I received a Brugnetti Aurora a couple of weeks ago, expertly restored by Pascal at chromesdantan.com, replacing the Faema Lambro I had previously (also from Pascal). I finally got the Aurora hooked up last night; I was delayed by the fact that the water inlet is an unusual (in my experience, at least) 1/2" BST male fitting, and had to get an adapter shipped x-country from espresso parts. My first attempt attaching the brass 1/2" BST female to 3/8" BST male resulted in a drip (not enough Teflon tape) so I had to re-do it. Drip not fully gone; blue plate (with dime for scale) shows a few hour's worth of dripping, so not bad, but will have to deal with it eventually--these things have a habit of getting worse over time. The adapter is the brass bit on the left in the photo showing the interesting main valve--it's pass-through for the HX, and the plunger opens the main valve to fill the boiler. I think I'd be better off with a water line with 1/2" BST female on the machine end, 3/8" BST female other end, rather than using an adapter. Couldn't find one though anywhere on the Internet.... Anyone know where I might get something like that?

I'm using a pressure regulator set to around 2 Bar (29psi or so). Filled machine last night, heated up great, no leaks, and I adjusted pressure to 0.9 bar on/1.1 bar off. The gauge reads in kg/cm2, which is 2% different from Bar, so for all intents and purposes it's equivalent--the gauge is probably less than 2% accurate, anyway. I went to prepare a shot to verify everything on the machine, and then a hiccup--my 58mm tamper didn't fit beyond the ridge of the pf basket! Pulled out my cremina tamper, and was able to improvise tamping. Shot was very tan, so probably too cool, probably a function of incomplete warmup, and flaky improvised tamp; goal of the session was just to see that everything was working properly, but does anyone know--are the Aurora baskets 57mm at the ridge, by any chance?

This morning, popped a la cimbali junior PF basket in (fits) and was able to tamp with my standard 58mm tamper. Had better results by catching the top of the temp cycle. Going to try to get a temp reading of the brew water with the fluke tomorrow, which should help me to home in on the proper p-stat setting. Definitely an HX, and therefore the usual swings in HX temp as the boiler cycles PLUS I noticed that the cooling flush is affecting the pstat reading more than I would have expected, making it hard to catch the top of the temperature cycle. Suffice it to say that I'm still trying to learn how everything works together and how to control it. The good news is that the pstat adjustment is easy, so I can fiddle with it during the same session, which I'll try to do a bit of tomorrow. One shot photo below--roasted just yesterday, so too fresh, but shows the beginnings of decent extraction. 15 grams in a double basket, 34 grams of espresso in the cup, a relatively high shot volume for a single pull on a lever, at least compared to my previous levers (Lambro, Cremina, Achille, MCAL, Microcimbali). Also enjoying line-pressure preinfusion, a first for me. Takes only around 8 or 10 seconds for water to fully penetrate the puck, and in fact start dripping.

Note the souped-up electronics: a pilot light!!!! After the Lambro, that feels about as advanced as a gs3!!!!

The group is, shall we say, robust, especially for a machine this size. Whereas with the Lambro I could pull the lever with one hand, with the Aurora, the machine will tip forward unless I brace against the frame with the other hand. It seems the spring is VERY strong, and at the same time the lever feels a bit shorter than on the Lambro, so the combination makes pulling the lever a rather athletic endeavor, comparatively speaking.

What seems particularly striking about the machine is the steam. When purging the steam wand, there is less residual water than on ANY commercial machine I've ever used. I purge using a 20oz frothing pitcher, and when doing this it shoots up a huge cloud of dry, fluffy steam into the air, reminiscent of the nice dry steam from a Cremina, but with 5 times the volume and power. Simply amazing!!

Still in the "base camp" area of my learning-curve mountain on this one, but would love to hear from others with experience on what is so far an intriguing, beguiling machine!

Fantastic machine
Congrats-

Congratulation!!!
OE had one for sell for a while and it took all my will to hold on from buying it regardless of cost! I must confess to have a soft stop for the boxy machines!
The Aurora has this touch of simple class that makes it go well in any decor!
Enjoy!

Congratulations on the Aurora!
Now why did you move away from the Lambro? (please satisfy my curiosity)

I've got an older 2 group brother to your single that's still awaiting it's rebuild..I'm jealous you've already been trying shots from yours.

Anyhow, if you do some searching in this lever forum, you will find a couple of people that have or have had the aurora. A PM to them might bring you some additional tips and info on your machine and getting the most from it.

OE would be a good place to start asking/looking for your adapter.

My Aurora came with three portafilters. Two look identical to each other (and thus I'm assuming they are stock).
I have three filter baskets and again, two look identical in their 'upper' areas..like the ridge area. One is a double and the other is either a deep single or a 'pressurized-type basket.
The measurement on mine ABOVE the ridge is 58.97mm.
The ridge itself narrows the gap to 57.66mm on my tightest basket.

I'm glad to have the weight of the larger boiler and second group..the levers are a 'handful' to pull down!

Keep us informed of your progress. Who knows, one day I might need that same adapter you find!

Main difference from the Lambro is this Aurora has HX feed by water line (and group heated by contact to the boiler). That could give the user a versatile temperature management and water line pressure pre-infusion.

I wonder if the Lambro, President and others that have the HX with a hole inside the boiler could be modded to be feed by water line (close the hole some way and use the HX bottom connection, that has a plug, to feed).

