Replace capacitors with a slightly changed capacity?

[lukas]

Hey folks (and Bruce !

After having stripped and cleaned a filthy old LaCimbali Alinox (no, only 64mm burrs, bohoo. And I should have made photos of how it looked before ) I'd like to finally tackle the LaCimbali Junior that's still with me curtesy of Bruce. One of the capacitors seems to have died a while ago: When switching on, the motor moves for about one turn and then stops, emitting a humming sound afterwards. At least I guess it's a capacitor!

It has two main capacitors: one 6.3uf, one 12.5uf. I only found 6.3uf and 12.0uf rated for high voltage and use, but I suppose that's not a problem?

Also, the 12.5uf original capacitor has a 7W 15KOhm resistor between the poles - should I replace that too?

All the best,
Lukas

[DrTom]

Hello Lukas,

I don't know if the issue with the motor is the capacitors/resistor but the 12.5 uF should be replaceable with the 12 uF. I can't imagine it being a high accuracy part and that .5 uF discrepancy would be swallowed up by manufacturing tolerances. To be sure, check if the 12.5 uF capacitor has any markings showing a value tolerance. I guess it will be 10-20%. If this is the case, your 12 uF capacitor will be fine.

As for the resistor, check the resistance with an Ohmmeter - if it reads infinite or much higher than the original value I would get a new one. That's a pretty beefy resistor though!

[DrTom]

Also, they look lovely

[lukas]

Thanks Tom! My mind was a bit slow yesterday as I could have just calculated it myself: 12.5uf with 5% tolerance=11.875-13.125uh range. So 12.0uf should be okay-ish.

I still don't have a multimeter (why is beyond me, but everytime I think that now would be a good time for one, my bank account thinks otherwise), so haven't checked the resistor.

The replacement capacitors arrived today, and tadaa, using the old resistor, the grinder is up to speed again! Yay Though it really needs another disassemble and cleanup and rebuildup, as it's still messy and wobbles and noisy.


Ohh, and today was a little like christmas: first postman brought the capacitors, and once the grinder was repaired the next one brought a little present out of Stafford

There have been some people in the past calling me obsessive. They couldn't be right, could they?

edit: and there hasn't been an espresso machine in my kitchen since more than two years!

[GreenBean]

....The replacement capacitors arrived today, and tadaa, using the old resistor, the grinder is up to speed again! Yay ...

Good to see you have it sorted.

....There have been some people in the past calling me obsessive. They couldn't be right, could they?

No.. No.. absolutely not.... Hell, if we called you obsessive we would have to accept that we are all obsessive. Ridiculous suggestion.

[CakeBoy]

Looks a bit like the three bears ....... Daddy Grinder, Mummy Grinder and Baby Grinder, now where is goldilocks?

[Aadje]

Asleep of course