Caravel basket Q's

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CrabRangoon
Posts: 253
Joined: 10 years ago

#1: Post by CrabRangoon »

I picked up a pretty clean little Caravel a month or two ago and have just finally got some parts from Thijs to get around to using it (namely the tamper, as my attempts without tamping were a mess). I appear to have the double basket, and am having some troubles:

1) should the basket be stuck/lodged in my PF, or sit freely and fall out if turned over?
2) assuming my basket shouldn't be stuck solidly in place, what's the safest way to try removing it without damaging / marring either the PF or the basket?
3) I cannot quite fit a tamper into the basket more than ~1cm*, is this expected or abnormal?

*The tamper from Thijs is made for the caravel, and does not appear to be bent or damaged, but catches firmly at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions - it can rock a bit left & right so perhaps my basket is bent (which could also explain why it's jammed in the PF).
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grog
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Joined: 12 years ago

#2: Post by grog »

Can you post some pics of your PF? The early models had little divots on the sides of the baskets to help keep them in the PF and sort of twist/unscrew from the PF. Takes a bit of fiddling with it to determine which direction to turn it in, but it should come out unless the basket is out of round. If that's the case, before I figured out the twist out approach, I found a bamboo skewer worked to get the basket out. Put the blunt end through one of the PF bottom holes and just tap on the counter top until the basket pops out. The wood can't damage the metal.
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sorrentinacoffee
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#3: Post by sorrentinacoffee »

the baskets should fit snugly- but you should be able to remove it. To remove: get a very thin tool like a nail file- and push upwards on the edge of the basket. The basket lip should overhang the edge of the PF by a half a mm or so. Push on opposite sides and you should be able to pry the basket up enough to then work your tool into the gap and release it from the stranglehold.

It could be that the basket is fused into place with old coffee- in which case soaking it in boiling water for a while may help...

Afterwards- you can sand off the little humps on the sides of the basket a little so it doesn't get stuck again.

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CrabRangoon (original poster)
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#4: Post by CrabRangoon (original poster) »

Thanks for the advice! When I said "pretty clean" I should have said spotless :mrgreen: I knew it wasn't stuck in there from buildup or rust, and assumed it was bent out of shape to get stuck, or that it wasn't meant to come out. I tried inserting chopsticks through the bottom and lightly tapping it out, but it never budged. I tried again, with a bit more force, and that did the trick. Once removed, my tamper fits in at least as deep as the notches that hold it in the PF, much better than when it was wedged in the PF. I didn't see any marks inside the PF that would highlight a way to twist the basket into place, so I turned it 90 degrees from its original position and am getting much more tamper clearance than before. The tight(er) spots are definite where notches are present, but I get a solid 1cm+ of tamping now. Will be experimenting this week with the machine manually preheated with boiled water, and hopefully later powered on.
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