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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on October 24, 2010 at 10:49am

Sin? Personally I see chromed machines everywhere and like the much more unique copper. But it's your machine, do as you will! Side panel color could be more flamboyant for such a machine, of course again personal preference. Maybe not paint. Thinking maybe Mahoganny wood side panels with the copper could look sharp. Then you could also have matching PF and tamper handles, steam knobs etc. turned.

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Permalink Reply by Marshall Fuss on October 24, 2010 at 11:27am

You might contact Paul Pratt at Cafelat for ideas. Paul is the god of La Marzocco restorers.

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Permalink Reply by u30jxwipu1i1 on October 25, 2010 at 9:18am

If you need any help, I would be happy to provide some thoughts and ideas. While maybe not " God" status, we have restored a few of these machines........

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Permalink Reply by Chad Christensen on October 25, 2010 at 12:07pm

Terry Z said:

If you need any help, I would be happy to provide some thoughts and ideas. While maybe not " God" status, we have restored a few of these machines........

Thanks, Terry! I'd say you at least make the "holy trinity" of espresso restorers... I'll be emailing soon with a parts inquiry. Both you and Paul Pratt were kind enough to email me about it a couple years ago.

I reassembled it over the weekend after letting it sit in boxes & parts bags for the last year or so. It was very rewarding to see it come back together in its clean restored state. After each major part's assembly, I stepped back and stared at it for a while while taking the occasional Phone pic. It's not done yet, but it's close.

I spent one whole day cleaning the guts of this machine over Christmas break of last year. From wake-up time until time to go to bed. It's amazing how resilient baked on coffee goo is, even on stainless steel & chrome. I used a solution of powdered dishwasher detergent dissolved in boiling/near boiling water, and that worked even better than Urnex. My hands were in really bad shape by the end of the day... A peek into the steam boiler through its safety valve hole showed that the boiler was actually pretty clean inside, despite the old water. Both boilers responded well to a flush of water that ran clean after a couple fills.

New parts so far include a new autofill valve, group gaskets/screens, one new flow meter impeller, pressurestat, and whatever I'm forgetting. The machine was working well when I got it, but these items were on their way out. I saw that the machine was tuned correctly before it was decommissioned. The stat went to exactly 1.2, and the pump was set at 9 BAR. This was a good sign that someone knew what they were doing, even though those who used the machine were chimps.

My primary motivation for finally getting this thing out on the workbench again is my teenage daughter's desire to quit working part-time at Sears, and get a cooler job at one of the cafes in Bellingham, WA where she lives. "All the ads say that I need experience..." I just about jumped out of my chair when she said that. I was cool instead, and said, "maybe I can help with that". Were now planning a YouTube video series that will highlight her newly learned skills to prospective employers. I'm really looking forward to the time spent showing her the skills that've paid my bills for years at a time.

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Permalink Reply by Chad Christensen on October 25, 2010 at 12:15pm

Chad Christensen said:

Terry Z said:

If you need any help, I would be happy to provide some thoughts and ideas. While maybe not " God" status, we have restored a few of these machines........

Thanks, Terry! I'd say you at least make the "holy trinity" of espresso restorers... I'll be emailing soon with a parts inquiry. Both you and Paul Pratt were kind enough to email me about it a couple years ago.

I reassembled it over the weekend after letting it sit in boxes & parts bags for the last year or so. It was very rewarding to see it come back together in its clean restored state. After each major part's assembly, I stepped back and stared at it for a while while taking the occasional Phone pic. It's not done yet, but it's close.

I spent one whole day cleaning the guts of this machine over Christmas break of last year. From wake-up time until time to go to bed. It's amazing how resilient baked on coffee goo is, even on stainless steel & chrome. I used a solution of powdered dishwasher detergent dissolved in boiling/near boiling water, and that worked even better than Urnex. My hands were in really bad shape by the end of the day... A peek into the steam boiler through its safety valve hole showed that the boiler was actually pretty clean inside, despite the old water. Both boilers responded well to a flush of water that ran clean after a couple fills.

New parts so far include a new autofill valve, group gaskets/screens, one new flow meter impeller, pressurestat, and whatever I'm forgetting. The machine was working well when I got it, but these items were on their way out. I saw that the machine was tuned correctly before it was decommissioned. The stat went to exactly 1.2, and the pump was set at 9 BAR. This was a good sign that someone knew what they were doing, even though those who used the machine were chimps.

My primary motivation for finally getting this thing out on the workbench again is my teenage daughter's desire to quit working part-time at the mall, and get a cooler job at one of the cafes in Bellingham, WA where she lives. "All the ads say that I need experience..." I just about jumped out of my chair when she said that. I was cool instead, and said, "maybe I can help with that". Were now planning a YouTube video series that will highlight her newly learned skills to prospective employers. I'm really looking forward to the time spent showing her the skills that've paid my bills for years at a time.

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