Fracino Retro Lever

Sham

So I may have impulsively bought this thing… It was too beautiful and cheap to say no to (got two grinders chucked in for pennies too). I think its the 2013 (50 year anniversary) version.

After a quick google search it seems that this and the Londonium are very similar, just a few parts are different.

I think the switch was broken and water was leaking through the left sight glass, no idea how to fix this though 😶.

I’ll probably start a restoration after I graduate, as I’m thinking this is going to be a pain to restore 😅.

Anyone have any experience/know anything about this machine?

Flat_Eric

Awesome, what a lucky find and great restoration project!

dfk41

Fracino parts are nearly always very reasonable which is odd since Londinium parts are nearly always expensive!

Sham

dfk41 Good thing they’re just an hour from me and only 20 minutes from my parents place. Not sure if they have their own store where I can pick up parts or something

Isn’t the Fracino Retro and Londinium made at the same factory? Most of the parts are interchangeable I believe, but I think I read that the creator of the Londinium had some very specific parts he wanted to do differently, hence why the Londinium is the better machine. I guess you could just order a fracino retro part for your Londinium if anything every breaks if its cheaper 😅 I think there might be something in the contract between Fracino and Londinium that increases the part price…

DavecUK

Sham Isn’t the Fracino Retro and Londinium made at the same factory? Most of the parts are interchangeable

That’s absolutely correct. The owner of Londinium lives in New Zealand and Fracino make the machines, deliver them, I think they even do some warranty stuff in the first few weeks e.g. if an owner wants to return the machine, I believe they collect it.

In the UK Reiss has a person who deals with a lot of warranty issues for him, and sometimes deals with spare parts as well.

Sham

DavecUK I was wondering, do you know of anywhere that lists the differences between the two? I was thinking that if I’m going to rebuild, I might as well add some of the improvements from the Londinium.

By looking at the parts list/diagrams they look really really similar, I’m wondering where these changes are.

DavecUK

Sham By looking at the parts list/diagrams they look really really similar, I’m wondering where these changes are.

Well most machines are built from fairly generic parts…so if there is a “Londinium” part and a “generic” part that is the same specification, the generic part should work equally well. If there is a control board, it might be a standard Gicar RL30 or similar, or it might be specifically programmed (machines like the Londinium LR24 probably have a specifically programmed main board.

If you can it’s probably always worth shopping around for generic parts, otherwise it’s profit on profit….

dfk41

You could direct your question to Fracino and get an answer straight from the horses mouth. In years gone by, I always found them a pleasure to deal with. If you explained if you ordered some parts you are close enough to collect, they may be able to help you out…..please let us know!

Sham

dfk41 I’ll likely have a go myself first then contact Fracino. I found the parts diagram, but there’s no electrical diagram on their website.