It works! The red light indicated heat is being delivered to the coffee boiler. The sight glass is full with water. This is also a good shot of the brew solenoids that control when water is pushed through the group heads. The two black things located below the group heads are what I am talking about. Some things I don't have pictures in the album are polishing parts and reassembly. I have a few photos of that I will post in the comments.
I restored a La Marzocco commercial espresso machine to fuel my coffee addiction
ManicDigressive on May 23rd, 2018 at 20:08 UTC »
I worked at Starbucks for 7 years as I got through college and a few years after.
When I started, they still used the old manual machines like these. Everything is automatic now, has been since at least around 2005/2006.
Took me about 6 months to master our La Marzocco.
I haven't even stepped foot in a coffee shop in a few years, let alone worked in one, but I STILL miss that old machine every once in a while. There was nothing as satisfying as struggling with that fucking thing for months only to finally get consistently good on it.
First time I worked a rush on that thing and didn't have to ask the more experienced employees for help I felt like a rock star.
Nice work on the machine, OP. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Goyteamsix on May 23rd, 2018 at 19:22 UTC »
Huh, that's why these things are so expensive. I worked at a little coffee/espresso shop when I was a teenager. Someone broke in and stole all 3 of the espresso machines. The owner thought he was going to have to shut down the shop. When I asked why, he told me those machines cost him $50,000.
iflippyiflippy on May 23rd, 2018 at 17:54 UTC »
That is incredibly impressive. Financially speaking, you really profited from this. BUT more importantly, the work you did...Just wow.
I am amazed. Your work needs more viewers and upvotes!