Steam Punk, Milk Funk

The front upper cowl of the machine housed the steam knobs, steam wands, and hot water dispenser in addition to the (limited) electronics for the control pads. This had been set to the wayside while tackling the core of the machine, and at this point it was time to give it some attention.

The first thing I noticed was the missing steam wand from the right side. Upon closer inspection, it had been broken off at the ball joint (shown below). A quick parts search and $67 later, I had a new stainless steel wand with a no-burn elbow for repositioning en route. Not sure why, but it appears the left group head gets more attention on these machines and the steam wand gets more use on the right. I'm sure the equipment setup would dictate a lot of which side is easier to pull from and which side is easier to steam milk. If you had the staff, I'm sure both could be done in tandem; as I know for a fact, that beast of a boiler would give you all the hot water and steam you could possibly need with both barrels blasting. Anyway, I made a mental not that upon reassembly, I was going to install it on the left hand side. It was pretty and I wanted to show it off.

The second thing I noticed was the funk and grime that was built up on the underside of the cover and the near total obstruction of the screen for the hot water dispenser with calcium deposits and crud. It wouldn't be until I took apart the steam valves and wands that I would discover the fossilized milk crud that was subdividing apartments in the steam wand ghetto.





It was gross, but at least it was solid and crusty and didn't provide an odor. I disassembled the steam valves and the hot water valve and started snapping pictures so I would be sure to put the parts back together correctly. I still had the citric acid bath I used for the group heads (from hell) so after dis-assembly, I soaked the parts for 10-15 minutes and then scrubbed them with the brass brush. I left the copper and brass in for a bit longer, but I wanted to get the chromed parts out so the acid would clean, but not damage them. The hot water valve looked almost brand new. The before and after photo of the previously crud filled steam valve was also impressive.











There wasn't much to clean on the electronics, and to my dismay there was a chip out of the corner of one of the control pad frames, but for the price of a new one, I was willing to live with some aesthetic degradation. I scrubbed the stainless cowl with some water and Simple Green to remove as much grime and dirt as possible and then gave it the Macguires Step 1 car polish routine I had given the other high gloss stainless parts. It turned out looking nice, but the quick barista-wipe-down-job-around-the-knobs swirls were still there, and like the control panel, I'm willing to live with the "lived in look" of the machine over paying a fabrication shop to electroplate the stainless to bring it back to a flawless mirror shine.
Before

After

I reassembled the parts onto the cowl and then set it aside until I was ready to install it over the group heads on the frame. At this point, I have soaked, scrubbed, cleaned, and polished all the parts of the machine. The frame is primed, painted and reassembled, and it's time to put this beast back together. Wait patiently (amidst diaper changes, gardening, and home canning) for the next chapter: Easier to Assemble Than an IKEA Bookshelf.