I'm not sure of the best way to gently scrape out this baked in rubber gasket. My thought right now is something like a cut up plastic guitar pick to scrape or something?



I also need to get this totally petrified gasket out of the knob. I don't have (or want) a dental drill, and instead plan to carefully use a dremel. Any tips appreciated!

Have you tried soaking in joe glo to loosen it up? Then yes something non marring would be good. Joe Glo should help clean up the group, cap a bit more work is likely needed.

Yeah I soaked it overnight. I might do another round after getting most of this off.

wooden toothpick, pretty effective!

I have picked up some good stiff nylon brushes, they might help. Looks much better!

The cap, I'd probably mar it up with a small slotted to get out the gasket. Or maybe a pick. Once you order a vacuum cap from Cerini you never go back! So maybe not listen to my cap advice

Find a Popsicle stick and using a sharp razor blade, cut it to create a sharp point. A disposable soft wood chopstick, cut to a sharp point is also a forgiving, but effective tool

After using the toothpick and soaking in Joe Glo it looks great

What works really well are those soap soaked steel wool pads for cleaning stovetops and hotplates. they also clean up chrome very well, and more so on copper and brass.

be Careful! i cleaned lots of chrome surfaces, including my olympia clubs, and never scratched the chrome, unless you catch some hard debris with your pad (like sand, more likely on old exhausts than on Olympias).

they are also good for cleaning out the cylinder bores on Olympias, or to clean out crevaces like the ones in your pictures.

they are also tough on sticky paper gaskets...

make sure nothing was jammed under the portafilter gasket (to elevate the gasket and therefore moving the stopping position of the portafilter from three o clock towards six o clock...)
i found scissor cut plastic shims and those twisty-wires for food bags jammed in there, compressed so flat i noticed them after the third wash of the group...
if you need a shim afterwards, best go for silicone...

Sw1ssdude wrote:What works really well are those soap soaked steel wool pads for cleaning stovetops and hotplates. they also clean up chrome very well, and more so on copper and brass.

Are they equivalent to 0000 wool pads?

Im not sure. They dont seem to be this fine. But most definitively finer than the 'scrubbies' or 'nanas' (or what they're called) to clean out crusty pots and pans..
Maybe more like 000. but always pre-soaked with soap. You'll find them in any supermarket.

Its a hardness issue. The steel wool fibers have a triangular square section, and shave off microscopic protrusions from surfaces. Chrome is harder than steel, so with fine wool, you are very unlikey to scratch chrome. Brass is softer, so there you'll achieve a smooth surface by removing the tiniest bit of brass. I am not sure about the stainless steel parts of the olympias, best try on the back side of the panels.

They are well suited to clean surfaces, but not for polishing.