Looks like it was brazed & had pretty poor adhesion.

Hello:

JohnB. wrote: Looks like it was brazed ...

+1
It was definitely brazed, with brass being the filler metal used.
With respect to how it was done, the part I can see does not look bad at all.

But without the possiblity of a 360° look, cannot say much more than that.

A good, thorough wirebrushing all around the joint will show, on a close inspection, if there are any cracks.
If wirebrushing is not enough, some light/judicious sanding with a properly sized wodden dowel wrapped in 200/220 grit emery paper will reveal any issues.
I'd wager that it is in good shape and does not leak or have any cracks.

Cheers,

CIV

Must be all the black stuff?? on the braze & boiler surface made it look like the brazing wasn't well attached.

My thoughts as well, this looks much better than I was expecting. Of course I will truly know only when I do a pressure test, but even in the original state there was no indication of a leak. The dried up water marks are from the wobbler weight on top actually.

I am cautiously optimistic no welds may be needed.

I placed my big parts order with LFspareparts. I have not dealt with them before but I am curious to see how the process goes. I am still salty Ascaso migrated and left their old site . I think overall I made parts orders from 4 different sites as some of them only had specific parts for the best price that outweighed the additional shipping costs.


The pipes and fittings are all cleaned up, and are in a much better condition than before. My little Omega grinder runs at a very high rpm so I needed to be very very attentive to make sure nothing went flying or my hands got caught.





The boiler also got its first clean full up. I still want to see if I can remove the remaining fittings but I really do not want to damage or bend the soldering joints. I'd rather not leave them but if they fight me really hard I would consider it.

Beautiful finish on the pipes. I skipped that step on my last restoration because they weren't in terrible shape. Now I wish I had, it looks so satisfying.

welp, I was scrambling today when the parts order failed to go through with LFSpareparts. They did not accept my family's business number as justification since we are classified as an end-store rather than a repair shop or distributor. It worked for Ascaso but not for them

I might just form my own business at this point to get that access back

I managed to get all but one or two parts from other sources fortunately for similar pricing.

I dropped off my first load of panels at my metal guy to polish up. I do not have the materials to polish stainless steel, and I know it will be much easier for him to do it with his equipment. It's still cheaper than rechroming! He will also be doing my chrome. It's about the price I expected it to be but it will still hurt (about 1k), but I understand why it can cost so much.


Check out the effort needed to get the portafilter apart! I had to take a big flathead screwdriver and rap the handle from above for shocking the threads, follow by a big heave with a wrench attached to the square shaft. The spout was even harder to remove. It was ruined already so I needed it to come off so I could replace it.

Parts are snaking their way through shipment. I am trying out chisko.it, who I bought from once before. Hopefully I have good things to say for when the package arrives!

The first parts order to arrive was my replacement boiler lid and aluminum rings. I also had an original lever with bakelite handle purchased, just in case.




The manometer is really cool. I took off the back cover to clean it up, and you can sort of see the mechanism inside. It is pristine and I am leaving it as is. You can see an inscription of a name, Muelle (?), on the back of the manometer face! I will take a picture how it all goes together during reassembly.


The Lambro emblem is original and damaged. I threw it in the oven at about 260F for five minutes, and I could bend the logo flat over three heating cycles. I very gently clamped the logo in multiple spots where the bends were most significant at the time and I had to tap off excess acrylic that was hardened where the upper rivet lies. I now have a flat emblem with a really wild bubble patina. I will casually look for a replacement but this one is almost unobtanium outside of some select sources.







I also tried out a buffing kit at the suggestion of my metal guy. I used a cotton flannel wheel and blue compound since I already polished and sanded it prior. It definitely helped with the luster but I will take it to my metal guy for critiquing and how I can improve. I know I can do better as I practice though.

I was pleasantly surprised when I cleaned up the manometer bezel to see if I needed to rechrome it. My new buffer wheel unearthed the shine that was hiding under the grime after a wash in soapy water. As a result the manometer will be the only assembly in the machine that will remain 100% original. The black surround piece was cleaned and lightly polished as well. I actually used Windex for the glass piece!

The manometer contains nine parts if the mechanism assembly is counted as one piece: The black surround piece, the bezel, the glass face, the metal band to hold the glass in place, the manometer face, the manometer assembly housing, the hand/pointer, and mechanism. Two tiny machine screws (M2 size) hold the bezel to the manometer, and two larger machine screws hold the assembly housing to the mechanism.

I still believe the date of the manometer being from 1953, and that Faema had it lying around and decided to throw it on the Lambro. I will clean up the threads in the back a little more before reassembling the machine but the manometer is ready to go.

Parts are continuing to trickle in. My Chisko order got here in 49 hours with DHL. The other orders are unfortunately with Deutsche Post, which currently often takes over a month becuase they mail a lot of packages by maritime boat rather than the normal air freight due to Covid related restructuring.



I did a stop by my Metal Doctor to drop off the bits needing new chrome or powdercoating. I also started collecting the stuff I gave him from prior that were completed. It will be pricey but that is why I budget to ensure I can afford everything . I also am getting pretty good at estimating what he will charge me as well. I have his permission to show a few pics of his shop.

This is the main buffer he uses, a 1940's Hisey-Wolf Machine Company machine with wicked long spindle arms. He has another grinder/buffer for sanding plus some extras here and there. He has quite the collection of polishing and sanding materials, and he definitely knows how to use them. He also was impressed with my work on the aluminum group pieces as he noted there was pitting and minor corrosion in the material, so I apparantly did a good job!





When his sanding belts are worn he makes his own little square disks to use on a third grinder to get a little more use out of them.



Here is the Lambro backsplash. It is difficult to show how shiny it is in pictures. You have to see it in person to realize how shiny it is! There are a few swirl marks I will hand wipe out from the polishing process (noticeable where you see smudges/blurring) but I am so far pleased and cannot wait for the other bits to finish up.