Such a great project. Did you ever figure out how you were going to deal with the slight axial off center of the new cylinder casting?

arcus wrote:Very nice! That's the kind of detail I love to see and it will look terrific. Are the handles going to match this?

I had been planing on making the feet, lever handle and cup warmer rail joints in wood and leaving the water/steam taps and portafilter stock. However, both for aesthetic reasons, and because of all the parts that I have had to source, the *&*^% taps have been and remain a huge pita, I will likely make all of the plastic parts from wood.

barneyfife wrote:Such a great project. Did you ever figure out how you were going to deal with the slight axial off center of the new cylinder casting?

Indeed, there were a few solutions. The first is correcting the misalignment by machining the top of the group to be perpendicular with the bore. This is fairly easy to do with a good cnc mill. I've not done it yet because the easier solution is just doing the machining correctly in the first place. The error can be avoided by changing the order of operations during the machining process. Interesting enough, this was a problem for early versions of the original group. Another member here, Dottore Pootoogoo, lent me an old group with a connection between the piston rod and piston that allows a slight rotation with respect to the cylinder axis. The piston effectively self-aligns to the cylinder wall to compensate for any fabrication problems. This is obviously the most complicated way to resolve the issue...

I do so hope you become a manufacturer. Canada could use a lever maker. A new 'Aurora' would, I suspect, be a good seller considering it's reputation; and a very nice alternative to the ubiquitous 'chrome' boxes.

Awesome progress! Really hope that 'Aurora x 2.9' in your siggy will become a whole number 3 very soon!

samuellaw178 wrote:Really hope that 'Aurora x 2.9' in your siggy will become a whole number 3 very soon!

Updated

barneyfife wrote:I do so hope you become a manufacturer. Canada could use a lever maker. A new 'Aurora' would, I suspect, be a good seller considering it's reputation; and a very nice alternative to the ubiquitous 'chrome' boxes.

That is my hope - I am cautiously optimistic given how infrequently Auroras come up on the used market and how quickly they disappear. I also agree about the surfeit of overly-shiny boxes out there. Mirror finish stainless steel is such an easy solution... We shall see.

JohnB. wrote:I'd have to think that powder coating mild steel is a much easier/cheaper solution then a polished stainless case.

Perhaps we are talking about different things, but the mirror finish stainless I'm referring to is an off the shelf product. It is what I spec'd for the backsplash, cup warmer tray and the rails. It goes right into the laser cutter with a plastic film to prevent the laser from reflecting. After bending, you pull off the film and wipe down the finished part - job done. The show rooms of my local distributors are full of the stuff

Powdercoat on mild steel from China might be cheaper if the volume were high enough for material cost to become the determining factor. But quality control on P.C. is complicated whereas #8 polished stainless either is or isn't - if you see what I mean. For a fairly small part like the case, even 20 minutes (highly optimistic) of prep time in North America would offset any cost difference.