sama

A few phone calls from aunt Rosy and several days later the machine would arrive in safe place, somewhere in Italy.
The seller was tough and didn't want to lower the price, on the other hand he accepted to deliver at home.
Then one fine day, a milk-truck stopped in front of the house. It was the machine delivery...
Although some people like milk to be served along with their coffee, That doesn't suits me.

All those little nothings that make big statements, showing a little support and the world is wonderful.
I am so grateful to Rosy and Atino for their dedication.
The machine at Rosy's, november 2012.

It belongs to these machines that can be disassembled just using a screwdriver. Or almost.
It couldn't be more easy to maintain, with extreme simplicity. However, It has a thermosyphon, which is a bit more complicated that what i'm used to seeing on my others little levers.

Then I keep on discovering, with the boiler which is covered with some rock wool.
The electrical part with its big pressostat.
Pstat and element terminals, top to bottom.
It's still far from a fully electronic concept, not a bad thing though, electronic is still a long way from producing decent coffee.

Yet, the nasty surprise for me to discover that the heating element is out of service.

While awaiting to receive the machine, I had time to take a close enough look to it, virtually on different websites. Not that much though, this model "Club" being relatively uncommon,
although many spare parts are identical to those used by other machines.
Moreover, on this basis, other brands have released their model as Ponte-Vecchio, Bezzera, etc.
With this Club, the heating element can still be purchased from Ponte-Vecchio and the grouphead is the same as the Elektra MCL one. I decide to contact Francesco to inform him of my misfortune
and he was just about to order some parts from P-Vecchio. Hurray, heating element ordered instantly.

Flaking seals on the sight glass.

Piston disassembling is quite easy. This spring doesn't release much pressure.

Water runs off from the sight glass seals. Those old seals were disintegrating completely. And of course the sight glass couldn't be taken off. Well, maybe yes, with a lot of patience,
by sliding it up and down, dissolving the old pieces of seal...But the risk was just much too great to break that small glass tubing for which i couldn't find any reference...
Caution was an imperative. I tried a couple of tricks that were'nt so good and finally I stuffed it as best I could with some teflon tape (a lot) then I cut off a rubber seal to make it fit
around the tube and ended by pushing it inside the big metal nut. To tell the truth, there are two seals, with the cut surfaces on opposite sides. So there it is ! No more leaks.

In early january 2013 I get my heating element.

The heating element is installed. It has some little holes so that it can be placed a thermal fuse, which didn't exist on my old model. Of course, for safety reasons, I'll install one...one day.

Hurray ! Finally, machine is heating up.


	Date of the machine: 70s certainly Origin: Italy Purchase Country: Italy N° de série : / Puissance : 1000 W close Boiler, spring return lever Tamper size: 49 mm 1 filter 2T
	Translated by Happy
Atino and I had just ended with the Faema Family story when I showed him this ad, based in Italy. A Sama. But not just another Sama, a Sama Club...argh ! Obviously, always prepared as a scout, Atino perceives at once that the machine is located about 10 kilometers from his aunt's house and according to him, she is a skilled negociator so she probably can handle the deal in a good way. Why not, one more machine has never scared me. Even though I have to sell one, always grudgingly, in order to make place for the next. And to avoid troublesome relations with my Lady-Love as well, that kind of passion might be oversized for a kitchen.

	The ad. October 2012. Some picture that let me think of a machine in really good state.


A few phone calls from aunt Rosy and several days later the machine would arrive in safe place, somewhere in Italy. The seller was tough and didn't want to lower the price, on the other hand he accepted to deliver at home. Then one fine day, a milk-truck stopped in front of the house. It was the machine delivery... Although some people like milk to be served along with their coffee, That doesn't suits me.




All those little nothings that make big statements, showing a little support and the world is wonderful. I am so grateful to Rosy and Atino for their dedication. The machine at Rosy's, november 2012.
	Seeing this, I was like errrrrr Is it just dirty or damaged ?



And then finally, around mid-december 2012, things have been moving ahead due to a family event which has caused Rosy to go to France, travelling by car. Hopefully, car's trunk was large enough. Atino has dealt with the shipment as soon as it came under the Southern sun.

