Cool find Cher! I've always coveted one of those canisters.

Congrats Cher, you finally got one.
The Arrarex Caravel
The Arrarex Caravel

Well done Cher and a real beauty. I do like that canister.

It's been quite awhile since I had a Caravel, From what I remember is the dimples on the baskets seem to be matched to the portafilter. I found it much easier to install them when oriented a certain way and which side of the basket is inserted first. Maybe one dimple protruded more than the other. This also made removal much easier. Unfortunately that's about all I can recall. It did take a bit of fussing about to get the combination right, but once learned very easy.

Thanks all

It took awhile but when I found that one, another one popped up a day later. Could I just once pick lottery numbers like this? Just once? LOL...

Hello Caravel friends,

This is my very first post, although I'm following the Caravel and other topics for quite some time. Actually, this forum helped me a lot with the decision to buy my first manual lever machine, so.. thank you in advance, and hopefully I won't regret my decision!
I have also been reading a lot of useful tips and tricks related to this machine on this forum, so again, thank you for all your contribution!
I'm (currently) living in Germany and my Caravel 1.2 is on the way from Italy now. I will post a couple of pictures once I have it. Unfortunately it's missing some of the not so important (but would be nice to have) accessories.

I have a couple of questions, maybe you can help.
- As I understand, it's limited in certain aspects (shot length, temperature range, pressure range). What type of coffees (beyond the roast levels) would you recommend in particular?
- It comes with a double basket, the single basket is missing. Accoding to previous posts, the single basket would allow longer shots and would suit medium roast levels too (unlike the double basket which is more for ristrettos / dark roasts). Do you know a good source for single baskets?
- It's probably a good idea to get a bottomless portafilter, at least for the learning period. I'm reading contradicting information on this, the original basket shape being actually better than the straight-walled PV basket (?). The Brooks double basket also seems to be slightly larger capacity than the original double basket. What's the current consensus on 45mm PV basket vs Brooks 0.25/0.3 vs original double basket in a bottomless PF?
- Do you think the Niche Zero will be a good companion to this machine?
- I'm planning to replace the non-grounded plug/wire with the Schuko plug (keeping the original too, of course), I found the pictures about the new wiring here in this thread. It comes with the ground wire connected to the machine, but hanging loose on the 2-pin plug. Besides that, that wiring inside the machine seems to be OK based on the pictures, but I'm not an electrician. Once the new wire is in place with the proper ground connection, how save will it be for others in the family to use the machine? I've read that someone here had an electric shock in the past from the machine, I'm not sure if that one was grounded or not. I will try to have a close look at the wiring, but if it's not necessary, I would not take it to an electrician. According to the seller it's in working condition, it's heating the boiler, but he said that it's for collectors, not for daily usage, and it definitely doesn't make good coffee (his personal view). Regardless, I bought it because I liked what I had read on this forum and elsewhere, plus based on the many photos the seller sent me it seemed to be in a very good shape. I wanted to give it a go and save one!

Thank you for your help in advance!

Balazs

I've found a very useful thread about the rewiring the Caravel and making it safe for home kitchens.

Rewiring a Caravel for contemporary kitchens

How to take off the power switch (Arrarex Caravel version 2) ?

I fired up the Caravel this morning and made a few drinks with some very good single origin Rwanda beans from my local roaster. The Caravel is such a forgiving machine.

I know the answer. It's easy. Just light it down