Until now I have only worked with lever machines but was inspired by Bruzzi's post of his two group San Marco 85.

Post a pic of your home espresso setup...

I'd been looking for a two group machine but came across a single group 85 on Craigslist for a $100. I forgot to take a before shot but here it is after a couple of hours on my bench.



The machine came from a restaurant that complained about a funny taste after a tech supposedly descaled the boiler.



I wonder why the funny taste?



Other than a bad pump motor the machine was working when I got it so I just did a lot of cleaning.



I repainted the frame, striped and polished the front panel pieces and had the side and back panels powder coated.



Here is the final result.



I've been making coffee with it for a few months now and have grown to really like this machine. Its not quite as cool as my Astoria Lever machine was but it pulls great shots and has a relatively small footprint. Even though its a 110v machine there is plenty of power...the steam is out of control. I'm looking forward to finding one of the older lever style 85s for my next pump project.

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

Amazing job. Hard to imagine that it went from that pile on the bench to such a nice looking machine.

Larry,

Did you run across any reverse threading while working on this LSM? I'm working on a slightly newer LSM Practical 85S and I can seem budge one of the two external housing bolts that mount the heat exchanger tube to the boiler (I was able to get the other off with no problems, and it was threaded normally ...). I don't want to crank on it too hard only to find that it should be turned the other direction!

Thanks!

Jack