But, I'm just guessing Mischa's motive. Both machine are wonders and have very similar group design, if I'm not mistaken same shower screen and piston seals. Of course the Aurora group is more elegant than the Zodiaco series (like earlier Faema generations).

Márcio.

Hi, Tom, Sylvain, Russ, and Márcio,

Thanks so much for the replies, suggestions, and information.

I should clarify one thing, which is that I'm currently using an adapter (if you Google "V_320 Espresso Parts" without the quotes, it's the first hit that comes up), because my water inlet on the machine is a rather large 1/2" Male BSP, and I couldn't find a water line that has a female 1/2" BSP on one end and a female 3/8" BSP on the other. With my pathetic plumbing skills, every additional joint is an additional point of leakage risk, so I'm trying to eliminate the need for the adapter altogether. Anyone know where I can get a braided water line with a 1/2" Female BSP one end, and 3/8" female on the other?

The measurements on the filter baskets from 2StrokeBloke are much appreciated--I have a 57mm tamper on order, which will arrive tomorrow. It turns out that the La Cimbali Junior basket is absolutely not a solution in this case--I got slight leakage from the group as soon as I got the grind fine enough. I have two PFs and two baskets: one double, plus a single that I'll never use. I'm going to get in touch with Vaneli's later today, because their online parts catalog shows 14gr and 21gr baskets, as well as PFs. I'm of course going to want to get a third PF so that I can get it drilled bottomless. It will be interesting to see if they have them in stock. I tried a Faema PF, and although it fits, it's a snug fit, because the wedge-shaped "nibs" that hold it in the group are thicker than on the Aurora PFs, and it only rotates about 20 degrees before stopping. With this machine in particular, with its strong spring, I'm loth to risk the PF slipping out, and having the lever snap up into the group, so I don't think I'm going to use the Faema PF.

Márcio seems to be suggesting the idea of converting the Faema Thermosiphon machines to an HX. An intriguing idea, but way beyond my capabilities to judge whether such a thing would be either feasible or desirable. My sole motivation in changing from the Lambro to the Aurora was because of the HX. The Lambro was the best machine I ever had (past contenders include La Cimbali Junior, GS3, Cremina, MCAL, etc., etc.), and I told myself that the only reason I would ever sell that machine would be a 1-group Aurora. Well, the opportunity came along, and I jumped. The Lambro, by the way, is now well-ensconced at another HBer's home in Wisconsin. Since I'm still working out some kinks and bugs, it's still way too early to judge, but what's in the cup is getting better quickly. Attached shots from this morning show rather good extraction, though the dramatic difference in color (only partly due to different lighting) shows that I still have a way to go with regards to temperature management and consistency.

As a quick follow-up, just made my first really good shot. Not a godshot, but a very good shot, nonetheless. Encouraging!

Beautiful stuff, Mischa!!!

Mischa,
Good to hear you are getting closer to that god shot!

If you have a good metal file, you could take small passes off the Faema PF tabs until it fits better..and then find yourself a machinist who could make it bottomless for you. Save some bucks and you could give it a try yourself using a hole saw..

I took some photos of my water inlet setup..it appears to be jerry rigged like you have had to do..copious amounts of teflon tape! I would bet the adapter doesn't exist. Again, a good machinist would likely be able to cut you a perfect adapter using bar stock. Do you know anyone with a lathe in their garage, or anyone who knows anyone?? Doing a little forum or craigslist searching for model engineers, live steam fans and the like might turn up a cheap, friendly machining source.

Russ, they definitely went to the parts bin to get down to the right water connector! Lots of gazintas and gazatas there!!! Great suggestions regarding filing the nibs and where to find machinists. Will see where I end up.

But regarding my plumbing setup, it looks like I've been very unclear. Maybe this picture will clarify. What I'm trying to do is buy a new water line, and therefore eliminate the adapter I'm using. Let me paint by the numbers:

#1 in the following picture: This is the 3/8" BST female end of my current water line. It is connected to the 3/8" BST male end of the brass adapter, which is labelled #2 in the picture. The actual #2 appears on the 1/2" BST Female end of that adapter. That is screwed on to #3, which is the 1/2" BST male inlet of the valve body; it is an integral part of the valve body. Ideally, I would buy a water line that has a 1/2" BST female connector at the machine end and simply eliminate the adapter, and thus eliminate a potential source of leaking. Does anyone know if such a thing exists, and where I might get one?



In parallel, called Vaneli's yesterday, and they supposedly have 14gr and 18gr baskets in stock. And if you want a single spout, double spout, or even triple spout to screw on to your Brugnetti PF (who ever heard of a triple spout????), they're the place to call. I also inquired about what they list as an "old-style" PF in their parts catalog. They're supposed to get back to me today with information as to what they actually have in stock, or not; apparently their inventory system is just a guideline!

But of course the real news is that I'm pulling good shots. Here was number 1 this morning:



And number 2:



This group extracts the bejeepers out of the coffee, which is 25% Yemen Mokha Ismaili, 37.5% Ethiopia Sidama Bonko, and 37.5% El Salvador Finca Siberia Bourbon (thanks, Bob) roasted two days ago. I would call both something around DemiGod shots, not bad considering the fact that I was tamping with my 49mm tamper, starting gently flattening in a radial pattern around and around with about 12 strokes, in other words, a total kluge approach, and yet still great shots. Wow. My 57mm tamper arrives later today, which will be, well, a time-saver. Flavor-wise, I would put these shots more on the MCAL end of the spectrum, which to me means emphasis on refinement and nuance rather than richness and body. Again, though, still early results!!!!