Ypuh wrote: - I did some test on the energy consumption. Briefly summarizing the machine takes about 120 Wh idle, and 400-450 wH heating up. In terms of energy consumption it's worth it to turn your machine off when not in use for 3-4 hours. I'm not convinced leaving the machine on puts significantly less strain which it can't handle. Leaving it on also adds to your electricity bill and puts additional strain on other parts (dried out seals, heating element, pressostat). I guess in terms of wear and tear those even eachother out. I'd say turn it off when you don't use it for between 21h-07h

Before the connected board existed, the advice I got from La Marzocco was to leave the machine on (though you'll find threads here where La Marzocco told others that turning it on and off was fine), to minimize wear on gaskets from repeated expansion and contraction. Then my circuit board died after a few years, and I was told "all that heat isn't good for electronics." Since I replaced it with a connected board, I now use its on/off scheduling and my machine is only on a few hours a day (depending on weekdays or weekends).

I'm not well versed in machine internals to evaluate which of the two situations is worse, though I think the one I now picked (on/off), if it really can wear gaskets early, is probably the messier one. I could end up with a water or other leak, not notice it until that damages somehing else I notice, and then face repairs of cost and complication (to me) unknown. Or extensive preventative maintenance of gaskets (which I am not sure I have seen good info on). The board, on the other hand, if it fries from constant heat exposure, is a known fixed cost and a ten minutes swap.

Pick your poison?

Awesome, thanks. Yea, looking to do the main parts that are usually painted. Not the back on with gauges.

Maybe I'm a rare customer, but I just wish I could get one in all stainless still. Hopefully they will resume making them before long.

Kevin

kmayer wrote:Maybe I'm a rare customer, but I just wish I could get one in all stainless still. Hopefully they will resume making them before long.

You may be Mine is all stainless and I wish it were colored. But now that I have invested in black equipment to go with it, not sure what color I would want (initially, white was my choice). Maybe red!

mithiral67 wrote:Awesome, thanks. Yea, looking to do the main parts that are usually painted. Not the back on with gauges.

Please have a thread sharing your experience painting/powder coating for us who are thinking of doing something like that some day. TIA!

Frenchman wrote:You may be Mine is all stainless and I wish it were colored. But now that I have invested in black equipment to go with it, not sure what color I would want (initially, white was my choice). Maybe red!

If you decide to sell your stainless, let me know. I'm in Seattle too.

I "mostly" disassembled my linea mini a few months ago to powder coat it. I did not do the front chrome panel, as I was made to believe it's a bit of a nightmare to, and I don't mind the look.





I also chose to still continue to use the machine for the week that it was taken apart. It was definitely a little bit hairy to use, but when you need coffee, you need coffee!

It was a little challenging during the re-assembly part. I should have test fitted all of the screws before trying to re-assemble, as there was powder in the threads, which made installing it a little more difficult. The screws to hold the back part in place were the worst. but with a little bit of patience, it's not rocket science.



Also, putting the cotter pins into the steam and hot water wands are a little challenging.

Afterwards, I added some walnut from Wowa. I'm happy with how it has turned out.



I have a Weber Key on order (in snow/white). If I get frisky enough, I will tear that down, and powdercoat the body to match the LMLM.

haulin oats wrote: I "mostly" disassembled my linea mini a few months ago to powder coat it. I did not do the front chrome panel, as I was made to believe it's a bit of a nightmare to, and I don't mind the look.

You did your machine twice? If so, I am really impressed . Or maybe it started red and you made it this pretty light blue .

Was it difficult to find a willing shop? How has the coating held over time (has it been a while)? I keep running into pictures of people who've had a various number of machines powder coated and say it was cheap and easy, and then you read articles like this one that makes it seem risky. Of course, Pantechnicon is in that business (and does lots of LMLM things), so maybe they're trying to discourage the DIYer. It's worked with me so far.

What about the La Marzocco badge? Seems to have gone from white to silver. Was that your own doing or is it easy to find them for sale?

haulin oats wrote: I have a Weber Key on order (in snow/white). If I get frisky enough, I will tear that down, and powdercoat the body to match the LMLM.

My Weber key is coming in black, because I figured that's what'd match the chrome of my LMLM the best (with the black plastic knobs too), though I now have some wood trim for it... I also kinda dislike the "non matching" silver of the burrs adjustment and tumblers. Wish they were polished... Anyways, I digress. I ordered black.

If you do the Key, I'd love to see that!

it was super easy to find a shop here to do it. It was the same shop that does the La Marzocco machines for the distributor here, for customers that want it colour changed (cafes etc). It was $220 Canadian for sandblasting, and coating.

it originally came in red, and I just changed it to blue. added the wood later on so had to do the knobs etc again.

Nicely done! Mine is also in red and I'm pretty tired of it, seeing that it's not difficult at all to dissasemble I'll probably get to powder coat it this summer. Thinking of matte black