Yeah, as I've spent hours filing hard, stainless steel I've been thinking of what it must be like to use a spoon to grind your way through a stone wall. More filing this morning to fit those rails just right and with each stroke I'm closer to done.

Yeah, I've been there myself also (while fabricating the metal base for the PID La Pavoni). Sometimes there's just no other way to accomplish it, except to file, file, file.

Ray

For anyone else reading this (Ray knows for sure), this last part is least risky and most precise by patiently filing. Otherwise it's all too easy to miss the mark with a cutting wheel or saw or to have the workpiece scarred with the slip of a rotary tool or have it buck off a grinding wheel and get dinged. I'm also finally learning to cover the workpiece with tape to try and avoid scratches.

This morning I started the machine on a timer and all went well. Tonight I finished the side rails and glued them on the grate. It was tricky getting them the right size, glad I had extra stock. It was also fussy business making sure there were no JB Weld fingerprints on the chrome plate. Then when I went to glue them on I found the back rail or the back of the grate or both weren't straight, so the ends wanted to stick up. That's why you see the clamps here. For any wiseguys out there the Starbucks traveling mug holds water.

DONE!



The grate came out pretty good (later shot with Canon digital SLR)!



As a finishing touch I put the serial plate where it should have gone in the first place. I'm using rubber cement for this. If another glue would be better please chime in.



Here are some more views with the iPhone camera. I'm charging the Canon to shoot portraits for the Lever Espresso Machine Gallery.





I'm so excited there's a fully heated Conti Prestina on my counter and I've been up for an hour without any espresso! Thanks to everyone who helped me with this project, especially my wife, Janet, for enjoying my coffee hobby with me and accepting something this big on our counter; Jay, who helped me get that boiler apart; Dave (aka McDave) at Allann Brothers, who advised and sourced factory parts; Doug and Barb Garrott who coached me, sourced parts and talked me into this fix in the first place; erics, who helped me sort out plumbing and other issues; RayJohns, who advised and encouraged me to buy way too many tools (I'm glad I now have them); Ann Halsne, sales manager at Synesso, for sourcing the drip grate; Thomas E. Cara, who imported Prestina 3456 in 1991 and proudly badged it La Cara; and to all of my H-B friends who offered technical help and cheered me on.

Over the next few days I'll create an index in the first post to help readers easily locate the phases of this restoration.

Oh yeah!

The drip tray did come out great! Congrats on finishing the project. The colors fit in great with your kitchen too.

Wow! That looks fabulous! Congratulations on completing the machine. I hope it enjoys many years of producing fine espresso on your counter.

Almost two years - a virtual (figuratively) era for this site, and for many of us a virtual (literally) catharsis. We can almost taste that first shot along with you, Gary.

Congratulations for a job so well done and thanks for your parallel effort in showing the technique - but more so the attitude - it takes.

That really looks terrific, Gary. Congratulations on a job well done.