pro-cras-ti-nate--- To put off doing something until a future time. To postpone or delay needlessly.
this is what a procrastinator looks like-
That's me, shakin_jake, I'm a procrastinator=:-)
I bought a used a espresso machine in Jan of 09'...a Futurmat Rimini which is a commercial HX one group espresso machine made by Ggaggia Spain. The one I bought sort of worked by the time I got it home (Fed-Ex shipped it to me from Arkansas IIRC)
I bought it for a fair price ($400). According to the model plate, it was manufactured in Y2K. The PO used it in his retail bakery for a couple of years selling drinks before he retiored and closed shop. Since there was flour used in the bakery (it was a bakery after all), there was a fine bit of flour silt most eveywhere on this machine under the outside covers
I knew before I bought it I would completely disassemble it just so I could determine which parts needed replacing or refinishing plus I thought if I took it down to the frame, when disassembling and reassembling, I would be able to figure out what each component did and how it all worked
My prior espresso machine knowledge began with the modded consumer Gaggia Classic I bought from Tex back around April 08'. After using the Gaggia Classic for approx. 10 months, I knew I wanted to move on to an espresso machine that could froth milk while pulling a shot at the same time, and w/o getting ahead of myself in this espresso machine journey, I figured the next logical machine to use would be an HX (heat exchanger) type, and I wanted to buy a used machine needing repair so I could learn a thing or two while rebuilding it
This is what my Rimini looked like when I opened the shipping crate
The PO sent me a few pics before buying so I knew what I was getting into but the machine was damaged during shipping from mishandling, mainly a few dents in the metal side covers
I wasn't too concerned about the damage as I figured on doing a re-spray of the metal side covers anyway and as it turned out, the Shipper (Fed-Ex) decided not to charge me for the shipping because they mishandled it and Fed-Ex also paid to have the damaged side covers re-sprayed, which included the metal prep to remove the dings
So this all happened back in Jan of 09' and I continued to strip the machine and create a parts list so I could purchase new components where the originals failed. Shortly after getting it on my work bench I got some water to it so I could fill the boiler and see how she could run and pull a shot, but I had my suspicions on whether or not this machine would be shot worthy. Prior to buying it, a conversation I had with the PO about how he maintained this machine, I found out he never backflushed it with straight water nor detergent, so I had my doubts what the machine was capable of doing
So she's full of water, I turn the boiler heater on and the water proceeds to heat up. P=Stat works opening and closing then I tried getting water to move through the group and sure enough, water streamed out of the group, but when I went to detergent backflush the group, the group immediately clogged. No biggie, I was prepared to remove the group, take it aprt and start soaking it. First in Joe Glo, then in a citric acid solution. That was just one aspect of getting this machine back into shot worthy condition
Parts were ordered and time moves on, while waiting for parts to arrive. Next thing I know it's April 09' and I get a phone call from Salvatore's espresso wanting to know if I was still interested in buying a One Black espresso machine we discussed in October 08'. I was on a waiting list and the time to fulfil the order had arrived
I had just sold my Gaggia Classic about a week before and I was w/o an espresso machine. Well, at least a working espresso machine. There were some delays getting parts for my Rimini to me and so I thought I would go ahead with getting an HX machine from Salvatore. Worst case scenario, I would have two working espresso machines but by using both, I could figure out which one would best serve my needs and sell the other. This is where the procrastination part comes in. Unbeknownst to me, now that I had a good working espresso machine, I had little motivation to put my Rimini back together and get it in working order
Fast forward to late summer 2010 and I was needing some quick cash and decided to sell my Salvatore espresso machine, which I did advertizing it here and she quickly sold. All the while I knew it would take only a little bit of work to finish assembling my Rimini project, so here I am
I'm guessing but I think I sold my Salvatore HX about 10 weeks ago. So why isn't the Rimini finished? More procrastination?=:-) Nah!, Jake had the misfortune of acquiring gout around 7 or 8 weeks ago and I'm just now turning a corner. I'm still using meds to reduce swelling and these pills have totally wiped out my desire to drink coffee or espresso, yet that will all change once off the meds in a couple of weeks
Getting back to my Rimini project, I thought some members here would be interested in watching this machine go back together. And maybe I could somehow interest some others into tackling an espresso machine rebuild. So sit back and watch for future posts to this thread. The rebuild probably wont go fast. I'm known to be a bit of a procrastinator=:-)
Jake
Reddick Fla.
"Too dumb for opera, too smart for NASCAR"-Anonymous
