Search found 96 matches

by Charbucks
December 12th, 2015, 6:24 pm
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 23
Views: 555

Extraction yield question

I'd like to jump in on this thread and say thank you for this! I've been having issues with channeling/gushing and puck cracking/divoting ever since I got my Cremina, and I kept going finer and finer to try to find a grind that doesn't give me thin brown water instead of espresso. Today I went the o...
by Charbucks
December 11th, 2015, 3:36 pm
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 14
Views: 337

Olympia Cremina rod cup seal maintenance

When you say squishy, do you mean at the top or the bottom of the pull? I tend to lift it pretty slowly and it's always firm at the top, but sometimes if I push down to hard I get some "bounce" at the bottom. And now, to diverge even further from the original topic: I've also
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by Charbucks
December 11th, 2015, 3:18 pm
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 31
Views: 5152

Lubricant for La Pavoni Europiccola

Orphan espresso has very reasonable shipping to Canada, but I would see if there's anything else you might need from them and do it all in one order. Otherwise, I bought some Dow 111 on Ebay. It was around $10 shipped for a 1-ounce container marketed for scuba diving equipment, and based on current ...
by Charbucks
December 9th, 2015, 4:59 pm
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 14
Views: 337

Olympia Cremina rod cup seal maintenance

Okay, this is interesting. Both forbeskm and I live in a dry climate that also happens to be at altitude. I would expect that we would be underheating rather than overheating at a given pressure set point, assuming that the pressurestat operates on the difference between ambient and boiler pressure....
by Charbucks
December 9th, 2015, 10:38 am
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 14
Views: 337

Olympia Cremina rod cup seal maintenance

Wow... well, I guess that's what this forum is for. Live and learn. I don't think I could do once in two years though - at least one of my maintenance jobs was because I could feel the piston dragging/stuttering. I live in an extremely dry climate though, so that may have an impact. I was aiming for...
by Charbucks
December 8th, 2015, 2:59 pm
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 14
Views: 337

Olympia Cremina rod cup seal maintenance

Thanks for the reply, I'll just leave the ring in place and lube the exposed surface until I see some evidence that it needs to be taken apart. I rarely make espresso on weekdays so I'm certainly not doing 3-5 lattes a day. The first couple of times I think I went a little too easy on the lube
by Charbucks
December 8th, 2015, 12:46 pm
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 14
Views: 337

Olympia Cremina rod cup seal maintenance

Hey folks, Since completely overhauling my Cremina in August, I've lubricated the piston and pins 3-4 times. I've probably been a bit overzealous, because I have also been taking out the rod cup seal and cleaning/lubricating it each time. Yesterday I went to do the same and the circlip (from orphane...
by Charbucks
September 26th, 2015, 8:51 pm
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 13
Views: 606

My new Olympia Cremina arrived!

Hi Pennywise! Sorry for the delayed reply, I missed this somehow. I never did figure out the brown goop, I just took the whole thing apart and gave it a thorough cleaning. It's been ticking along nicely for about a month and a bit now, and I am very happy with it. The inside of the boiler had
by Charbucks
September 1st, 2015, 11:57 am
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 20
Views: 778

How to remove piston pin snap rings on Olympia Cremina 67?

Oh, I didn't mean that I like tools to perform multiple tasks, but I like to have multiple tasks for my tools. Spending the money on a high quality drill makes sense because it's useful for all kinds of things, but buying a tool just to remove the clips on the lever pins of my Cremina feels a little...
by Charbucks
August 31st, 2015, 2:58 pm
Forum: Lever Espresso Machines
Replies: 20
Views: 778

How to remove piston pin snap rings on Olympia Cremina 67?

I'm late to the party, but I bought "these ones" (except for twice the price from Amazon.ca) and they seem a lot sturdier than the little ones I could find at Home Depot. They're also switchable from internal to external (good for the retaining ring inside the group head), and come with a variety of...