Basket not fitting...

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daviddecristoforo
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#1: Post by daviddecristoforo »

I have a really nice ECM portafilter and I also have one of those "competition" baskets. When I put the basket in the portafilter it does not seat all the way. The rim of the basket sits about a sixteenth of an inch above the rim of the portafilter. I'm wondering if this will affect the shots in any way. The portafilter seems to engage ok with the group head.

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Jeff
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#2: Post by Jeff »

If it's a spouted PF, it may be bottoming out.

Otherwise, the seal is basket to gasket. The PF head is not pressurized. The ridge is to keep the basket centered.

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daviddecristoforo (original poster)
Posts: 108
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#3: Post by daviddecristoforo (original poster) »

It is a spouted pf so you are probably correct that it's bottoming out. I do have a bottomless pf but I have yet to use it. Might be time to break it out. As long as there is no real reason not to use the spouted pf I won't worry about it.

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BaristaBoy E61
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#4: Post by BaristaBoy E61 »

Jeff wrote:The ridge is to keep the basket centered.
That's interesting and somewhat of a revelation. I always thought the ridge was to keep the basket from falling out of the portafilter when ejecting the puck and that the basket was 'naturally' centred in the portafilter.
"You didn't buy an Espresso Machine - You bought a Chemistry Set!"

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Jeff
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#5: Post by Jeff »

Edit: Oh, ah, "ridge" was intended to mean the one on the top of the PF head that the basket's border sits over, not the one in the basket. Sorry for the confusion.

On the gap, I'm looking at my bottomless with a VST basket in it and it looks like about 1.5 mm "gap" between the edge of the basket and the flat of the top of the PF head when seated. You may have similar geometry with the ECM head.

daviddecristoforo (original poster)
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#6: Post by daviddecristoforo (original poster) »

So I looked a bit "deeper" and realized that the top of the portafilter has a little rim on the inner edge and the basket is seating against that. With the basket in place, there's a small gap between the lower edge of the basket and the outer rim of the pf, creating the illusion that the basket is not fully seated.
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