Can You Identify This Portafilter That Fits the Arrarex Caravel?

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vze26m98
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#1: Post by vze26m98 »

Greetings-

Just got my Caravel from Italy, and it came with a portafilter that isn't original, but actually fits:



The handle is brown, and the odd "hooked" portion of the handle near the body looks like it's supposed to snap onto the grouphead.

EDIT: I get what the brown plastic "hook" at the end of the handle is supposed to do: there's no spring inside the portafilter to hold the basket, but the "hook" can be flipped up to secure the basket in the PF.

I get ~44.8mm for an interior diameter, and ~52.3mm for the outside, not counting the ears. I have some Ponte Vecchio Lusso baskets, and they don't fit. The fit is a little tight on the Caravel, but workable. I can't--so far--tell whether there's a thin sleeve on the inside of the portafilter.

Can anyone identify what machine it was originally designed for?

Thanks, Charles

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SpromoSapiens
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#2: Post by SpromoSapiens »

Since basket-holding hooks and plastic handles tend to be found on low-end SBDU semi-autos, I'm going to wager it came from some obscure vintage italian or otherwise european "saeco via venezia" type machine. That's all i got, no real knowledge or specific guesses. Just my $.02.

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drgary
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#3: Post by drgary »

It looks that way to me too, except maybe predating the pressurized type of portafilter.
Gary
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SpromoSapiens
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#4: Post by SpromoSapiens »

The more i look around on image searches the more convinced i am that this has to be either saeco, delonghi, krups, or gaggia... Except for the two spout-holes so close together at the bottom like that. Two holes is uncommon but not that hard to find; that arrangement is just plain weird. Whatever brand this PF is, the two holes are what would give it away, if only I had seen one like it before.

Is the handle bakelite, or a cheaper type plastic?

vze26m98 (original poster)
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#5: Post by vze26m98 (original poster) »

SpromoSapiens wrote:Is the handle bakelite, or a cheaper type plastic?
Plastic, and it's hollow: I could pry off the end cap, I suspect via which the handle is bolted to the head, but haven't yet, for fear of damage.

Alan Frew
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#6: Post by Alan Frew »

Not Saeco or Krups or any early pump machine I know of, which were sized for 53mm baskets and had much thinner walls in proportion to their size. I'd guess a "later" model domestic lever machine, late 70's or early 80's.

Alan

vze26m98 (original poster)
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#7: Post by vze26m98 (original poster) »

Alan Frew wrote:I'd guess a "later" model domestic lever machine, late 70's or early 80's.
Not to contradict your assertion, but I have spent some time on Francesco Ceccarelli's site, and was unable to find a machine there with a similar portafilter.

Also, I can't decide whether the portafilter has been used more than the Caravel. The plating's worn and brass is showing through on the portafilter, but the Caravel--in spite of the piston being stuck with coffee grounds--seems in pristine condition, very little used.

Thanks! Charles

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drgary
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#8: Post by drgary »

I asked Italian H-B member LVX, and he thinks it's from a semi-auto. Francesco is traveling, so I haven't been able to ask him.
Gary
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SpromoSapiens
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#9: Post by SpromoSapiens »

The two holes & size do suggest an old home lever, but the flimsy handle and basket clip make it hard to believe. There's some evidence on the web to older deloghis etc with 49mm portafilters, so i think it may really be a possibility. Perhaps a precursory semi-auto brand that was swallowed up and later became one we know now?