baldheadracing wrote:A local option: Coffeeaddicts.ca in Calgary carries Pavoni and Coffee-sensor stuff in Canada. I order from them and Stefano's espressocare.com

I ordered the gaskets and a bottomless portafilter from them. The rest came from coffee sensor and the espresso shop. All were great. It's too bad Idrinkcoffee doesn't carry pre-mil stuff, they are quite local to me and also nice to deal with.

Coffee sensor shipped ridiculously fast and tossed in a branded la pavoni bar towel with my order, which was a very nice surprise.

The puck screen is a coffee sensor one. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

LObin wrote:I don't think coffeeaddicts have any of the baskets I recommended.

Because of the commercial agreements, it's much easier to buy from the UK, at least from my experience. The one time I ordered from espressocare, I got hit pretty hard with custom and whatnot fees. Not Stefano's fault but it forced me to search for other alternatives. Bluestarcoffee (slower shipping) and theespressoshop have been very reliable and affordable. Great selection of parts too. Bluestarcoffee carry some Coffee-sensor parts as well. Although when ordering for a good amount, I've selected to deal directly with Tudor.

CoffeeAddicts had the super-deep IMS one, but I don't see it now so they must have sold out.

Not sure where the OP is, but another source are the Canadian Pavoni distributors - Northwest Kitchenware (GTA) and FAEMA (Montréal). Sometimes it is easier/faster to go to a physical store. Sometimes - rarely - even less expensive than what I could find online - at least that has been my experience with a couple things from Northwest Kitchenware.

Elektra I get from Zuccarini's in TO or from Stefano's.

Nice to know you've had good experiences with theespressoshop. I'll have to try them. I've also had good experiences with bellabarista.co.uk As for Bluestar - I'm waiting for part of the order I made in November. That's too long for me.

Okay, that's a big no to FAEMA Montréal!

Zuccarini's has those baskets? Interesting... they are walking distance from me. Hard to beat that if the price is right.

I'd recommend calling first. In my experience, Canadian Elektra pricing is sometimes ... weird.

As an aside, at the other end, I find the Elektra single basket less prone to channeling than the current Pavoni single.

Willing to call this project done for now.

Final list of repairs and modifications:

• All gaskets and seals replaced, including new silicone piston seals
• Element replaced
• Thermofuse replaced
• All wiring redone with 14awg, high heat wires and crimps
• Cord and plug replaced with 14awg
• Original switch cleaned with contact cleaner
• Original clearcoat stripped, sanded and polished
• Knobs and handles sanded and polished
• Fabricated an old style brass sight glass cover to replace the damaged plastic one.
• Added a pressure gauge to the sight glass
• Steam wand tip replaced with a single hole type
• Worn lever pins replaced with chicago bolts
• Lever pin bushing replaced with a bearing
• Original (slightly dented) shower screen replaced with IMS
• Original (much too short) group to boiler screws replaced with M6 16mm stainless (brass tbd)
• Broken boiler tube replaced.
• Broken plastic drip tray grid replaced with a stainless one.
• Original brass portafilter cleaned and polished
• Bought a new cafelat bottomless portafilter (incredible fit and finish on it, highly recommended)

Going to use it for a while, get a feel for how it works and then decide on if temperature management is needed.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!

That looks like a first-rate restoration, Bill. Well done!

The only and essential thing I would add is either a group thermometer or a temperature strip attached to the group, which gives you an indication you can consistently use rather than actual temperature inside the group. If you don't know the temperature at the group it's more miss than hit unless you are only pulling very light-roasted coffees or are using your machine at high altitude. Another possibility is to turn it on, bring it up to temperature, time it in some way and pull a shot, then turn it off.

Group temperature measurement is not something I would consider "temperature management" as such. It's more a matter of knowing what the temperature is so you can use technique with an unmodified machine to manage temperature. Here's a thread I wrote on that topic long ago.

Reaching the Zen Zone with a Two Switch La Pavoni

I was looking at that thread Gary, specifically the Om Zone post that talked about using the pressure gauge to to gauge temperature. Is that a reliable way to determine temp? I know that theoretically you can get temperature based on pressure via steam tables, but I'm not sure how applicable that is here.

I was thinking I would experiment with bringing the machine to a predetermined pressure and then pull a blank shot and measure the temp. Then repeat until I have a sense of what pressure I need to be at. That only works if there is a direct, continent relationship I can rely on.

Temperature strips or probes on the group seem like they would be inconsistent because you are measuring the outside group temp and not the water temp. The group temp would be a mix of the heat transferred from: the steam, the previous shot, and from the boiler contact. But a lot of people use them to gauge temp, so what do I know?

My little La Peppina has spoiled me on water temperature measurement!