Espresso machines
- Thread starter martymoose
- Start date
chrisk
Hero member
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
sideshow said:
I can?t believe that 28 people have viewed the picture enlarged...... what?s that about? Have you never seen a teaspoon before? ???
sideshow
Hero member
sonomalaverda said:
Hi Alex
so this is the Urania lever machine from my kitchen, I decided to pull it apart and clean the boiler, and give it a bit of a birthday. I have pretty much everything as far as spares in stock, or I make things myself.
The first photo should show the machine with the body work off, its quite compact.
The second photo shows the pressurestat mercury switch... they are so accurate, and quite collectable, you can still get the bellows and everything you need to re build them, second hand the switch unit after a little hunting, is worth about 500 euro.
You can see the electrics are pretty basic using ceramic chocky blocks for all the connections, to keep the heat at bay.
the next photo is the cylinder from inside, its pretty basic, it has small inlet holes that open as the piston is lifted, and as the piston lowers the water just re circulates through the group head.
The next one is the refurbished lever unit, there are new SKF bearings, new piston in brass, new seals all round and a new spring, they can be a bit tricky to compress and get the piston on, once you have a set up to do it, its easy enough, but the springs as shown in the last photo need to be treated with respect.
Now i need to get the boiler off and cleaned, I will soda blast this one this time .
Attachments
mcnicol
Hero member
- Location
- Safety Harbor, Florida, USA
Mercury switch!!!! Aaaarrgghh!!!! Just don't tell anybody in public health, they'll have your whole block cordoned off and have a suited hazmat team come in with massive vaccuum pumps to decontaminate your house! And you'll be lucky to be alive!
At least that's what happens in the workplace these days. I think about the number of Chemistry labs in schools, universities and industry around the world. If they're more than 30 years old they ALL have mercury in the sink traps, mercury between the floor tiles, and bits of mercury anywhere else it can't get vaccuumed up. I remember when I was a kid we'd play with liquid mercury, someone would produce a bottle and we'd pour it around in our hands. I'm not saying that was a good idea, but the reaction has been a bit overwhelming.
I'm off to drink another cofefe margarita; 1/4 tequila, 1/4 margarita mix, 1/4 Lysol, 1/4 Dettol. Have to shove a UV bulb up my bum too.
Ken
At least that's what happens in the workplace these days. I think about the number of Chemistry labs in schools, universities and industry around the world. If they're more than 30 years old they ALL have mercury in the sink traps, mercury between the floor tiles, and bits of mercury anywhere else it can't get vaccuumed up. I remember when I was a kid we'd play with liquid mercury, someone would produce a bottle and we'd pour it around in our hands. I'm not saying that was a good idea, but the reaction has been a bit overwhelming.
I'm off to drink another cofefe margarita; 1/4 tequila, 1/4 margarita mix, 1/4 Lysol, 1/4 Dettol. Have to shove a UV bulb up my bum too.
Ken
sideshow
Hero member
mcnicol said:Mercury switch!!!! Aaaarrgghh!!!! Just don't tell anybody in public health, they'll have your whole block cordoned off and have a suited hazmat team come in with massive vaccuum pumps to decontaminate your house! And you'll be lucky to be alive!
At least that's what happens in the workplace these days. I think about the number of Chemistry labs in schools, universities and industry around the world. If they're more than 30 years old they ALL have mercury in the sink traps, mercury between the floor tiles, and bits of mercury anywhere else it can't get vaccuumed up. I remember when I was a kid we'd play with liquid mercury, someone would produce a bottle and we'd pour it around in our hands. I'm not saying that was a good idea, but the reaction has been a bit overwhelming.
I'm off to drink another cofefe margarita; 1/4 tequila, 1/4 margarita mix, 1/4 Lysol, 1/4 Dettol. Have to shove a UV bulb up my bum too.
Ken
Hahahahaha. The mercury is in sealed glass tubes. Quite safe. When the body work is on they are out of harms way.
Nice sounding margarita recipe. No comment on your enema.
piranha-bro2
Hero member
- Location
- Melbourne
chrisk said:
Very witty, CK! But by the same token, does this mean you don't own a Laverda and ride a Honda 50 step-thru? :-*
piranha-bro2
Hero member
- Location
- Melbourne
Brilliant looking inside the intestines of your machine, Todd. What does the mercury switch actually do? And how do they duplicate that function without the Hg today?
Dellortoman
Hero member
- Location
- Tasmania, Australia
Piranha Brother 2 said:
Reed switches and magnets?
sideshow
Hero member
Piranha Brother 2 said:
Hi Mate
for the mercury switch , A membrane expands under the pressure of the boiler which tilts the mercury filled tubes. The mercury flows to the opposite side and the power is turned off. Because mercury is a metal, it conducts electricity. When the boiler pressure drops, the membrane lowers and the mercury filled tubes are levelled out , the mercury makes contact with both ends of the las tube and create a circuit again. Its actually pretty cool watching it, inside the glass tube you see and electrical flash as the mercury breaks contacto nd makes contact Kind of like a little lightning strike in a glass vial. You can regulate the glass tubes by tightening and easing a screw down adjuster which gives you the starting angle of the glass vials , so when the membrane reaches a certain expansion the switch trips.
Modern pressure switches use a spring and pin system that uses boiler pressure which presses the membrane with the pin into the housing of the pressure switch. Within the housing, the pin presses on one side against a lever, on the other side of which is the adjustable spring. If the spring is compressed the pressure to turn off the machine needs to be higher and vice versa. In the middle of the lever is another pin that pushes, so when the lever raises to a certain point the contactors will move away and the power is cut off. These pressure switches if you have direct access to a wholesale account aren't that expensive, about 30 dollars or so.
I have plagiarised a bit on the description of how the two pressure switches work, for the life of measures I am a diagrams person, I find it quite hard to explain things that i know and understand in my head, to other people, so half off the explanation of the pressure switches above, is some technical l descriptive literature I have borrowed upon, and the other half is my ramblings
sideshow
Hero member
If anyone wants something smaller Faemina lever machines are quite cool, you can get them in Europe and in the States , like the one below, you can still get the heating elements and the seals etc in Europe, And in the states I know you can still get 110 volt elements.I have one, and its great. They dont take up much space, they are quite a good investment, an average one runs price wise about 400-700 euros/US dollars. A really mint one will sell around 1200, depending which series it is . The really cool thing about them is it has a sight glass on the front of the machine, you can see the lever spring compress through the glass, when you are working it. No need to plumb it in, You unscrew the lid on top, fill with the required amount of water, it heats the water with two almost electric kettle sized elements, and off you go. The trick on this is the mil, but as we only drink espresso its no problem. Its a pretty gucci little bit of kit to take travelling or camping if you can get 220 volt or 110 volt to your tent !
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Antique-Faema-Faemina-Espresso-Coffee-Machine-Milano-Italy-La-Pavoni-/254532362250
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Antique-Faema-Faemina-Espresso-Coffee-Machine-Milano-Italy-La-Pavoni-/254532362250
Gerald
Hero member
sideshow said:
Apologies if I hijack the thread for a moment, but the discussion referencing the mercury switches brought back some old memories. In a previous life I maintained communication towers, to include obstruction lights. The larger structures, 450 feet and taller, had flashing obstruction beacons. The 500 Watt bulbs were controlled by mercury switches on a motor driven cam. You could see the switches flash every time the mercury switch tilted. I couldn't find a video of the mercury switches in action, but a video of the beacon in action. There is a big Bozo no-no in the video. Who can spot it?
Gerald
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBk_2lZwiBA
