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Portafilter and Lever Rod Availability Vintage Boema

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  • #16
    The missing parts arrived today, and I believe I now have a year of manufacture: 1981, inscribed on the boiler lid. It is massively overkill and the heaviest lid I have handled so far. It clocks in at an impressive 16lb/7kg!




    The portafilters are really cool and remind me of the older spouts seen on 50's machines. The ears are really far down but they look normal in shape.



    The heating element hex is 2 inches but I believe the thread is 1 1/4 inch. I'll need to confirm this first.

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    • #17
      Hi
      I just came across your thread, thanks for putting it up for us to see. I assume you are still going on the rebuild.
      I have a one group like yours that I am slowly rebuilding in the back ground. I don’t think the number on your boiler end plate is the year as it is the same number as on my end plate and although ours are similar they are not the same on the boiler set up and I don’t think they are the same years. Boema Australia are not very good when it comes to these lever machines, their parts guy is young and will just tell you they don’t have anything for them. Luckily I got a sales guy on the phone one day who had been in the company for awhile and I did get an end plate gasket, element and gasket for mine. He also told me this type of end plate dates the machine in 60’s-70’s. The end plate gasket part number is EB061-1D, the element came with the gasket so I don’t know what the part number is but they do have them. I’m quite sure from memory that the elements are the same as the current machines, whether they have a 125V element would be the question. Coffeeparts.com.au list Astoria lever group parts for Boema but I know they are not the same but perhaps seals and showers are. Later Boema machines use Bezzera group heads and must have had some affiliation with them so it may be worth checking out Bezzera levers. My machine did not have the group head on it so I have bolted up a brand new Astoria head which fitted with slight elongation of the four holes. The actual handle on your lever I have seen on something else, perhaps vintage Victoria Arduino levers. All the best with it. Oh and yes you could do bicep curls with the end plate.

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      • #18
        Oh that is fantastic to know, thanks for responding! Yes I currently have three projects I am juggling around. I am snagged by the Boema right now as the lever fork pin that connects the piston rod to the fork is dimpled with an end punch, meaning the rod cannot come out without grinding a little bit. Therefore I need to unscrew the piston rod from the piston which is a little stuck with rust right now. I also need a massive 43(?) mm wrench to undo the compression fittings from the group flange to boiler

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        • #19
          All the best with that, sounds Like it’s going to be challenging.
          My one group mounts directly on a flange attached to the boiler so I didn’t have the dilemma of the 43mm nut.
          You may have already come up with a solution for the boiler level sight glass but just in case it’s of any help I bought a Pavoni Europicolla sight glass and seals (two seals for each end to get enough squeeze).
          I am quite surprised that Boema exported these machines to the States, I was expecting that yours was a private import until I saw the 110V on the compliance label.
          Good luck, it’s nice to see it being restored.

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          • #20
            With the arrival of the face spanner tool for the Pavoni P67 I could also do the same for the Boema groups! It was the same process of securing the group to the vise then unscrewing them with 5mm pins.

            As an aside I am getting requests by some other collectors on what my spanner tool is; I got the OTC 6613 Variable Pin Spanner Wrench for ~$60 USD. Really good acquisition I think.

            The pistons came off pretty easily even with the rust. There was a small pile on the floor, and this is after I cleaned up the pistons before hand! With the pistons off I could unscrew the bearing bolts and the bearings themselves with a 15mm wrench. The lever fork and rod could then be pushed out from above.





            I like the group design. It is very simple with not too many parts involved. Note the lever fork pin connecting it to the lever rod is designed to not come out. The fork was punched at the edge of the pin hole to cause a little metal to go in the pin hole and secure the pin.

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            • #21





              So somehow I am doing three projects concurrently. I made a quick workbench to have enough surface to organize myself. It probably does not hold the most weight (please ignore the legs being on the exterior of the bench!) but the surface area is great for me!

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              • #22
                If you haven’t come across it already you may be interested in this thread

                https://coffeesnobs.com.au/forum/equ...-2-group-lever

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                • IamOiman
                  IamOiman commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Yep I do remember looking at that! Thank you for the pointer nonetheless!

