As part of my buying spree, I just picked up a 2-year old San Marino CKXE. Came with a Mazzer Mini, too 
It all looks to be in very good condition, sits at around 1 bar pressure, but I've noticed a couple of things:
* Terrible group gasket, feels like it was replaced with a piece of plastic. I couldn't get it out for the life of me! I'm going to try the self-tapping screw followed by flat screw trick tonight.
* Shower screen is stuck. Backflush was fairly nasty but didn't help with removing it.
* The 'program' button doesn't feel as clicky as the other buttons. It works when pressed but doesn't have the pokey feel of having a button behind it like the other buttons do. Is this normal?
* The steam output doesn't look like enough - but I'm not sure what enough is for this machine.
I've never owned a HX machine before! I am excited by the possibilites...
Will the shower screen be any easier to remove after the group gasket is out? Should I just order a new shower screen and destroy the old one with a set of pliers? Or is there some removing trick I don't know about?
Descaling... is it worth descaling a 2 year old HX machine? It wasn't plumbed in, so no filter was in place, but Melbourne has quite soft water. So, I'm not sure what to do here.
Steam pressure. It came with a 5 hole tip - and just looking at it, it seems that there isn't much steam. Should this create loads of steam? Or does a 5 hole tip mean there's less pressure therefore less steam from each hole? Would I be better off with a tip with less holes - as a milk amateur I found the current tip difficult to use.
Oh boy, so many questions... my biggest post ever.

It all looks to be in very good condition, sits at around 1 bar pressure, but I've noticed a couple of things:
* Terrible group gasket, feels like it was replaced with a piece of plastic. I couldn't get it out for the life of me! I'm going to try the self-tapping screw followed by flat screw trick tonight.
* Shower screen is stuck. Backflush was fairly nasty but didn't help with removing it.
* The 'program' button doesn't feel as clicky as the other buttons. It works when pressed but doesn't have the pokey feel of having a button behind it like the other buttons do. Is this normal?
* The steam output doesn't look like enough - but I'm not sure what enough is for this machine.
I've never owned a HX machine before! I am excited by the possibilites...
Will the shower screen be any easier to remove after the group gasket is out? Should I just order a new shower screen and destroy the old one with a set of pliers? Or is there some removing trick I don't know about?
Descaling... is it worth descaling a 2 year old HX machine? It wasn't plumbed in, so no filter was in place, but Melbourne has quite soft water. So, I'm not sure what to do here.
Steam pressure. It came with a 5 hole tip - and just looking at it, it seems that there isn't much steam. Should this create loads of steam? Or does a 5 hole tip mean there's less pressure therefore less steam from each hole? Would I be better off with a tip with less holes - as a milk amateur I found the current tip difficult to use.
Oh boy, so many questions... my biggest post ever.

Comment