drgary wrote: Is yours out of vertical when you measure it without pulling down the lever?

I believe it is, unless (as seen in the photos) is a normal tolerance/ angle for the Family machine.

How do you recommend to reinforce the frame? I was afraid that if I will try to bend it back, it will brake.
Maybe when pushing the lever down, you should hold the PF and apply pressure in the opposite direction (when making the espresso)

I like your idea of holding the portafilter. The machine is bending from multiple uses. If I had machining and welding skills (and I don't) I would add thick vertical steel braces to the frame and might clamp them to the water and steam valves or find another creative way to reinforce it without piercing the front plate or changing the external appearance.

It really depends on what equipment you have.
If you have access to a welder, then I would weld a strip of steel on both sides like the sketch below. When you pump the lever the brace will be in tension, so a bit of 1/8" X 1" would be fine.


If you do not have a welder, but can drill a couple of holes. You could use the same size steel and make up a couple of braces like the sketch below. The blue lines are where the bolts would go. Not elegant but would be functional.


The back plate will continue to flex a bit in the middle, but the side braces would make it much more rigid than today. My thoughts, with no guarantee.

I checked mine and it is bent slight back (and yours appears bent slightly forward). I'm wondering it you can try to just bend the frame slightly to make it true.

Looking forward to seeing if you come up with a way to anchor the frame in the back of the machine to provide a stabilizing force.

Thank you guys for the suggestions. I don't have a weld and I never welded before, so no experience in that field. I'm also not an engineer, so I can't calculate how changes to the frame will effect it.

Tim (XS750AU) drawings gave me anther idea, to use 3 brackets, like in shelfs. Maybe they also don't need to go all the way up, just reinforce the lower part of the panel (with cold weld), and let the upper part be more flexible as I think it should.
On the other hand, I don't like to do unreversed action on a machine, like welding or drilling.
I think at this stage this will be something to think about in the future, and probably an outsource job. Anyhow you can't see the bend with the cover and the top grill, which also adds quite a weight that create a counter weight to the lever action.

Jorge, I was afried to snap it or weakening it more if I will bend it to the opposite side. It's funny that your machine is bend to the other side. Maybe it means that the machine wasn't much in use, and the weight of the boiler bend it to his side.

Bracket idea:

Between Jorge's thread and this one, I'm loving all this Bezzera Family/Ater Family information!

I have a Bezzera Family with the original SOPAC pstat, which according to other posts here on HB became the Jaeger. Like the Jaeger it has a fairly large deadband: 0.9-1.7. I am probably going to have to replace it soon and am curious to know what you all think about the using the large deadband to control brew temp, as described by timo888 here:

Advice on Sama Lusso (Club?) pressure

This has worked well for me with this machine: the decline in pressure is so gradual that pressure remains constant throughout the shot (in my case normally 25-30 seconds), and you can adjust pressure before the shot with the steam wand. But am I crazy to think that this is preferable to a tight deadband pstat like the CEME and MATER pstats that are mentioned here? What is the trade-off?

Stefano's seems to recommend the Jaeger:

https://www.espressocare.com/products/i ... tat-jaeger

I am definitely going to add the vac breaker as you have at some point.

If you're going to brace I would go all the way up to the top so you don't create a bend above the brace. I also thought about the sketched locations. You could brace at the sides and have a rigid crossbar that extends to the top group bolts and insert longer bolts, so the appearance would remain the same and there would be no more holes to drill.

After I "slept on that" I think I might I have anther option. Using a cables and turnbuckle .

The machine sits on a metal plate that attach to a chassis only on one side- the bottom. I'm thinking this is because of the force that you apply to the lever, the plate needs to be with some sort of flexible, otherwise it will snap under pressure.

I'm thinking of eye bolts to the frame, metal cable and a small ratchet. This way I can gain strength and flex.





Or, I can use stainless steel zip tie, and as Dr. Gary suggest, hock them to the water and steam pips and to the frame.

https://www.amazon.com/Strip-Stainless- ... B004C3C22K

*Edit: the body cover is at powder coating shop. I don't remember how the cover attached to the frame, but from the photos it looks like it rests on the black chassis. If this is the case, it's eliminate the option to drill a hole in the chassis, because I don't want to drill holes in the newly painted cover.
I will have to wait until it's ready in order to know for certain if and where I can drill a hole in the chassis.

tifoso in queens wrote:the decline in pressure is so gradual that pressure remains constant throughout the shot (in my case normally 25-30 seconds), and you can adjust pressure before the shot with the steam wand.

I increase the pressure today on the CEME (not deadbend) to 1.5. the range now is 1.2-1.5.
I took times: from 1.2 to 1.5 it's 20SEC and from 1.5 to 1.2 it's 1MIN. It seems that the pressure goes down slowly, and if you aim your shot to 1.5 you can make it in the top range of the pressure.
For 14euro it was a no brainer to buy the CEME. I think the range in my SOPEC is too wide (mind you it can be 40 years old)
Down the road I think I will try the CEME deadbend.

nirdvorai wrote:After I "slept on that" I think I might I have anther option. Using a cables and ratchet.

Don't fully understand what you mean by "ratchet", but the concept of using a cable will work equally as well as a metal brace. A ratchet system would also allow you yo make an adjustment if needed. I like your idea!