I found that c-clip, too, but I couldn't get it off! Thanks for this on the valve body.

I need to get me some pickin' tools.

Jano:

Glad that helped you! Those valve bodies were a real puzzler. Here's how they looked coming out of the citrus degreaser bath. That stuff takes the shine off of brass but they're much cleaner now. I'll give them a thorough rinse because the degreaser isn't for ingestion.



I soaked the ends of the valve cases in the citrus bath where they were in contact with the grease from the valve bodies. The discoloration is very apparent by contrast. I'll shine these up before assembly.

negrocorto wrote:Thanks Gary. I'm currently discussing this with Allann Bros. Just need to send him photo of the wands for reference.

Albert:

Is this what you need or are you talking about the chrome pieces that attach to the valve cases just above? If yes just send McDave the link to this post. I don't remember a gasket or o-ring under that valve stem but it could have been baked or missing. The inserted part is the steam valve stem. The other that is almost its twin has a dipper tube emerging from it because it's the hot water tap. I wasn't careful to insert this in the right hole. The lower one on the front plate is the hot water tap, of course.



The inside photo's a little blurry. When I disassembled this I thought there was only that brass hex nut, an M16. If I'm recalling correctly the threads were filled with PTFE tape.

The sweet look of progress !

Gary, when you mentioned that hard plastic piece on the end, did you mean the piece in the tip of the valve body or around the tip of the valve body? In the tip of the valve body looks like a bibb gasket that seals on the valve seat. It is the same mechanism that my Princess uses as well as the Olympia machines. Doug dissects one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogtfRcyt ... annel_page
It should be replaced by the new, soft bibb gasket in the rebuild kit: http://www.orphanespresso.com/Conti-Pre ... _3752.html
Or if you got the kit from McDave, he should have included similar pieces.

jonny wrote:Gary, when you mentioned that hard plastic piece on the end, did you mean the piece in the tip of the valve body or around the tip of the valve body? In the tip of the valve body looks like a bibb gasket that seals on the valve seat. It is the same mechanism that my Princess uses as well as the Olympia machines. Doug dissects one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogtfRcyt ... annel_page
It should be replaced by the new, soft bibb gasket in the rebuild kit: http://www.orphanespresso.com/Conti-Pre ... _3752.html
Or if you got the kit from McDave, he should have included similar pieces.

jonny:

Thanks for that. He did include bibb washers but what's puzzling is there's no screw on the end, just a convex place where a screw should be but no flathead or phillips slot. I'll scrape at it and see if it's obscured and otherwise will call McDave.

Why should there be a screw? Maybe I'm not seeing what you're seeing, but I don't see anything else that needs to come apart. The bibb washer is just pressed into place, no screw holding it. It should just pry out if it's not to baked. If we are looking at the same convex shape, that's just deformed rubber from being pressed against the valve seat.

Jonny:

You're absolutely right as confirmed by the schematics, which also answer some of my questions about the heating element.

Thanks again to Jonny. This is how the Bibb washers fit the valve bodies. There's a new one in the front, which looks like a small hockey puck. Both Bibb washers picked out. The one in the steam valve was much harder.



For the heating element, I talked to Doug Garrott this evening. He advised that the part inside the boiler on such machines is generally fastened with a gasket or a gasket and washer. The outside is fastened with a hex bolt. He said I should avoid high temperature silicone sealant because it's an automotive product not meant for consumption. He also advised to paint the outside ends of the heating element contacts with glyptal to fill any cracks and that no epoxy is necessary here. Thanks, Doug!

I'll try these reassemblies tomorrow.

Hey Doc....those gaskets for the H. E. #2597 on the scheme....either teflon flat material, alimentary material, or silicone o ring. When we spoke I kept saying to make the circles with center punch...duh, hollow punches is more to the point. This kind of cheapie set http://www.harborfreight.com/9-piece-ho ... -3838.html will do to make a lot of the small flat work for the machine...that and a sheet of teflon.

Those bibb discs are just held in by friction and is a pretty common setup....if you need a hole in the center just use your punch.

I thought that's what you meant, Doug. That's one of the tools I posted in my new thread on learning how to cut gaskets without investing in a garage full of machining gear.