Izzo Alex Leva

[TC]

Lever group breakdown and build video

[ltjaw]

The easiest way is to unscrew the piston while the group is still in the machine.
Make your tool as I mentioned one post up and unscrew the piston.
Take the group out and clean the assembly.
I install the piston from below but the teflon ring and the copper ring I install from the top .
Make sure the teflonring is properly set in the cilinder .
Push the ring and copper ring down using the group and screw the piston in from below.
The right amount of pressure is achieved when the gap where the circlip sits is cleared.

Don,t forget the dow111.
Good luck.
First time is tricky.
Second time is fun.

Thanks for the advice. I'll give this method of disassembly a try first. From what I have read, though, the piston can be pretty difficult to unscrew the first time. Hopefully it'll yield, and I'll he able to remove it from below on my first try.

[ltjaw]

Lever group breakdown and build video

Thanks for supplying this video, Chris. Is there a second half? He seemed to be midway through the assembly when the video ended.

[TC]

Thanks for supplying this video, Chris. Is there a second half? He seemed to be midway through the assembly when the video ended.

I have uploaded all 370MB of it again. NB that what you get if you just watch it is a 15min preview. You need to download it to watch it. The entire clip is roughly an hour.

[ltjaw]

Wow. That was a very entertaining video. And very helpful for planning a cleaning operation. Thanks!

[bezzieman]

I cleaned my pompei group this afternoon and made a few pics to show you guys how utterly disgusting the piston gets after two months of use.






Lots of coffee that mixed with dow111 in the group .Just nasty.

After cleaning everything I installed the teflonring(light film of dow111) from above and the copper ring with the concave side downwards.










Cleaned everything thoroughly and installed the piston from below.Applied a thin film of fresh Dow111 first of course.




While holding the piston with one hand install the spring group from above and turn it into the piston thread.


Push the whole assembly down and turn the piston with your tool in while fixating the spring assembly with the other hand.



Turn the piston in just enough to make sure the piston doesn't or just slightly touches the screen in its lowest position(lever released).

Now install the fourbolts and that's it.

This group does need regular cleaning .I suggest taking the screen of every week and cleaning the inside of the group at leat once every three months or it will get messy.Luckily for us it is a piece of cake to do.

Sorry for the dirty fingernails but I put 45000 kilo of concrete into the ground today.

[blend52]

Since I have my Alex 'eva (about 1 year+, one of the very first in Europe) and the HG one, I've never had any fit of upgrade-addiction.
The only idea appearing from time to time is, how to get color on it (foil or powder coating? ).
This would reduce the very large chrome surfaces and give it a more vintage touch.
....)

you might check out the variety of Vinyl Wrap products available as used by some machine makers, and even car customisers.
you can DIY to your own design, and easily remove/ change when you get bored or want to revert to standard.
colour, texture , (timber effect) translucent, gloss, Matt, etc ...the options are many fold.
i use plain clear vinyl to prevent cup scratches on the top.

[Peter42]

you might check out the variety of Vinyl Wrap products available as used by some machine makers, and even car customisers..

Thank you for that hint . I know about the foil on cars, but have had 2 concerns up to now:

1) Does it work at the corners top-left or top right (frontview) when putting the foil on the side panels? It must be stretched for the 2 cm of the "thickness" of the side panels?

2) Can it stand the temperature longterm? It is not really hot, but I expect about 50°C max.

Then it would be a wonderful chance to try it.
Peter

[blend52]

1) Does it work at the corners top-left or top right (frontview) when putting the foil on the side panels? It must be stretched for the 2 cm of the "thickness" of the side panels?

2) Can it stand the temperature longterm? It is not really hot, but I expect about 50°C

all I can say is it is in common use for full coverage on all sorts of custom cars ( check those Matt black Lamborghini's or wild design Ferrari's ?) as well as some commercial coffee machines ( Fracino offer a custom vinyl finish option).
also.. http://www.grafico.com.au/blog/melbo...ffee-expo-2013
myself, I have had a transparent vinyl wrap on the top cup tray of my domestic Millenium for over 3 years to prevent scratches on the SS. That film has never lifted, pealed, or bubbled dispite the obvious heat it's subject to. It is now very scuffed from cup traffic but can be easily peeled off and replaced with no glue or adhesion issues.
im sure there are some professional tricks to application for perfect results on tricky profiles, but flat or single curvature surfaces are relatively easy.
best of all, it's simple to try for yourself, and if it's doesn't work, easy to remove again with no evidence left behind.
The transparent vinyl I used is actually sold in stationary stores as protective covering for books !

[javabeen]

So I took the shower screen off and gave it a good clean last night. I noticed the C clip had developed quite a bit of rust. So i cleaned it all up and put the shower screen back in, big holes facing up in the group/smaller holes visible looking at the group. Took a bit of effort.

Now the water doesn't come out like a shower but comes more from the inside edge of the C clip. Thought I might have put the shower screen in the wrong way so I flipped it over and no difference. I know it doesn't matter as the water still gets delivered to the coffee and the naked shots prove this but I like the look of the water coming out like a shower when I pull the lever with no handle in the group .

Any other owners notice this?

[Dr_Dave]

Hi Java,
Yes I had the same issue at one time too. I think mine was due to the screen/clip not seating correctly. I removed, re- cleaned and re-seated them and water flowed again as per normal. Maybe try this first. The other thing I did was put my screen over a hot flame to burn off the oils which cleaned it up really well- HOWEVER you need to be careful as these screens are quite thin compared to others and it will be easy to scorch them
I hope that helps?

On another issue - I note that there are 3 Izzo Leva threads running at present - I wonder what you all think about combining them so we only look in 1 place for "things Leva"? Is this possible? Are the thread starters happy to do so? If so - how do we do it?
Just a thought
Cheers
Dr Dave

[Javaphile]

On another issue - I note that there are 3 Izzo Leva threads running at present - I wonder what you all think about combining them so we only look in 1 place for "things Leva"? Is this possible? Are the thread starters happy to do so? If so - how do we do it?
Just a thought
Cheers
Dr Dave

Unfortunately when threads are merged the new thread lists all the posts in chronological order. This means you loose the storyline/discussion from each of the original threads.


Java "Chrono-what?!" phile

[bezzieman]

Try a degreaser next time.
It'll clean that screen in a minut.

[TC]

Try a degreaser next time.
It'll clean that screen in a minut.

Give your throat a squirt at the same time?

There is no need for degreaser to approach any shower screen.

[bezzieman]

Well,I've been using coffeegrease remover for the last 22 years on all of my screens and it works just fine.
But if anybody wants to put a torch on it be my guest.