Hey everyone. Longtime lurker here, first time poster. Decided to pull the trigger on my first machine. I picked up this old (and tired looking) Faema Family a few weeks ago. Seller was asking $75 CAD, but when I went to see it, he couldn't get it to prime. I got it for $40, thinking it would need a new pump.
By the time I got it home, it had cooled off, and primed no problem. It needed a good cleaning, a descale and several rounds of backflushes with detergent, but now it makes a great cup of coffee.
I have some time in the next few weeks in-between semesters at school so I will be giving it a new paint job/polish and a thorough disassembly for cleaning. It will get a new group-head gasket and likely a shower screen as well. In addition, I will be making a steam wand.
The tamper that came with it was a ill fitting plastic POS, so I went ahead and made a new one.
I'm quite enjoying the descent into the madness of the coffee world. This weekend I'm picking up an equally vintage GaggiaMD64/Macap MX grinder to compliment the Faema.


This thread will hopefully document my changes to the machine as I do it. I think the next big project will be installing a PID for better consistency
By the time I got it home, it had cooled off, and primed no problem. It needed a good cleaning, a descale and several rounds of backflushes with detergent, but now it makes a great cup of coffee.
I have some time in the next few weeks in-between semesters at school so I will be giving it a new paint job/polish and a thorough disassembly for cleaning. It will get a new group-head gasket and likely a shower screen as well. In addition, I will be making a steam wand.
The tamper that came with it was a ill fitting plastic POS, so I went ahead and made a new one.
I'm quite enjoying the descent into the madness of the coffee world. This weekend I'm picking up an equally vintage GaggiaMD64/Macap MX grinder to compliment the Faema.


This thread will hopefully document my changes to the machine as I do it. I think the next big project will be installing a PID for better consistency


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