Restoration of an Olympia Cremina - Page 6

Equipment doesn't work? Troubleshooting? If you're handy, members can help.
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espressoperson
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#51: Post by espressoperson »

oly_puller wrote:Glad to hear it (or read it- as it were...)! Glad things are working - keep us all posted! I want pictures of Cremina cremma!

Patrick
I will post cremina crema if you can tell me how to attach a picture...



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MichaelB
LMWDP #24

Olympia Cremina 67
Mazzer Mini
100% Thor Fittings (No plastic!)
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HB
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#52: Post by HB »

See Posting images on HB. If you don't want the hassle and only have a few pictures, I'll host them for you (my contact info).
Dan Kehn

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srobinson (original poster)
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#53: Post by srobinson (original poster) »

My plans are to flood the site with pics in just a few days. Waiting on the handles from Les and then we are there. Dan came over last night and we were about temped to fab a boiler cap just to try it. I will do a few more posts to catch up this week...we are in the short rows now.
Steve Robinson

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srobinson (original poster)
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#54: Post by srobinson (original poster) »

OK, I am a bit behind on my posts, so let me pick up on finishing putting the grouphead back together. With the piston gaskets and the piston shaft gaskets now in place the next step is to insert the piston shaft into the piston and then insert it back in the grouphead. I did a light lubrication of both the shaft and the inside of the grouphead. Since the piston shaft is threaded, I thought it would be wise to tape the end of the shaft to keep from damaging the new gasket in the grouphead.

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Next insert the piston into the grouphead and carefully work in the top edge of the gasket on the piston head. The tool to use here is again the handy scribe that I have shown before which makes an easy task of it.

Next step is to add the grouphead gasket and snap on the dispersion screen. This finishes off the piston side of things.

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To finish up the grouphead, add the gasket on the back:

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And finally, put the siphon tube in the back. This is one of the parts that I had ordered from the factory and as you can see...money well spent since the old one is close to impossible to clean properly:

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Then reattach the handle and lubricate the roller pins and the two screws at the top of the piston to lock it on.

Image
Steve Robinson

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oly_puller
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#55: Post by oly_puller »

Steve-
You mentioned light lubrication on the head assembly - do you mind sharing what you used. There was another thread around here which mentioned mineral oil and other stuff... What was your choice and where can it be found? I'm about to replace the gaskets in my group head.
Pt
...better make it a double!
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srobinson (original poster)
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#56: Post by srobinson (original poster) »

When I ordered the gasket set from 1st-Line they included some lubricant. What you need is any food grade lube. Olly, I can't recall if you are in Europe or not, but check with a camping/outdoor store and it would be the same lubricant that they sell for water filter/water purification lubrication. There are other posts on HB that talk about this as well.
Steve Robinson

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srobinson (original poster)
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#57: Post by srobinson (original poster) »

Well, those that have followed this post know that I had been waiting for a few parts to come in from Switzerland and in doing so there have been several questions on whether I had had any luck working with the factory. As you know parts for these machines can be quite expensive. And before rolling the dice with international mail I tried one of the local suppliers to see if they had the parts in stock. What happened next was yet another twist to this crazy story on trying to rebuild this machine.

To my amazement this is what I got in return:
We derive income from repairs on these machines..... Although your posting does get a lot of traffic, I sincerely ask you to keep in mind that it can "pull the food off our employees' table." Although the post can drum up a lot of interest in Olympia, it can also create more demand for used machines..., The same goes for our repair business.... Please understand that I am not asking to stop what you are doing, but to keep in mind all parties....
Now knock me over with a feather. I was shocked that the work that I was doing on a beat-up coffee machine would threaten the livelihood of a professional repair shop.

With that uplifting offer to supply me parts, I decided that I would deal directly with the factory.

Now the factory has a great little site

http://www.olympia-express.ch/

And when you go to their support pages, they offer schematics of the machines and the ability to click on the blueprints and order your parts. Very slick, but still a bit old world, since they contact you separately to get your credit card information before they send the parts off. So giving it a shot, I put one order in for a new heating element and another one for new switches, siphon tube and an extra basket.

Well it does take a few weeks, but then the mailman is calling with registered mail and the parts show up on your doorstep. No customs, no duty, no fuss. Here is a pic of my new element:

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And the new status light and switch. I was very pleased with the new status light since it came with a cool new chrome ring around it that was much better looking than the original:

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So with the parts all in I am simply down to waiting for my handles and parts that I loaned out to Les from Thor Tamper to complete the machine. Wiring is done and I am close to final assembly. So the next couple posts will start unveiling the finished product...stay tuned.
Steve Robinson

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srobinson (original poster)
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#58: Post by srobinson (original poster) »

The Gods are finally smiling on me. Les out at Thor Tampers has really been swamped with his real job and as such it pushed out the handles that he had been working on for me. Well, he pings me today and says that he is ready to send them out. Knowing how impatient that I have been to see his work, he dropped me some pictures to hold me over until later this week.

Here are the parts in the rough:

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and of course I had to beg for some shiny pictures of the finished product...so let me walk you through this work. Now since it has been a while since I had discussed the handles, let me remind you that these are being made out of Desert Ironwood. This is a very heavy and rare wood and permits are needed to harvest it. The burl from the tree is almost impossible to find and Les is a true artisan in this wood. In our discussions I had also wanted burl inserts for the handles and Les surprised me with not only the caps out of desertwood burl, but the tamper, custom sized to the Olympia basket out of burl as well. Take a look at this baby:

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Next comes the handles. Now the Olympia has a shortcoming that you also see on the Elektra Microcasa, and that is a short stubby handle on the portafilter. Now when you go custom you can fix this, which Les did for me by making the portafilter handle a bit more substantial and longer, to my liking. These handles are out of regular ironwood:

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And finally the knobs with the burl inserts. I was not a bit fan of the original scrolled boiler cap on the Olympia and asked Les to see if we could do something like the triangle shape on the newer machines, but allowed me to see the chrome base on the older style. With a little improvisation Les hit the mark. This will add more uniqueness to the machine:

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So these are all on the way. To get these built to an exact fit, Les has had my boiler cap, steam valve and a handful of other parts. With these on the way I should just be down to rebuilding the steam valve and final assembly. As we say down South, we are in the short rows.

I'll try to get those posts out as soon as my parts get in and see if we can have some espresso shots by the weekend.
Steve Robinson

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espressoperson
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#59: Post by espressoperson »

srobinson wrote:The Gods are finally smiling on me.

Spectacular! Interesting idea to make the handles oversize. And the 3-cornered hat to top it off makes it real special. Les is more talented than I thought - able to turn a triangle on his lathe.

As beautiful as these pictures are, wait till you're seeing them and holding them in person!

Looking forward to seeing this completed...
michaelb, lmwdp 24

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srobinson (original poster)
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#60: Post by srobinson (original poster) »

I think Les scratched his head a few times to figure that triangle out. He would not show me the failed attempts but said that it was quite the puzzle to figure it out. He has a friend with a new high end scroll saw, but the knob is also contoured which to me means he put alot of hand work into it. I get back into town tomorrow and hope the mailman delivers quickly from the west coast. I think we are all ready to see this thing complete.
Steve Robinson

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