Two little things done this week. I cleaned the manometer. It is in nice condition cosmetically, just a little sun-bleached. I had to adjust the Bourdon tube a little. I did not really poke around inside too much. The dirtiest part was the glass, which I cleaned with windex.




The Shutoff valve in the back of the group had a damaged thread. I had to go purchase a 1/8" BSPP tap to repair the threads. It worked nicely and I washed out the area of tapping fluid and cut metal.

I am just waiting on some parts to arrive and the boiler to be fixed by my metal guy. Progress has been made with the latter since he called to confirm the new thread the metal brazed plug will receive when the new hole is made this week. During this time I worked off the tap rods like I did for the Classica. I cleaned all six assembies up along with a few other parts. A few remaining chrome pieces were cleaned in tandem with the Classica panels. Nothing will be rechromed.









I also cleaned and polished the bakelite handles (also done with the Classica). It involves cleaning off the coffee grime with a coffee detergent like Joe Glo, a light sanding process (I did 1500, 2000, and 3000 grit), and a finishing polish on my little Omega buffer with blue (plastic) polish. Bakelite will get dull after cleaning in the detergent but it quickly gains luster from the following processes. I don't need the bakelite to be ultra shiny but they are definitely in a better spot than before. In terms of integrity I only noted one small crack on the portafilter handle, nothing series so it will be untouched.

nice work!

I'd suggest filling the crack as they tend to increase in size....Bakelite can be repaired with cyanoacrylate (superglue) , when used with some baking soda and charcoal for color you can use it to fill gaps. I repaired a crack in the lever handle of my Urania and can't even find the spot anymore.

Can it be done even with small cracks? It appears small enough that I am not sure if even super glue can fit into the crack rather than pool at the surface, it's very narrow.

even hairline fractures, superglue alone is very runny (low viscosity) and the capillary suction is enough. Tread lightly and be prepared to repeat a couple of times, wait until fully dry and sand off the excess.

Here is where I got my info, when I noticed the cracks in the Urania handle I recalled looking up something allowing me to use an old dial phone on the modern tone dial system and finding this page
http://www.matilo.eu/restauratie/hoe-re ... t/?lang=en

This is the actual crack, you sort of see on the outside and for a small portion on the inside towards the edge (also I need to clean that inside up a little more!). I would say if I went and did this I would apply the glue on the inside to best extant I can. It does not flex or bend at all when I apply pressure either.

Now that is a micro fissure indeed!...I;d not worry about it but monitor it's progressing or not for now!

I have the same conclusions. The good news with these handles/knobs is I can just undo one screw or bolt if they need to be fixed after.

The boiler, lid, and frame came back to me today! The repairs went smoothly for everything but the lid, which needs a little adjustment still. The repairs on the boiler involved drilling out the three damaged holes and brazing in new plugs with an M8 thread. The lid had six brass bolts brazed from the inside, though some of the bolts interfere with the boiler flange and gasket so I will be addressing that. The frame was stripped of rust and the big lead foot was separated then painted/prepped with hi-temp zinc paint. Once the lid is adjusted and a parts order arrives, reassembly can commence.

My metal guy was poring over the various little details inside the boiler, mostly on the dents. He believes someone used multiple hammer types due to the differently shaped marks inside, whether it was during the factory assembly or a repair is left unknown to us. It's always interesting listening to him comment on how the boilers and other pieces of metal have hidden in the workmanship of each machine.

As the boiler lid finishes up its repairs I assembled the group today on Thanksgiving after I received my TSE order yesterday that contained the group gaskets. I used two NOS brass rings I had on hand from my Salerno guy I used too since originally there were only two rings in the group. The gasket stack is arranged as shown below, where the bottom of the stack is the top right, and going left then down shows the progression of the stack. I inverted the second seal from the bottom to be arranged just like my Bosco's four seals. Before I inserted the piston I installed the safety valve and its new seal.






The seals were lubed up with Loxeal-4 and I slipped the piston from the top. It fit pretty well and I got it aligned with the bottom lip of the sleeve before I tightened down the 80mm nut that compresses the gasket stack to create a tight seal. I did it to just over hand tight. This is where I can see the Gaggia Barcelona wrench being used back in the day but a vise with copper jaws is a good solution too. I installed the original showerscreen so the inlet valve does not open too much and then I inserted the IMS screen with a Cafelat E61 silicone group gasket. Really cool stuff these fit the old Gaggia Lever Group, though the gasket will have a snug fit and may need some encouragement to install fully.






With the gasket stack and piston installed in the lower group I could prep the installation of the spring and upper group. I reused the original bearings after removing the old grease and slipping in new grease with a tiny metal pick between the rollers on both sides of each bearing. They are nice and smooth, and for a low rpm application like this will be good enough for the situation.





The rack was greased and I inserted the upper group with the tool screwed into the rack. I could easily tighten down the spring with the tool, and once the teeth of the rack were fully exposed in the pinion slot I could insert the pinion. It needed some gentle wacks for the bearings to install properly but I got everything on in the end. In the process I installed the preinfusion locking mechanism since that is a pain to install with the group in a vertical position.









The last step when the bearings and their caps are installed is to remove the tool. Simply locking the group in the preinfusion position allows me to remove the tool and install the top chrome nut and acorn nut. No doubt the piston height will need to be adjusted but I care more that a proper seal is made in the stack (and hopefully with the rack and piston). I need to clean the lever itself a little more before I keep it on the group, but things are starting to come together.