Super mega packaging, risk free for the machine.

	Next to the Marcfi, in order to compare. As Francesco says, a professional machine but in miniature..




It belongs to these machines that can be disassembled just using a screwdriver. Or almost. It couldn't be more easy to maintain, with extreme simplicity. However, It has a thermosyphon, which is a bit more complicated that what i'm used to seeing on my others little levers.

	First, a global cleaning to ensure that it's just about dirt. Phew, this is the case.
Then I keep on discovering, with the boiler which is covered with some rock wool. The electrical part with its big pressostat. Pstat and element terminals, top to bottom. It's still far from a fully electronic concept, not a bad thing though, electronic is still a long way from producing decent coffee.

	Yet, the nasty surprise for me to discover that the heating element is out of service.
While awaiting to receive the machine, I had time to take a close enough look to it, virtually on different websites. Not that much though, this model "Club" being relatively uncommon, although many spare parts are identical to those used by other machines. Moreover, on this basis, other brands have released their model as Ponte-Vecchio, Bezzera, etc. With this Club, the heating element can still be purchased from Ponte-Vecchio and the grouphead is the same as the Elektra MCL one. I decide to contact Francesco to inform him of my misfortune and he was just about to order some parts from P-Vecchio. Hurray, heating element ordered instantly.

The large clean up can carry on.




Flaking seals on the sight glass.

Piston disassembling is quite easy. This spring doesn't release much pressure.		Below, we can see the two water intake pipes which enter the grouphead.

Water runs off from the sight glass seals. Those old seals were disintegrating completely. And of course the sight glass couldn't be taken off. Well, maybe yes, with a lot of patience, by sliding it up and down, dissolving the old pieces of seal...But the risk was just much too great to break that small glass tubing for which i couldn't find any reference... Caution was an imperative. I tried a couple of tricks that were'nt so good and finally I stuffed it as best I could with some teflon tape (a lot) then I cut off a rubber seal to make it fit around the tube and ended by pushing it inside the big metal nut. To tell the truth, there are two seals, with the cut surfaces on opposite sides. So there it is ! No more leaks.
In early january 2013 I get my heating element.


The heating element is installed. It has some little holes so that it can be placed a thermal fuse, which didn't exist on my old model. Of course, for safety reasons, I'll install one...one day. Hurray ! Finally, machine is heating up.

	errrrrrr it's heating up way too much ! When will the Pstat trips out !!?? reaching 2~2.5 bars I decide to switch it off. I dont want to take the boiler on my head and still less to destroy the kitchen, otherwise I would have to deal with Madame...

Pffffffff I must face the facts, the Pstat is dead, all I need now is to find a spare one.

I spend my time spray-painting in black the machine frame and polishing it.


Well, awaiting this pressostat, let's talk about the thermosyphon that equips the machine. And how is it built inside. Finally, that's all simple, it's just about different lenghts pipes inside the boiler. One located not far from the very bottom for hot water, another one at the top for steam. Two pipes for the grouphead, one that intakes water at the middle of the boiler and the other one deepest, providing the water circulation thanks to the basics of the Laws of Physics. Mid-january, the pressostat has finally arrived and the reassembly can begin.
	This one is supposed to work in the range of 0.5~1.5 bar pressure.I guess the range of adjustment should be sufficient.


	Even if disassembling the machine is quite easy, It's still better to let the hood removed during heating test.

It has to be accepted that the steam wand isn't ideally placed. Once the portafilter is full engaged, it sticks to it. That's not great, Mr Sama !	The Elektra MCL grouphead	Take the water level reading is not easy, I wonder if I shouldn't install some task lighting.


Leak-check. It looks ok.	Two or three design inconveniences (minimal) for an eminently successful machine.	It regulates efficiently.
	Despite appearances, It was a laborious start. This machine seems to extract very short but when this is successful, It's absolutely delicious. Super balanced.

	The side of the machine that I wont see very often.



	Nothing to be said, just contemplating.