Saturday 6 May 2017

Handle search

I have been having quite a time finding the right set of steam and water taps for the build. Although I know that lever style controls are preferred by some over traditional taps, I would really like to preserve the look of the original design. Personally, I find the lever valves are akin to forelegs on a Tyrannosaurus Rex - out of proportion with the rest of the beast. 



Alas, the Brugnetti valve is out of production (although there is still a little new-old stock to be found) and I have not come across any of the handles at all. I combed the databases of a number of suppliers to find a likely candidate and found one from Pavoni:



I ordered the valve body and the handle separately and was surprised to find that the handle wasn't the one in the image (it is actually nicer imho). Also, not such a nice surprise, the outlet of the of valve I received is angled back towards the body of the machine. This makes it unusable in the design and I have to find something else. I am guessing that as the Pavoni Bar 2L is still in production that the straight valves can still be found. In an ideal world however, the valve outlet would angle away from the body so that the assembly can be kept close to the backsplash. The Pavoni actually uses an additional spacer to solve this problem. Any suggestions for something closer to the original from another machine in production would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise, I will just have to sort out a right-angle Pavoni valve I suppose.

I had to install the tap that I received temporarily so that I can go on to other things.




























Not right at all, but it will have to do for now.

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