www.espresso-restorations.com The Espresso Machine Restoration site A non-commercial site for those interested in espresso equipment repair and restoration.

Page 1

La Marzocco 2 Group AV The finished overhaul

Before pictures

After pictures

To be honest this was a fairly straightforward overhaul.  Sure it looks a bit like it belongs in a scrap yard but that is not too difficult. Descaling and repolishing took about 1 week.   The electrical fault took a long time to fathom out though.

The mind boggles as to how the machine got into this state.   This part I actually enjoy the most. Re-brushing the steel is easy and probably took me around an hour. The painting took another hour, and requires some deft applying of masking tape. It came out very well and I'm pleased with the result.

Whichever idiot decided to leave the protective film on the panels has obviously never had to do what I had to do and try and remove it after 4 years of service. It was a major PITA as the adhesive and plastic had formed one big sticky mess.

Nowadays I don't think I have done a good enough job if it is not cosmetically the same as when it left the factory.  And I think the smallest details make a big difference which is why the dirty rocker switches get replaced.

The steam wand and steam tip I can assure you are the same.   The wand gets polished and the steel is soft so it takes just a few minutes to get all the scratches out and re-polish. How I clean and restore the wand tip is my trade secret ;)

The drain box houses a very important component - the overpressure valve.  After a while the valve gets clogged up with both dirt and limescale. One of the reasons for overhauling is to renew safety features like this.

The black plastic box that houses the Gicar Unit is infamous for shattering after it has been in a hot machine.  On this occassion I did not have any new covers so I made some up with some boxes from a computer store. Not original but I think they look good and are heat resistant so they won't shatter if you try and take them out.

The old style Sirai has been replaced with the new CEME pressure switch. It's amazing how different switches react in different machines.  Most home users report the CEME lasting months, so far these, inside the Lineas, have been going strong for up to 2 years.

The panel that covers the group solenoids is without doubt the most difficult piece of steel to re-polish.  It gets banged by the portafilters and ends up looking really bad after a while. It takes a few hours to polish this particular panel as the scratches are usually very deep.

The wrap up We just boxed the machine up and it is heading out tomorrow.  It was a killer but looking back at all the pictures I am very satisfied with the result. Paul 05/05/05

This website is created by Paul Pratt, Hong Kong 2004-5. If you would like to use any of the images or text I am sure I will say yes, but please ask first!   Email me here.