Thread: Simonelli musica for me

Crazily it has been repaired before. The boiler intake fitting has been resoldered. Looks like the fitting was twisted and bent the boiler. It was repaired insitu with solder. The insulation has copped the brunt of the naked flame.
Not sure if i will push the boiler back into shape....possibly not.

Bit of a strip and bath in descaler.


Thinking i will descale most of the piping and do the steam,water taps and group head after. The piping is not as manky as the boiler

Nice one. Hope you got it for the right price and can get it up and running again. Good luck.

Are we just using thread tape for the piping connections?some of these have loctite (can smell it). I have some liquid threadtape or some plumbers threadtape, or gas tape...
I want to keep the water out of the threads on the element too, but neverseize may not taste that good. Food grease on the element threads (lanolin)?

Teflon tape is fine and in some cases is actually better. Just make sure you use it properly.

Great to see someone getting a machine up and going, especially one the "experts" have discarded as not worth it.

Originally Posted by rawill

Great to see someone getting a machine up and going, especially one the "experts" have discarded as not worth it.

How much do you charge out for your time?

Mal.

"It was repaired I situ with solder."

Do you really mean solder or was it brazed as it should have been? Can't tell from the pics.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a boiler with a joint that was only soldered. And there is the possible double whammy of lead contamination if the wrong solder was used.

Looks like plumbing solder to me. Silver solder would be fine in its situation. No solder on inside of boiler or not much. I will put a pic up. It has stood the test of time as well. I will leak test it also.

Im hearing you mal. I make a living elsewhere, so this is just a hobby.

Definately solder.
But all the factory fittings are soldered in also. Its only the boiler itself that appears to be tig in copper.
There is nothing brazed on this boiler and its all factory apart from the fill fitting.

I get that Jackster...

Was mainly having a little dig re: the dig at espresso tech's drawing a line under where things become uneconomical to repair. I've been a home tinkerer since I could hold a spanner...

Mal.

My hat is off to the tech guy.
He needs to make a correct evaluation of the repair cost and inform the customer of the estimated price before he invests non billable time to the machine.

In this case he has given the element retainer a tap to see how tight it was, and stopped right there.
He would have said the boiler needs removing to get out the element. And that loosening the element might damage the boiler.
So the customer is up for a full strip boiler out and clean, with maybe a new boiler as well.

The tech guy would have fixed the machine if the customer wanted him to.
Its just that i have different values to just the monetary/time that a rebuild needs.

Well put mate...

Mal.

On pressure testing, where the repair on the fill fitting is, the threaded nut that is on there is cracked.

Grrrr..

Annoying, but should be a straight forward repair Jackster...

Mal.

No. Not the jamb nut. The threaded fitting that has been soldered in.
Thinking a male-male, screw it in and solder it.
Or a female-female and inset it into boiler.
I think the first is easier and better having a male out rather than a female out.

Also been looking at annealed flare gaskets. May need to make some for the drips.

And change the fill elbow to a T, so gaining a boiler drain

Arrived home from a week of night shift in nw wa, to find a delivery of a few musica parts including a new hot water solenoid and vacuum breaker. But the bit i can put straight to use is the naked portafilter. Looks like it is delivered with a 22g basket, but i put my simonelli double basket in there. Dosed to my usual19.5g, and shots away!
Been waiting/dying for the naked to check what my tamping action is like with the espro clicky tamper.
Pretty much a perfect shot. 38g delivered in 29 secs, preinfusion on, about 3 streams joining into 1.
Damn impressed!
In the cup- tasty and balanced. Had me trying to lick the bottom of the espresso cup. Looking forward to tomorrows cup.
Now to get a few good ones in a row.
Bottoms up!

I was tempted to machine (with lathe) the espro tamper from a convex to a flat. Any thoughts on this?

So the musica is going ok.
But put a pressure gauge on the portafilter, getting 6.5 bar...grrr. pulled side cover off and clamped the opv return. It blew the return pipe off before it got the pre pressurising over with. I guess that means the opv is leaking. Guess i will have to get a adjustable one now. Mine isnt adjustable...

So i have been chasing the conversion kit to a adjustable opv like in the newer musica. But they arent stocked and waiting for more...
So my non adjustable opv has been getting some thought.
Pulled it out and reversed the rubber seal inside it, retested and still 6.5 bar. So restripped it and shimmed the spring- which is basically what adjustable ones do.
So we have ramped it up to around the 9.5 bar.

Difference in the cup? Omg yes. A little grinder tuning is required, but definately a step up.
Using a lido e as a grinder at around 0.1 1/2 or is that 0.15?
Who cares, yummy!

Or maybe its just compared to 2 weeks of plunger and yukky mine water