Here is another possibility to get around the bracket. Since the 3/8 size fittings are bigger, in this case I went from the 3/8 female on the manometer fitting to 1/4 male with one adaptor, added 2 1/4 elbows to make a U turn, then a 1/4 T to add a 1/4 pressure safety and a 1/4 mini vac breaker on a 1/4 double female nipple. You could make the U turn with a short pipe and compression fittings with nuts as well and save 2 fittings as well as have one less thread to leak. The seals are made with a combination of teflon where it is a thread to thread seal and teflon washers where it is a flat mating surface seal (such as under the vac breaker to the nipple).

This is more fittings that I like to see but it does clear the bracket and allow installation of the vac valve (which was not designed or thought needed on the original machine).

Now, since I know Gary a bit and we all know that he is all about learning and growth experiences I will try to turn this into not a problem solving excercise but a growth and learning moment....what we have here is what we call a classic Wazzu window situation. To wit: Barb and I often go to the surplus sale at WSU in Pullman WA and amoung the mass spectrometers (not working) the x ray analysers (still glowing) and sundry amazing huge and originally expensive things we have gotten there we once bought an odd size window. Since this was a large window and it did not cost a lot it became somehow ingrained in our brains that we HAD to use this window. So we set to making an addition to the house and the window became the central design driver to the whole thing...the problem was that we had to build a very crappy wall in an odd way to fit the window in and of course the window leaked and rattled in the wind (many items at surplus are there for a reason) and not only did it never suit the size of the wall but we ended up some years later redoing the entire wall with a new window of the proper dimension, energy efficiency, size, shape etc. But the moral os the story is that we had cursed ourselves with this great deal on a window and could not manage to proceed ahead in a REASONABLE manner...we had never even preplanned the addition but it had to happen because of the posession of the window.

Now, what does this have to do with the Prestina in question....well, Drgary has a large type vac valve which will likely not fit the double nipple, and a real weirded out system of fitting in the vac valve and pstat and the mere posession of this setup is driving what could be a simple installation of the components....but the parts in hand MUST be used somehow. We see this often, that people buy a lot of parts before they actually know what parts they need and then the whole repair is driven by the parts rather than the right parts gotten in response to the now known need. Also called changing the plan in the middle of the plan. In this case I think you need to take the sheet of paper and crumple it all up and start over.

And by the way Gary...think ahead to how you are going to wire this whole thing since it is possible to make wiring in the pstat really difficult if you install it in an awkward way.

Now I return you to your regular Prestina guy.

Gary....YOU are the regular Prestina guy! Shocking isn't it!

I think that I have mentioned this before, but there are 1000 ways to tackle any task and so I usually just butt out...all you have to do is get water to here and steam to go there and as long as the water stays in the water pipe and the steam in the steam pipe it does not really matter.....but I only butt in because you are making the job a lot harder than it needs to be and a lot less reliable than it could be with some simplification.

So, to state directly, what you need is the minimum amount of fittings or digressions on the pstat line. Since the pstat is your only control element you want to reduce the possibilities of any failures in that line by reducing the number of fittings etc. Now, there is the use of compression fittings vs solder on cap ends and nuts. One uses the compression fitting with sleeve when you are fitting a pipe into two fixed elements...this makes it simpler to intall the pipe when it is not possible to move either end...but since you can move the pstat end anywhere you wish, by a certain margin, it is a safer bet to create this pipe using solder on fittings and cap nuts. Usually what you see, for example on a pipe from the steam valve to the boiler, is that there may be a solder on cap at the steam valve and then a compression fitting (a bicone as the trade calls them...at least Ascaso calls them) will be applied at the boiler end as a means of fitting the pipe upon asembly. Other manufacturers will use solder on at both ends due to a different assembly order of the components.

In any case one wants to simplify as much as possible...the same goes for the electrical installation.

Gary, your restoration is coming along beautifully indeed.

Question for you:

Is there a reason you are maintaining the P-stat on this project, as opposed to switching over to using a PID controller in its place?

Ray

drgary wrote:...here we're talking about sweating a cap to a pipe and the pipe is going to carry live steam or at the least hot water. I understand from watching an online video that the pipe and cap need to be meticulously clean. I've seen people use a flame instead of a metal soldering tip. I have MAPP and butane torches. Is either of these hot enough? I don't know which solder or flux to use. Can such soldering be done by an amateur like me? I'm happy to learn this...

Not at all hard to learn or do. MAPP gas is Ok, but I find that propane (or butane) is a bit more forgiving (not as hot) and easier to work with for small parts.

I'm in Berkeley and unless you are way down in the South Bay, I'd be glad to show you how. PM me if you'd like some help/guidance.

drgary wrote:Yes. I have a PSTAT and have figured out how to connect it. I'm ready to make coffee with this thing. Also minute temperature control is less relevant for a commercial lever because of its temperature stability.

Added: Sorry, Ray, if that was abrupt. I've been moving everything out of my San Francisco office today. I have been thinking of a PID. The reason is that a simple digital control would be quite easy and accessible. And I am sure that it would fine-tune the machine just a bit. But as you can see above, I am eager to try this machine out. And, since it is a vintage machine, I'm interested to find out how one controls such a traditional set up. After that, I may well decide to PID. But that would be a separate project.

I know you must be very eager to try this machine out. I, for one, can't wait to see it in action.

Maybe a possible PID addition could be something to design into it down the road? I think having a nicely restored vintage machine, combined with new technology (e.g. a computer controller) is kinda neat.

Anyway, no matter what you decide to do, I know it will be first class

Ray

As it turns out that manometer bracket is a bugger, but this is what I came up with...



If you install the drainey tray under the vac valve then it seems that the negative of this setup could be minimized (the fact that the vac valve is above the pstat)...but short of putting the pstat on the other side of the machine wedged in at an angle between the boiler and the frame this seems to fit your requirements....full size 30 amp Sirai pstat, vac breaker (above any conceivable water level).

I may be able to bend the copper pipe on the valve assembly into more of a circle but it is pretty resistant to that at present. As it is set up, all one has to do is connect the cap nuts without taking the whole thing apart and struggling to get all of the fittings aligned (and sealed) in the proper geometry.

From what I can tell it does not require any brackets or supports, although your wiring will need some cable ties and such to not pull the pstat out of its little corner somehow.

EDIT: oh yeah I forgot to mention, DrGary, RELAX and have fun, you are in the homie stretch And if I am clouding up your blue skies somehow just tell me, I can always install this rigging on the Prestina in the photos when and if I ever get around to it....Aurora, Cimbali M20, and 2 Faemas ahead of it so it could be some time before I do another Prestina.