Second hand La San Marco 95/a

Recommendations for buyers and upgraders from the site's members.
RobAnybody
Posts: 440
Joined: 4 years ago

#1: Post by RobAnybody »

Hi all,
I've been eyeing a used La San Marco 95/a, it is sold as untested at a very reasonable price (€50)
here are a few screenshots from the posting:



From what i"ve found the model is no longer in production,
the burrs (84mm) and a few spare parts (mosly knobs and casing bits) are available.
My question is would it be worth the gamble? I don't know if it works (I can contact the seller and ask if the motor runs) and also have no clue whether the parts of the newer models are backwards compatible if it needs fixing.
any input is welcome!
cheers,
Rob
LMWDP #647

SandraF
Posts: 374
Joined: 3 years ago

#2: Post by SandraF »

I have never used that grinder, and am very new to the espresso hobby. However, after having read a lot on this forum over the last 6 months or so, I would ask the seller to take a quick video of the motor running or do FaceTime or Zoom. For that amount of money, as long as the motor runs I would buy it. It would be a good learning opportunity for you, plus you can share what you learn here with us.

Good luck.

User avatar
shayner
Posts: 17
Joined: 17 years ago

#3: Post by shayner »

I've got an even older non A model.They are tanks and super simple. If it hasn''t been dropped and bent there isn't much to go wrong. Mine only has a switch, a motor, and a capacitor on the inside. It runs fairly quiet at only 800rpm.

Have had mine for years and just started using it again for the lighter stuff that is not as compliant in my HG-1. It always ground well but the reason I had stopped using it was that it retained too much coffee. It has(had) a very long horizontal grind path from the chamber to the chute. This makes the coffee fall into the doser in big chunks as if its being extruded with a whole lot getting stuck along the way. With all the tilted grinders coming out I decided to see if that would make mine usable and it has. I had to go to 22.5 degrees and modify the body and chute so the coffee drops out instead of being retained. I also pulled the doser and added a Mignon-like exit. It now only retains .1 - .2g using the Levercraft doser/blower instead of a hopper.

erik82
Posts: 2146
Joined: 12 years ago

#4: Post by erik82 »

I repaired two of them and they're very simple. They're build like tanks. Don't let the 83mm burrs fool you as they don't deliver that good of a grind quality. I got better results for espresso with a Kinu M47 then with the LSM. But for that price it'll be a very capable grinder for espresso.

RobAnybody (original poster)
Posts: 440
Joined: 4 years ago

#5: Post by RobAnybody (original poster) »

Thanks for the input!
I decided to go for it, the grinder should arrive somewhere next week.
cheers,
Rob
LMWDP #647