My first lever- the journey begins

#1: Post by **wachuko** » March 17th, 2017, 6:26 pm

So there was this 1979ish La Pavoni Professional for sale.... could not resist, well, I blame it on giving in to peer pressure from all of you.

I ended up paying US$500.00 for it.

And place holder for related threads that have been recommended for improvements, maintenance, upgrades, etc.

La Pavoni History

Building the Ultimate La Pavoni Europiccola

Adding Thermometry to a La Pavoni Europiccola

La Pavoni Europiccola High Temperature

La Pavoni roller replaced by bearing

Upgrading La Pavoni Worn Lever Pins and Insertions

Heat control mod for 2nd Generation La Pavoni Levers

La Pavoni Europiccola with studs instead of bolts for frequent group servicing

49 mm basket comparison

Manual Pressure Profiling kit by Gábor Laczkó (https://www.naked-portafilter.com/)

Olympia Cremina piston pressure gauge unboxing

La Pavoni Europiccola Brew Pressure Gauge Kit

'Naked' extraction pressure gauge on Pavoni [video]

March 17th, 2017, 8:26 pm

Got home just now. Will clean it on the outside and inspect the internals.. was this not supposed to have a plastic tray insert?

It was never used since new... The story is that their aunt passed away and this was found in her home when they were collecting her belongings.

#3: Post by **max** » March 17th, 2017, 8:34 pm

You'll be very happy with the machine!

Congratulations on getting what seems to be one of the old enough models to not have sidewards lever play!

I've seen enough machines without the plastic tray to think they weren't (always) shipped with one. You can find them at $4-5 new. The old ones from around 1980 did look better, but pretend like I didn't mention it and you'll never notice

#4: Post by **drgary** » March 17th, 2017, 8:37 pm

Congratulations! PM me and I'll drop a newer than 1980 drip tray in the mail.

March 17th, 2017, 8:40 pm

max wrote:You'll be very happy with the machine!

Congratulations on getting what seems to be one of the old enough models to not have sidewards lever play!

I've seen enough machines without the plastic tray to think they weren't (always) shipped with one. You can find them at $4-5 new. The old ones from around 1980 did look better, but pretend like I didn't mention it and you'll never notice

Thank you again for all the information shared!!!

Wife is finally calmed down (she was not aware of the purchase until now)...

I will remove the bottom cover to see what is the condition of the wiring. Want to take a look inside the boiler... need to clean the decomposed foam from the wiring harness as well...

March 17th, 2017, 10:07 pm

A few more photos

March 17th, 2017, 10:13 pm

Cleaned the cable. Cleaned the rubber mat. Took photos.

Plan is to clean the boiler since it has what looks like surface dust or mold from storage... will try to take a photo. If I pass my finger over the group pick up tube, I wipe it clean... there is white mold like dust over it... Here is the only photo I was able to take of the inside... the nice and clean area in the pick-up tube is what I cleaned just passing my finger over it...

I want to also change all the rubber seals... so ordering a rebuild kit for the piston.

What else?

March 17th, 2017, 10:24 pm

drgary wrote:Congratulations! PM me and I'll drop a newer than 1980 drip tray in the mail.

Thank you! Sending PM.

And was going over your thread and Rich's and OldNuc, and DanoM... hummm

Building the Ultimate La Pavoni Europiccola

Adding Thermometry to a La Pavoni Europiccola

La Pavoni roller replaced by bearing

Upgrading La Pavoni Worn Lever Pins and Insertions

Heat control mod for 2nd Generation La Pavoni Levers

La Pavoni Europiccola with studs instead of bolts for frequent group servicing

I want to find those pins (I think made by pimpmypavoni.de) to replace the ones in there with the circlip... but I like your idea of using a bearing to minimize/avoid wear on the machine...

What other upgrades I should be looking at?

#9: Post by **redbone** » March 17th, 2017, 10:35 pm

Congratulations and welcome to the L.P. lever club.

March 17th, 2017, 11:27 pm

Thank you! I was surprised by how compact it is.

I went ahead and removed the piston...