A quick two day trip from Hong Kong and the replica plexi + some other bits were received today. Paul did a great job with the plexi and sight cover glass. I quickly installed the plexi to confirm it fits. From the back the Classica looks complete, but going to the front you can see a few bits not installed yet.
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Gaggia Classica 1 Group
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A quick two day trip from Hong Kong and the replica plexi + some other bits were received today. Paul did a great job with the plexi and sight cover glass. I quickly installed the plexi to confirm it fits. From the back the Classica looks complete, but going to the front you can see a few bits not installed yet.
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Juggling multiple reassemblies right now, but I got the Classica valves all installed tonight.
The water inlet was first, where I pressure tested it with my FloJet to 2.7 bar which passed without issue on both the boiler side and inlet side. I also added a second gasket for the pin the lever presses against to open the valve, where only one was pictured. These valves are very beefy, the inlet for example weights 1.2kg
The steam and hot water valves are identical besides the length of the tap rod (longer is hot water). The only sealing gasket is the one going on the tap rod. The teflon packing rope and teflon gasket only seal for the steam/exiting water.
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The lower sight glass also has the hot water valve, and this is the biggest valve assembly. I partially assembled it off the frame then installed the hot water valve when I installed the former on the machine. The elbow fitting is for the pstat pipe that I will make. Any threads that don't have any gaskets seen were sealed with Loctite 55 thread (for all valves). The 1/2" BSP threads I wrapped 6-8 times, the 3/8" BSP threads 5 times, and the 1/4" BSP threads 4 times.
The manometer/upper sight glass assembly was nothing surprising, and similarly went together as the other valves. The little flathead screw that goes on top of the elbow fitting for the manometer used a 02025 o-ring to make the seal. For the sight glass I used 2 E61 sight gaskets on each side. I did have to take off the left two studs of the group while tightening the assembly.
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With the valves on I worked on the sight glass. I purchased a new 12 OD x 2 thick x 500 mm borosilicate glass tube after I realized my old 1/2" tube was too wide for the E61 sight glass gaskets. I measured 215mm between the upper and lower fitting holding the glass, and a depth of 5mm on the lower fitting and 10mm for the upper fitting. What I needed to do was cut the glass tube to be long enough for the 215mm clearance and short enough to slip the glass tube in (ie less than 230mm). I settled on 223mm, and after marking and cutting the tube (and sanding the cut end gently) I was satisfied with the results. Paul Pratt supplied a replica cover piece, and with some fiddling I got everyone on without issue.
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All the valves were on at this point. I then made a pstat pipe this morning then cleaned up with citric acid followed by a wire wheel. I had to make sure the pipe did not interfere/touch the big front foot and the gas regulator to snake its way to the connection elbow fitting on the lower sight glass assembly. The pipe goes inside then wraps around the boiler and eventually gets to the pstat.
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The wiring setup was the most recent completed task and one of the last ones. I installed heat shrink and the boots where the heating element terminals are located so the vacuum valve does not get those wet during heatup (although hardly any comes out from past testing and I have the GFCI breaker if contact does occur). I just need to mount the group and start filling the boiler, but I cannot test it right now because I need to wait for some space to free up in the kitchen due to other machines occupying counter space and my helping hand (dad) is away, so they are staying put until then. Give it a week I'd say.
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I decided to use the cleared main bench for testing. I brought the machine upstairs then mounted the group after I sort of struggled moving it with the group attached the first time. 3 liters of water will fill the boiler to the top of the visible glass, and I marked about where the element lies in the boiler. In practical use I intend to never let the water level be visibile (ie it's always filled above the visible part).
I turned it on yesterday but I had two leaks to address after reaching 0.4 bar, the lower sight glass fitting and group gasket. I cried a bit for the latter as it was not fun taking off the big fitting. I had to drain the boiler, take off the sight glass, and bring the machine up the edge of the table so I could unscrew the thing (held in place by hand so the machine does not tip over mind you). It was a two person job to get that fitting off and on with better applied loctite 55 (the original loctite was clump on two threads so I did not apply properly). I redid the group gasket without too much fuss.
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Today I was able to bring the machine to full pressure (1.1 bar). There was very minor leaking with the wobbler weight that I will address when the machine is cooled off but everything else was buttoned up without issue. I pulled a shot with much better results, and I did not need to use a Fellini. I guess when I was originally testing the boiler I did not have the pressure very high and I did not change anything with the group, grind, or dose.
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I pulled another shot for good measure, and hopefully I can continue using the machine tomorrow/Thursday. The group takes 3-4 minutes to release the excess air from the portafilter, and if I remove it any sooner I get portafilter sneeze just like on my Gaggia LL/Tell. Kind of annoying but the shot quality makes up for it
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I also got the water mains hooked up so I don't need to take off the lid every so often to fill the boiler from the top. I just needed a 1/2 to 3/8 BSP adapter. So far the machine itself is a little difficult to use with anything but a bottomless pf due to how high the espresso falls and drifts from the spouts, but that's ok. The fact it can even pull espresso is good enough for me to ignore the little quirks. It will also be my main driver for a few weeks since I already have it at my bench. I am not sure if I will try milk drinks on this machine, but we'll see.
Provided the machine acts well enough for the next few days I will consider this project as done. Of all the machines I've worked on this one I believe is among the most important, and the fact it can produce such good espresso even 70 years later is incredible to me, even more so the good condition of the machine after cleaning it up. I will not have too much more monologuing with this thread now.
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