First project of the New Year!
I picked up this old Nuova Simonelli single group a while ago and wanted to start it! I've never worked on a commercial lever machine before but it can't be that hard, right?

This is what I think is a 1974 lever machine. Available info on the web about this model is pretty much nothing. You can find later model NS levers, called 'Elle', or 'Mac Elle' but most of them have the groups hidden behind metal. I've personally seen people selling these single group machines, and I've seen a two group exactly like mine..same red side panels, same angled rear metal. Each one of them has the same data plate as mine, with no model name mentioned, just the 1974 date on it.

My machine was purchased in Grande Prarie, Alberta sight unseen, and I had a friend pick it up, tear it down into smaller pieces and mail it to me. This is why the first photos you will see of it are in it's disassembled state.

Here it is as delivered! Please note that it is complete, just not in this photo.




The adventure starts.

Nice! I think NS levers are even more rare than Carimali .
As always, take your time and keep posting if you need help. I would imagine that parts ought to be easily found, given the ease of which I had with my Carimali, and others here with much older levers as well.
Happy new year, have fun, and welcome to leverland!

Here's a shot of the front/side.
It's cool how you can guestimate age of the equipment by the shape of the machine..soft curves for the early machines up to the 70's, very angular 70's, cover the group head 80's and wonderful stainless steel modern stuff. I wonder where the next generation is going?

You're correct about age guessing the machines, my 80's Carimali has the hidden heads that I left uncovered but are I think actually painted brass, not even plated. If it were my keeper machine I would have polished them. What's the grouphead itself look like?

Here's the group. The top cap (nice heavy metal) is off for cleaning, but you get the idea. It seems to be a ?standard? Rossi/CMA group. Nice and heavy, and shiny. The internals..not so much!





Note my old abused Porlex hand grinder being used as the piston removal tool..it shrank considerably under the dead blow beating!

Yup CMA group-CMA is quite universal to most but not all the commercial brands. But I never knew that NS utilized them too. But you'll love it once you get that grouphead back in order. I really like the grouphead for its abundant parts availability and replaceable inner sleeve. If it ever gets too badly pitted/scored it can just be replaced easily, rather than having to worry about having a cylinder honed.
What's the boiler capacity on your machine?

Tom,
The boiler works out to about 7.6L, or 2 gallons exactly. That's bigger than my commercial NS Appia 5L boiler!

Here is a side shot of the cleaned boiler.


Here's a shot of the inside. The group feed tube starts lower than the hot water feed tube.

The piston sleeve looks in good shape. I have to figure out how to remove it from the casting without damaging it!
The spring is a total loss but the piston and the piston rod shined up very nicely.

When I removed the group and tried to separate the sleeve casting and the top part (bearings and such), all but one of the 4 screws came out. The one snapped off, and now after trying for two days of Mouse Milk soaking and heat application and tapping on it, it has refused to budge. I obviously managed to get the piston out of the sleeve but it looked iffy at first since I couldn't twist the sleeve casting around. The screw extended up into the top casting part and prevented twisting. That's why I had to use the Porlex as my piston driving tool..to get the group separated enough. I'm handing the part with the screw over to my friendly sheet metal man who is much more experienced than me at drilling out screws/rivets without damaging threads! Worst case, helicoil I think, best case some thread chasing!

That's a big boiler! My CMA is 6.
The piston barrel slips out from the top, and there are 2 gaskets for it. Flip the whole group head upside down and use a piece of 2inch PVC as a tool to tap out that inner barrel from the bottom. My group head was leaking from the top of the head and I couldn't figure it out because I had just replaced the piston gaskets. Well I realized that it was the barrel gaskets. I would soak the whole thing in hot soapy water first to loosen up any tacky grime before tapping the barrel out.

Thanks Tom, for the hot soapy water tip. I did just that and got it out. Now for the clean up of the sleeve and the casting!