better than ever.

There are a few cups left in grandma's old set, hopefully the mcal won't claim any more of them...

I have also had the portafilter fly off my MCAL. It needs to be turned with enough force to secure it. Mine destroyed a cup too. There were also coffee grounds everywhere. I had it happen a second time when using one of the two small stainless steel pitchers that that I used for cappuccinos. Nothing was damaged the second time, except there were again grounds everywhere. Since the second problem I always make sure I turn the handle enough to secure it. The problem seems to be that the gasket is too slippery, though perhaps the threads on the group and portafilter are a bit too steep. I have considered trying to use a different material gasket instead of the stock stuff.

When I use a treasured cup I no longer ever trust it without holding the portafilter handle through the pull! If you put a MCAL portafilter against a La Pavoni one it is apparent that the thread are steeper on the MCAL. This is a negative for it! I have never had any of my La Pavoni machines have this problem. (Maybe the portafilters on MCALs were designed after a very long weekend. They also should be left handed threads like on La Pavoni machines so that the portafilter is not in the way whilst steaming. They should also have a removable spout instead of two cast in ones.)