Too Much Coffee

Hi,

I need to clean the group head on my old gaggia coffee deluxe machine, but the damn thing seems to be near welded in. I've tried twisting it with some pliers into the two near central holes and scraping around the edge where it sits against the gasket, but with no success.

Can anyone suggest a way to shift this before I beat it to death with something and probably damage it in the process?

Thanks,
dolcevita

I can't figure out exactly what you are trying to remove. Can you give us a picture of the situation? I don't remember anything screwed on that you can remove with force. There's a blown up diagram of the machine here. Perhaps you can tell us which parts you are trying to take apart. Or maybe someone with a Gaggia will come along and give you an answer right away.

Hi,

On the diagram I have it's labelled as the shower holding plate, which sits on the group gasket. It's part no. 56. It is attached with two bolts, one either side of the centre, that have alan key type heads. I've removed these and, according to a video I saw on YouTube, the holding plate should now be removable so that I can clean it. As I said, though, it seems pretty much welded on.

It should just virtually fall off but if it hasn't been off for a long time (ever?) it is probably well and truly stuck with coffee residue. It also has the group seal at its base that helps to hold it in place place.

If it is like a Classic there isn't much room to get tools in.

It might need shocking off (i.e. hitting with something heavy) to break the seal, but if damage occurs, I didn't tell you that. I think I attacked mine fairly frantically with a screwdriver first time and levered it off.

You might also need to remove the group seal first which would want replacing because I gather they rarely come out in one piece. Removal can involve screwing a wood screw into it and pulling it out with pliers. There is a description of this process somewhere on the site.

Frequent removal makes the process easier.

Thanks, Ed. I've been meaning to update, but I called it a day and bought a new gaggia coffee that I received last week. It wasn't without considerable effort on the part of my other half - he works at an engineering firm and they hate being beaten by machines - they even made special tools so that they could get more torque into trying to loosen off the group head, all to no avail. They even tried the last resort of any engineer i.e.hit it with a bloody great hammer, but it still wouldn't budge. If we could replicate it in a shorter time, I reckon we could sell that weld to the nuclear power industry.

I shall be taking far better care of my new machine.

Vivien