                  When I focus on this guy again I'll be doing it with gusto.

                • towe0609
                  towe0609 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  3 things I didn't get right on mine
                  (1) The valve on the float
                  (2) I have a leak around the element
                  (3) Intermittent leak around the water level sight glass

                  Please document any tips you have when you rebuild to solve these problems. Watching with interest.

                  btw the markings on my boiler cap are identical.

              • #23
                So I actually went out and got the bigger wrench, an 18" Crescent wrench to be exact. I got all the fittings but the heating element off the lid. I think it will need a 2" impact socket to unscrew it.
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                The boiler pipes were taken off, then the boiler itself came off. The boiler connects to the group flanges, and the group flanges connect to the boiler frame via two studs per flange. Undoing four nuts allows the boiler to come off.
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                • #24
                  I took the boiler into the garage where I applied heat and penetrating oil to the boiler fittings. The flanges connect to the boiler via massive BSP compression fittings, either 1" or 1 1/4" BSP in size. The hex heads are about 45mm. It took a few strikes from my mallet on the big wrench but both nuts unscrewed eventually. I'll inpsect the boiler for any cracks after cleaning. The other fittings came off without issue. The boiler ring unfortunately cannot come off due to the flange threads sticking out.
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                  Last edited by IamOiman; 2 November 2021, 11:13 AM.

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                  • #25
                    I thought I was done for the night but decided to keep going. I got the last stud off the flange but it was galled pretty badly inside. I had to take a tap to clean the threads. A 3/8 x 16 thread is the size after measuring it a few times. It worked like a charm, and now it just needs a little clean up now. The $40 Harbor Freight Tap and Die set is great for stuff like this. Not sure how well it would work out if I need to cut a new thread though...
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                    • #26
                      I got the frame stripped too. The backsplash is secured by three screws and bracket on top. I thought the backsplash would come off after but I realized two additional screws secured the backplash to the bottom of the upper frame, and the backsplash itself was sandwiched between the upper frame and lower black frame.
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                      The back panel was secured by five of the same screw design, three on top and two on the bottom. The frame itself is actually in nice condition and I will just clean it up rather than redoing it with a powdercoat. The valves will be the next thing to address, they seem pretty stuck though.
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                      • #27
                        The valves are in pieces now. They are the same design inside, where a threaded rod opens and closes a gasket enclosed in a housing. One of these housings is broken, where a pin that goes into the thread rod is snapped off. The lever is apart too. The side that screws into the fork is 5/8-16" and I hope to have a replica or original found. (hint hint: I'll buy it off one you guys if you have an extra handle and lever hanging around!)
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                        • #28
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                          The machine is now fully stripped and apart. The element yielded after another heat-cool cycle. I thought it was a weird 1 1/8" BSP thread after measuring the tapped hole but after checking with the male threads on the heating element itself I now believe it is a 1 1/4" BSP thread (I measured ~42mm and 11 or 12 pitch), which is a very common size
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                          • #29
                            Cleaning day! All chrome pieces got the citric acid bath. It all looks to be in great condition. The dull valve is the hot water valve that is not visible since it is under the drip tray normally. Also note the coarse castings on the groups when viewed from the side! The bores will get sanded as well. I take the hemp twine off after cleaning since I am paranoid as to what the composition of the hemp is, and if its asbestos related the water will keep it safe for me during removal.
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                            • #30
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                              It turns out the rod that I previously thought snapped off the valve housing is in fact part of the gasket itself! I've never seen this oddly shaped gasket. I am not confident in finding new ones to replace the old ones with.
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                              The brass pieces and fittings also got cleaned up, the pistons in particular came out very well. Some of the fitting threads have some residual old hemp or teflon tape but it will come out easily enough. Also I don't know why but one of the pistons is taller than the other. The seals are the same height but the part that secures the spring are different heights among the two.
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                              • Lyrebird
                                Lyrebird commented
                                Editing a comment
                                The "gasket" with the small rod looks like a common or garden tap seal.
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