tompoland I’m not sure the Nurri is ‘safe’. It’s safe from portafilter sneeze (as long as one remembers to release the pressure with the paddle), but the lever itself is free to move. Not that avoidance of portafilter sneeze is anything to - ahem - sniff about, as I can attest even from this morning, when I changed beans and choked the machine…
As far as I know, only the LM Leva-X/Leva-S and (some?) Kees van der Westen lever machines have ‘safe’ levers with a clutch preventing unintended release, but they are priced beyond even Otaibimn ’s very generous budget (at least new).
This said, in 2 months of lever machine use (and a couple of slips…), the victims have been 2 coffee cups and a healthy respect for the 250 kg of force the springs exert once fully compressed. However, I think the stories of broken jaws have to refer to coffee-shop environments where multiple levers are ‘on the move’ and people are in a rush; I really can’t see that sort of accident happening in a home.
