ACS Vesuvius Evo Leva

MacPhisto

Thanks Dave for the suggestions. Finally had time for more videos.

First video is with a standard sleeve, blind basket. If it is too hard to see, the analog pressure starts at about 10 bar and the digital pressure starts at about 9.1 bar and ticks down to 8.9 bar. No water enters the tray until the release button is pressed.

The ticking motion of the lever corresponds to drops in the pressure.

The second video is with 16.2 grams in and has about 28g out at 30 seconds. Preinfusion is 2.5 bars for about 3 seconds. At 28grams out, the analog dial is at about 6 bar, digital about 5.1 bar.

At the end of this video session there was a puddle of about 5-10ml under the machine.

As a further note, before warming up the machine for these videos, I felt for any water present inside the machine and the red capped sensor moved about 10 degrees towards the hot water line (right side) with very little force.

LMSC

MacPhisto I am thinking if the clicking sound might be coming from the swing arm. You could rule that out by gently pulling the lever up and down a half way through a few times in a smooth swing motion (without releasing the lever of course). 😊

It doesn’t explain the puddle of water though. I would swap the piston white gaskets, which Jake asked you to and see if the problem goes away. Finally, if there is a leak on the elbow, that must be fixed.

Cuprajake

Something is wrong there

The handle shouldn’t be clicking back. Its is to tight in the sleeve? Should be fluid

Hard to tell but when i had water under mine its because the drip tray leaked, when the vent flushed it was go up the inside of the tray and then over flowing from a non welded seam

If you try to pull the top of the lever off, buy undoing the bolts i bet the sleeve comes out of the machine

The culprit for mine was the white teflon washer it was too big so check the size against the spare in the box

MacPhisto

Cuprajake It’s probably just needing another coat of grease after coming in and out. I’ll give it another round of grease as soon as the machine cools down.

Cuprajake

So remove the drip tray and have a look if its wet under it.

You can test again but pulling a shot without the tray and making something to catch the water from the vent.

MacPhisto

The jerky lever thing is new. It was smooth action until this last round of tests.

I’m mystified why there isn’t water coming out from somewhere. The minuscule drip doesnt explain the missing pressure in the shots. I used to get the same output at a much earlier stopping point. (7 bars v 5 bars)

Drip tray is totally dry under (I caulked the seem on your advice the first week I owned it).

chCoffee

I just took delivery of my new to me evo leva. Pulled a bunch of shots this evening. Going to take some getting used to the auto stop feature. At 7 bar auto stop it’s a bit less than a 1:2. Curious how yall dial in a coffee. Is there a weight you go for during pre-infusion before you lift the lever to get the proper weight out?

Grunta

Adrianmsmith

Adrianmsmith we dont get a long enough glimpse of your left hand screen to guess your firmware age!!

I had my afternoon coffee today and it didn’t do it.

But anyway,
here is the left h and screen.

Grunta

Adrianmsmith It’s come back again, I pulled a shot with the blind basket, pressed the middle button to dump the shot then pressed the middle button again and it stops the issue I had previous straight away.

Cuprajake

MacPhisto

Cuprajake

Some (one) answer. I pulled the piston again and measured the white gasket with the extra shipped with the machine. Identical.

However, I flipped over the piston and noticed the very slim plastic gasket/spacer beneath the springs was badly split:

That would be a candidate for the recent jerking motion of the lever on shots. I don’t see a replacement with the shipped supplies, so I’ll likely need to contact acs for a replacement or dimensions so that I can order closer to home.

I’ve never unscrewed the spring assembly bolt, so I’m not sure how this gasket tore so badly or how to avoid it in the future. More mysteries.

chCoffee

Been enjoying the machine so far. Watched Dave’s video on his technique and curious how everyone else pulls shots. Do you preinfuse with the pump before pulling down the lever? What’s standard shot times for most people? I had a tasty shot at 60 seconds and an equally tasty shot at 28 seconds. Taste wasn’t all that far off from each other which surprised me.

MacPhisto

chCoffee

I find the length of preinfusion is dependent on the roast. Generally, darker roasts need no real preinfusion other than a brief couple of seconds to avoid all the pressure hitting the puck at full pressure.

I’ve certainly had some passable shots from really long extraction times, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Adrianmsmith

chCoffee Do you preinfuse with the pump before pulling down the lever? What’s standard shot times for most people?

For me its usually 4 to 10 seconds of 2 bars pre infusion and main shot time around 26 seconds.

Technique is

With new flush lever its set to turn pump on just before lever is vertical. I hold the lever vertical for i guess 2 seconds and slowly pull down to ensure as little air as possible is in the cylinder ensuring pump is running for the full travel of the lever
With original pump actuator arm i used to press with thumb whilst pulling the lever slowly down again to minimise air in the cylinder. I could not taste a difference if i forgot and just pulled the lever.

P.s. I’m just me, not possibly typical of most people!!

Elcarajillo

Looking at some of the other posts, the teflon spacers seem to be in different places /positions

Have they been moved / repositioned on newer / later models ??

Adrianmsmith

Elcarajillo Looking at some of the other posts, the teflon spacers seem to be in different places /positions

Have they been moved / repositioned on newer / later models ??

The split / dislodged teflon in question is easy to miss when installed correctly as its very thin and hidden by the spring bottom

Blink and you miss it, its not the lower more obvious one….. 😎

….. and looks different with the piston removed!!

MacPhisto

My machine is from the fairly early Evo2 models. December 2023, if I recall correctly.

Adrianmsmith

DavecUK

Sent the loctite back after the seller confirmed it was a

“genuine copy” . Refunded by eBay. Apparently a large percentage of loctite on eBay i ls not genuine. Never knew there was a counterfeit market for loctite. God only knows what it contained!!

Plumped for this one as its still semi permanent and wras approved. (And a third of the price delivered which i have to admit, swung it)

Will report back.

Would have ordered the 18-10 but the £43 delivered killed it 🤭

Service from these guys in Derry was great.

DavecUK

Adrianmsmith I hope it works out as the 18-11 is thicker, takes 3 hours to cure and I think a day or two to fully cure, more importantly it’s low strength, which IMO keeps it more flexible.

Elcarajillo

Adrianmsmith Is it there to permit the spring to twist as it is compressed, without squeaking ? or is it to keep the piston centered ?

Adrianmsmith

DavecUK

From what i read on the spec sheet the initial and overall cure is pretty much the same time. Its still a thread seal product with slightly higher break torque , not a thread locker .

Happy to report the in place method of dismantling and rebuilding the valve without cosmetic damage was a success and does not involve any pressure on any chrome body parts.

Theres just enough foom with the ⅜ socket bar to complete the valve rotation without catching any chrome.

Thread cleaning took the longest time

Fingers crossed for s good seal 🤞🏼

DavecUK

Elcarajillo Is it there to permit the spring to twist as it is compressed, without squeaking ? or is it to keep the piston centered ?

The flats machines into the spring is what prevents twisting under tension, and they LSM did it as part of the basic design. I presume the thin Teflon washer is there simply because as an engineer you want to prevent metal to metal contact and possibly take up any slight twisting motion to ensure no spring buckling.

You notice on the cheaper groups (bosco clones) e.g. the Londinium, the springs have no machined flats, so they do twist under compression, then untwist again. They, in the groups I have seen have no thin Teflon washer between the spring and the piston assembly, so any spring buckling caused by twisting is increased.

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