SAMA club machine arrived and have already parted it. Not the best of shape but then again I didn't expect it to be. Plan to media blast body / frame and powder coat to as original colour as possible. Body paint is flaking and faded over the decades. Overall panels are not dented. All components are accounted for. Broke brittle glass site glass upon extraction attempt. Many components near boiler are in rough state. Boiler has a lot of mineral build up as evident by the flake pouring out and sounds. Heating element is ceased. Don't have what appears to be a 35mm socket or would have attempted to use a impact gun. Looks like it's going to take some heat and a pipe wrench. Parts for this one may be challenging. Basements with old carpet come in handy. Some pictures below. I've since removed and disassembled the group.

Also excited thanks Ryan. The owner of Ponte Vecchio reached out to me on F.B. and mentioned that they have some similar parts and offered an email. Currently soaking some parts.

Hi Rob.

I recently acquired one of these as well. Once you get it back together and functioning I will be interested to see how it works for you.

My experience so far is that I always get massive cratering of the puck. It appears that the water inlet hole is angled down and fires a stream of water directly through the screen into the puck. I compared the angle of the inlet to my MCAL which had a horizontal inlet which fires water at the opposite wall which I guess dissipates the energy enough to prevent cratering. Even if I only am extremely careful to open the inlet very slowly to restrict flow the same problem occurs, just to a smaller degree.

I did try putting a chemex paper filter on the inside of the dispursion screen which actually solves the problem for a couple shots. Only then I was able to get a good shot without extreme channeling issues.

I will also say the little dinky steam arm is annoying short and too close to the group making it hard to leverage the massive steaming power.

I really want to love this machine but so far I am finding it extremely irritating.

Anthony

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Anthony interesting observation on your SAMA Club as I have not heard that before. Early stages as you can see, still trying to make list and source replacement parts. Like to see your S.C. feel free to post pictures here.

Hi there,

Agreed it's a really nice machine. I had one and can confirm that the modern PV Lusso heating element will fit. I know there are a number of variations on this machine, but my boiler looks exactly like this one....

Removed heating element today with heat,vice and old Rigid pipe wrench. Used tapping method hammer on wrench. Couldn't believe the amount of crude in boiler. Currently in citric acid bath. Plan to replace with 110/120v element via PV Lusso.

Awesome find. Love these samas.
Restored this in december 2018. Mine is still with the original pressure gauge.
The lowest setting on original pstat runs 0.75 - 1.3
And the safety valve is activated at 2
My back roller pin was a bit bent. So have to lathe it a wee bit.
And the front roller pin wasnt moving..it just slides when the lever is in action.
Other than that. It is in pretty good shape.

Replaced sightglass. Pstat. Safety valve. Seals (old elektra mcal). Lights.
All the above are PV lusso parts.

The only non compatible parts are the boiler cap. I bought the PV lusso cap. And realised it is non compatible.
In the meantime, i am using the old boiler cap with a cut out 2mm silicon gasket

I too experience a jet of spray to the back (the stainless body of the machine). And yes it creates craters. Tried using 1 and then 2 pieces of cutout filter mesh on the shower screen. Kinda help a little, not much. My pucks are generaly wet/ mushy.

Good luck and have fun!

Awesome project, Rob! Can't wait to see what it looks like when restored... and how it pours!

aloha,
walt

Here are some pics of my currently disassembled example. AFAIK the powdercoat is original and is in pretty decent shape. Glad to hear I am not the only one with cratering issues. I plan to try to cut out a disc from another shower screen to fit inside the stock one to hopefully fix the cratering issue.