maxm50•11h ago

Pulled 6 shots with a $5 thrift store espresso machine and the plastic gasket melted on shot 7

I picked up a decrepit DeLonghi EC155 from a garage sale for $8, replaced the portafilter basket with a $3 bottomless one from AliExpress, and after half a dozen decent shots the stock group gasket just liquified into a sticky mess, so I learned you can cut a replacement from a silicone baking mat if you trace the old one first, anyone else had luck with gasket hacks like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessicaw1111h ago

i mean is it really that serious though? like yeah your gasket melted but you got 6 decent shots out of a $5 machine that's practically a win. people act like their espresso setup has to be perfect or it's a total disaster. i've seen folks spend $50 on a single silicone gasket for their rancilio and act like they're doing rocket science. honestly if you're cutting up baking mats you're already ahead of the game. just make sure the silicone is actually food grade and rated for heat or you'll be tasting burnt muffin for a month.

stone.thomas4h ago

Did you actually taste burnt muffin from using the wrong silicone? Because I once tried to use a cheap silicone spatula as a makeshift gasket on a camping stove and it melted into a pile of black goo that smelled like a tire fire. My buddy swore it was food grade but the next morning we all had eggs that tasted like a burnt sneaker.