XS750AU wrote:Don't fully understand what you mean by "ratchet"

I guess I used the wrong terminology.
I meant turnbuckle. Like this one:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1 ... /204273916

(I correct it in the post)

nirdvorai wrote:I guess I used the wrong terminology.
I meant turnbuckle

(I correct it in the post)

Ok , yes that will work. If you got the stainless steel version, SS cable and hardware it would be very durable.
On the face plate if you used a stainless steel dome nut it would hide the threaded end of the eye bolt and look a lot more professional!

Actually put an plain nut on the inside and the dome nut on the outside and clamp them up for a very solid setup.
Good luck.

Thanks Tim!
Although it's a good idea to have a solution on the paper, I will wait for the cover to arrive and put everything together. I have a feeling that with the heavy cover and the cup warmer grill, the panel will be less prone to bend. This is also what I can see in other machines videos on Youtube.

The new safety valve arrived today. It's a 3/8 and seems relatively compact to the thread size. I install the tee with the vacuum breaker and the safety valve. First pressure test went ok, no leaking or hissing.

After reading Jorge comment on his PF gasket Bezzera Family Lever (part deux)
I decided to install the one I bought. I thought that it doesn't make sense that my PF is locked at 6pm, because once I push the handle down it touches the PF.
I put the new o-ring style gasket and the PF locked at 5pm, same as Jorge.
Then I checked the basket. It seems to me like a very shallow basket compare to the depth of the PF (the basket is 20mm include the rim and the PF is 31.5mm). I can only fill it with about 13g of coffee. Beyond that the coffee touches the shower screen and I can't locked the PF.
Then I remembered that I have a basket from the Cremina, and to my surprise it is much deeper and has smaller rim. It fits snugly in the PF and also stay intact so I can knock the PF on the knock box without taking the basket outside. Because of the smaller rim the PF now locks at 4pm.
According to this thread: 49 mm basket comparison
I think this is the MCaL basket, since it's 26mm deep compare to the one that came with the Ater at 20mm.
I think it will be interesting to compare the MCaL basket to the IMS baskets.

Regarding the coffee residue on the shower screen and gasket, I took a bristle brush that can be found at Harbor Freight, bend the tip and rotate it around the gasket. It leaves the gasket very clean.

Hi Nir, Nice brush hack. I've been using a clean sponge but it's too thick to fit between the shower screen so I'll pick up a brush. A long time ago I had one of the Pallo brushes and I didn't like it since the head of the bristles was too large.

I can't be sure from the pictures but the basket on the right looks like an MCAL double. It is the largest basket I have and it is my favorite so far. My tests are still preliminary since, due to the pinhole leak, I can't get regular pressure on my machine. So keep that in mind.

But, I also have the La Pavoni IMS "competition" basket. This is my first time trying an IMS basket. I found it difficult to use. It also holds less coffee than the MCAL. My usual dose is 16 g for the MCAl and I couldn't even lock in the PF with 16 g of coffee on the IMS basket. The IMS is much shallower and combined with the showerscreen being very low it makes it have less head room. I'm sorry I haven't measured any of the baskets as I don't have accurate tools to do so. Also, I found the extractions unpredictable with the IMS basket. I haven't done any reading on them so I put it away in favor of the more stable MCAL, at least for now.

13g for the IMS seems low but it depends on the coffee you are using. I tried a few doses with the Klatch experimental espresso V1 (Panama Elida and an Ethiopian--don't have the info handy) and it was able to doe 14g (going by memory from last weekend--dangerous, I know).

Are you using the original PF with your Ater? Does the MCAL double fit?

I am using the Creativewerk bottomless PF and am enjoying the extra clearance. I can fit a small scale on the machine to weigh my output.

I'm posting 2 videos that shows the Ater PF with the Elektra MCaL double basket. So far (4 times ) it's a joy to use it. I don't like tight filling baskets, or dosing less then 14g for double shot. The depth of the MCaL basket allows me to keep a cleaning working place and dose (at least) 14g.
The brushes costs $3 for 36 brushes.. you can't beat that.

After reading your comment on the IMS, I think I will stick with the MCaL for now. But even with the MCaL I still can't fit the Richard Penny bottomless PF to the Ater.

That's great the MCAL fits your original PF! PS. The chrome on your machine looks great! Mine...not so much

Also, I like that the basket stays on the PF. I can't tell you how many times I burn my fingers when knocking out the spent puck with the finger and flip trick.

I think part of the shiny chrome is thanks to the over night soak in Star San PBW.
I highly recommend this procedure to clean chrome parts. With aluminium I had less success, it leaves the aluminium dry with some kind of white residue. I buffer the aluminium with brown compound bar follow by "Mother" to restore some of the shine.

Great tips! I am pretty lazy about polish so maybe that's why I'll keep the Five Start PBW tip in mind. What else can you clean with it besides chrome?

So far I dunk inside the outer parts of Arrarex Carvel. Prior to the soak the body has green dots all over (I didn't know if it was mold) and came out clean without any mark on it. Also all the stainless steel parts came out mirror like. And as posted here, the PBW did a great job on the Ater boiler and coper pipes.
This product is used in the brewery community, you can see here: https://fivestarchemicals.com/pbw