At our shop, we use an old La San Marco and the portafilter spouts have developed the ol' "don't tighten to the center anymore" syndrome. A guy from our roaster was recently here and mentioned that we could just use some washers to space the threads so the spouts would screw on to the center. I've also read that you can use teflon tape on the threads. When I mentioned this to a machine tech, he said that we should NEVER use washers or spacers on the portafilters and that he could tighten them down enough so they were straight (one is about a quarter PAST center). He also said that we should not be taking the spouts off to clean the portafilters, which is something we've been doing.
I am now thoroughly confused. Is there somebody out there who can help me understand this issue a little better?
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