Can You Identify This Portafilter That Fits the Arrarex Caravel?
-
- Posts: 264
- Joined: 10 years ago
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
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
- SpromoSapiens
- Posts: 518
- Joined: 12 years ago
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.
- drgary
- Team HB
- Posts: 14347
- Joined: 14 years ago
It looks that way to me too, except maybe predating the pressurized type of portafilter.
Gary
LMWDP#308
What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!
LMWDP#308
What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!
- SpromoSapiens
- Posts: 518
- Joined: 12 years ago
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?
Is the handle bakelite, or a cheaper type plastic?
-
- Posts: 264
- Joined: 10 years ago
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.SpromoSapiens wrote:Is the handle bakelite, or a cheaper type plastic?
-
- Posts: 659
- Joined: 16 years ago
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
Alan
-
- Posts: 264
- Joined: 10 years ago
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.Alan Frew wrote:I'd guess a "later" model domestic lever machine, late 70's or early 80's.
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
- drgary
- Team HB
- Posts: 14347
- Joined: 14 years ago
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
LMWDP#308
What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!
LMWDP#308
What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!
- SpromoSapiens
- Posts: 518
- Joined: 12 years ago
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?