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Pimp a 1962 Gaggia Minibar Orione

22K views 284 replies 32 participants last post by  AliG 
#1 ·
Sooo this landed requiring a complete strip down and pimp and it is a heavy blighter - 5Ltr classic gaggia lever built like a tank

here are the before shipping pictures

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#2 ·
All that glitters is of course not gold apart from the 22ct gold plated trim which is ………..well gold.

The shippers / boarder force decided to see how tank like it was by giving it some extra dings, not that its anything that cant be fixed
;)


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#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
Inside its a straight forward 5ltr vertical boiler with with element coming in from the top, manual fill from lever on the side,the presurestat has been swopped out for something more modern as has the pressure wobbler weight that usually sits on top of the boiler - basically its had half a fix up at some point, it still works - time to get the spanners out - ive been aching to get to this project but the kitchen worktop and sink pimp got in the way
:whistle:


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Booooo !
 

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#5 ·
As always Jim, a splendid looking project that deserves your attentions......and as much as I hate to do it, the quote is. 'all that glistens is not gold'. I agree with you, it should be glitters, but I remember the day well when my wife won that argument!
 
#14 ·
so a few more grunge pictures …. and possibly Memphis Slims ashtray

I also note the pikey job someone did by bending oversize terminal ends to make them fit

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#15 · (Edited by Moderator)
and the first bump in the road - the 4 studs that hold the group on have rusted solid - you can get the nuts off then they just snap off after that - penetrating oil overnight and possibly some very delicate drilling tomorrow, in the mean time I did a quick pimp of the sight glass

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giraffe ?

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#17 ·
Still in the gunk but making progress

1st unscrewed the lever and adjuster nut - got the piston out - the orione lever group has no seals on the piston itself, instead the seals are in the wall of the cylinder

Edit just noticed the less than flattering hall of mirrors reflection hahaha

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#18 ·
Next removed the liners that holds the seals - as this is a 62 ish early Orione it has seals unlike any that I kcan find on similar restoration threads - usually there is a really complex stack of seals and spacers but this is a straight forward couple of seals with two o rings inside the liner for the piston - I think!

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#22 ·
Ok - ive got lucky by emailing the owner of a gaggia minibar in Spain and he has sent a diagram of the group and seals - apparently the Spanish Group is different to the Italian one. I was starting to question if the o rings were correct, but they are - as below

Did I mention he can supply all the seals
;)


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#25 ·
While the boiler gets a descale and clean up I turned my attention to the pressure gauge

It needed a quick strip and clean of the glass and face of the dial - the face is a rather attractive brushed stainless with red and white markings - set to it with a gentle earbudding - its a real word honest

The spacer that holds the glass off the dial is a mat black but the paint was flaking, so a clan up then some primer and satin black.

buffed up the gauge chrome bezel and the gauge case - pity its mostly hidden.

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#26 ·
Just doing a bit of background reading on Gaggia Espania, as always Franchescos site has a bit of background -

Gaggia arrived in Barcelona in 1952, four years after Achile Gaggia filed the patent for espresso coffee extraction in Italy.




In 1956, a competitor arrived in Spain in the shape of Faema. The presence of these two brands in Barcelona meant that Spain participated from the start in the expansion of Mediterranean espresso culture.




The Gaggia and Faema entities in Spain eventually separated from their parent companies.




The former had created the Visacrem brand in 1967 and began selling in export markets under this brand. The latter created the Futurmat brand in 1978, and this rapidly expanded to become the number one selling brand in Spain.




In 2001, Quality Espresso purchased these two historic brands. With its headquarters in the Barcelona factory built by Faema in the 1960's, Quality Espresso sells espresso equipment around the world under the brand names Futurmat, Gaggia, Visacrem, Italcrem and Mairali
 
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