[geeks] A wizard's steam valve has a knob on the end

[Phil Stracchino]

On 07/23/13 12:38, Dan Sikorski wrote:
> Which espresso machine?  If my measurements are correct, the knob from my
> Rancilio Silvia would fit, and while it is not quite the construction you're
> looking for, it's been very solid in my weekend use for the past several
> years.  Knob diameter on the v3 knob is 2", so a little bigger than you're
> looking for, but the diameter of the v2 knob is 1.5".  (I have both hanging
> around because i replaced my v2 steam wand with a v3 shortly after they came
> out and was too much of a packrat to throw the old one away.)

Mine is a Gaggia Classic.  By the look of the Silvia knob, I'm guessing
the Silvia's steam valve is buried much more deeply inside the machine
than the Gaggia's (the shaft of the Gaggia's valve actually protrudes
about 3/16" past the body), so I'm guessing the Silvia knob probably
wouldn't adapt well to the Gaggia.

I have been considering fitting a Silvia steam wand, though; I
understand it's a fairly popular modification to the Gaggia Classic,
which is considered to have an inferior steam wand.  However, that
doesn't entail replacing the valve.

Ideally, what I'd honestly like to do is replace the Gaggia needle-type
steam valve altogether with a quarter-turn ball valve, which seems to me
to be far more suitable for the purpose in the first place.  The needle
valve on the Gaggia *ALWAYS* eventually wears and accumulates hard-water
scale, and then it doesn't shut off properly, and you have to start
twisting harder and harder on the knob trying to stop it from leaking
steam and boiling water, and then the knob cracks.  :p



-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
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  Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, SQL wrangler, Free Stater
                 It's not the years, it's the mileage.