Slipping won't stop - what am I doing wrong here?

Al James

I know this is boring but I'm approaching the end of my rope with the slipping lever issue which comes up now and again. I fitted new seals and the lever slipped right away so took it all apart, cleaned and re-greased the chamber then put it all back together - same. re ordered the same parts then repeated - the same again. After reading the note added to permanent file about adding 5-6 winds of tape to the lowest seal I went out and bought some, did that then put it all back together. This time three shots with the catch at 45 then back to slipping? I'm clearly missing something so if anyone can help, please do - here's my process;

I undo Allen bolts and lift lever assembly out from cold machine
Remove seals and plastic ring
Steep assembly, screen, portafilter handle, plastic ring and basket(s) in Pully Caff
Rinse and clean with soapy water
Rinse thoroughly then dry thoroughly
Fit new seals and plastic ring, grease lightly
Clean the chamber/sleeve whatever it's called
Re-grease the chamber/sleeve whatever it's called
Refit the lever assembly with care
Screw in Allen key bolts to finger tightness
Work lever 30 times
Clean off excess grease
refit screen

that's it.

James Shackelford

Al,

I am new to my Londinium... but started having the lever slip when I cleaned the lever, and inadvertently greased the seals instead of the chamber. I took it apart, thoroughly followed Reiss' instructions and ONLY greased the chamber walls. I cleaned the seals very well, and left them un-greased. This was about a week ago, and my lever slip have completely gone away. It's too soon to tell for sure, but I think it was from too much grease on the seals themselves. Watch the video, and it says to only grease the chamber walls.

James

Frans Goddijn

The new unique seals will help you, I assume.

You mention grease but do not specify which grease exactly. I assume it's the one Reiss sends with today's machines?

Al James

Molykote.....

Reiss Gunson

Hi Al

FaceTime or Skype me and we'll step through it

I appreciate that's it's incredibly frustrating, but we should start receiving custom seals this week

i can make myself available for your Sunday morning/my Sunday night

Kind regards

Reiss

Al James

Hi Reiss,
If you're free that would be very helpful.... l'll remove the lever assembly and FaceTime you if that's ok. Just let me know what time and how to contact you


Regards
Al

Frans Goddijn

Al James post=11668 wrote: Molykote.....

Molykote comes in many types and the food safe "111" is widely used but the Loxeal no.4 silicone grease has proved for many Londinium machines to be the very best so far.

Al James

Thanks Frans,
Its the '111' I have but will get some Loxeal no. 4 ordered.

Frans Goddijn

If after 3 successful shots you're back at the "lever slip phenomenon" can you notice any difference in preparations, beans / grind / tamp / timing? From my L1 time and visits at L1 owners, I remember that a good pre-infusion with the puck fully soaked, the puck is a sort of seal in itself which allows the buildup of the pressure above it which in turn will help "flare" the lower seal on the piston, so no air can escape / slip upwards. At the relatively low pre-infusion pressure this can be a sensitive element. When I had the L1, this was a routine and I only noticed I lacked the routine when I used an L1 again after my conversion to the L1-P.

Reiss Gunson

Al James post=11670 wrote: Hi Reiss,
If you're free that would be very helpful.... l'll remove the lever assembly and FaceTime you if that's ok. Just let me know what time and how to contact you


Regards
Al

hi Al

I'm available right now, facetime open

kind regards

reiss.

Al James

That's interesting - I only pull single shots so I'm sure that alone complicates things. My preparation is pretty well established and my PI time has been 5-6 seconds but for the last 3 months I finally had everything working really consistently - the only reason I decided to change the seals was because I have now had the machine a year..... perhaps I should have left well alone?

Frans Goddijn

With "single shots" you mean using the 'single' basket? That one can be more finicky and I never got around to working on it seriously. I pull single shots too with the L1-P, but with 18g-18.5g in the 18g VST basket, extracting 25-30g of espresso, 7-10s pre-infusion at 2-3 bar.

Reiss Gunson

still here...

Al James

yes still here

Reiss Gunson

hi al

are you planning to call me on FaceTime?

kind regards

reiss.

Al James

Ok now we're getting into equippment and things I don't understand..... yes I'm using 12g 'the single' basket with 9.5g extracting around 16g in 20-25 secs.

Reiss Gunson

if you FaceTime me on my email address, [email protected]

kind regards

reiss.

Al James

If you're free Reiss, please message me you're details and I'll facetime you now

thanks
Al

Reiss Gunson

email address is all you need - copy & paste into facetime

Al James

Facetime open? I have no idea what that means.... so is there a facetime link on the site? I thought it was a phone to phone thing?

Reiss Gunson

phone is fine too

just open the facetime app on your phone and paste in my email address & hit hit the movie camera icon and it will call me

that's all there is to it

reiss.

Al James

Oh - page just refreshed - I see ok will do

Reiss Gunson

good to meet you via FaceTime Al

i am confident that you should be sorted now

let us know how you get on

kind regards

reiss.

Al James

Thank you so much Reiss,

You're a remarkably patient and tolerant man….

Reiss Gunson

not really, its just so so much easier when i can observe you using the machine - i find emails & text incredibly cryptic and slow for this kind of trouble shooting, and as a result frustrating

Matthew Hoffman

This is like a mystery story. What turned out to be the solution?
Matt

Reiss Gunson

hi matthew

as far as the lever slip went we took the bottom seal off, applied another three turns of ptfe tape, and put the seal back on

then i observed the first shot was being pulled before the machine was fully up to temperature so we spent some time on that

finally i observed a sequence of shots being pulled and we had a discussion about how the taste varies as the extraction time is varied, how the flow rate of the extraction in g/s is not constant throughout the duration of the shot, and how different portions from the same shot differ quite significantly in taste (first third of shot cf second third cf last third)

and that was about it i think

Freddie Ting

Hi Reiss

Can't wait for your custom seals to be made available!


Cheers
Fred

Matthew Hoffman

Thanks Reiss.