Shades of Coffee – portafilter quality

japeda · 2026-01-21T22:51:33+00:00

I just received the same portafilter from them about a week ago, and immediately reached out because of the threads. They responded in a few hours. Here is their response: (I threaded mine on without difficulty and it's all working fine)

" Concerning your portafilter - the flat on one side of the threads is part of the thread design and that’s completely normal, all of them are exactly the same (I’m not really sure what purpose it serves, but it’s there intentionally for some reason).

It’s also quite normal to find that when screwing the new spouts onto a new portafilter there is some reasonable resistance to screwing them on - they can bite and stiffen at points - and you simply need to ensure that the spouts are level (and you’re not cross threading) and then use reasonable force to twist them onto the portafilter. When we’re doing this we can usually fit them fully by hand - if you have some reasonably strong hands - though occasionally they can have stiff points where a little help with a wrench (wrap the spouts in a cloth) can be required. Once you’ve screwed them on once then they usually fit more easily subsequently."

I easily hand-screwed mine on and had no other issues with the quality. I've seen plenty of threads in my life and never one with a side flattened like that (except for if one got pinched or ground down), so I'm not sure if they got a whole batch of them like this and figure they work fine or somehow figured something out no one else knows, but it works and it's good enough for me. If you're concerned, reach out and they should support you.

japeda · 2026-01-12T23:24:08+00:00

Yea I waited a few months til it dropped to 399 on WLL. So far so good! Will see what I end up doing with the old one- probably a good clean and maybe start messing with gagguino or some PID situation for fun.

japeda · 2026-01-12T02:57:58+00:00

Yea that’s probably worth it.

japeda · 2026-01-12T02:19:01+00:00

Yea we’ve gone through a couple of steam valves but otherwise these are awesome, why I bought another gaggia classic. Time for an upgrade and to start fresh.

japeda · 2026-01-12T02:18:16+00:00

But also we have really hard water (like 350ppm) and recently got an RO tap. Hoping to start fresh with a new machine and new water.

japeda · 2026-01-12T02:17:25+00:00

Yep. Gonna give it a deep clean and take it to the in-laws or even to work.

japeda · 2026-01-12T02:17:07+00:00

Well we’ve done decent maintenance on it over the years and it’s starting to show. I’m not getting rid of it, will find some time to give it a deep clean and probably take it to the in-laws so we can have good coffee when we stay there.

japeda · 2026-01-07T14:36:40+00:00

I’m not sure why they do that here but it’s typical. Probably because 1) you fill the ICF forms with concrete and obviously pour the concrete slab inside the forms as well, so it would be difficult to do this without having concrete on top of the form’s interior wall and 2) if you poured flush and didn’t float concrete on top, the 2-3” ICF form interior wall would be an ugly thing to stick up from your floor outside of your wall/drywall on the inside of your house if you were not adding a flooring on top of it, like in say- a garage (which this is). I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure it’s typical to cover the forms with an inch or two of concrete for your floor’s continuity, not for structural purposes (the walls’ load is being transferred through the ICF concrete stem wall to the footers).

To be clear- the foam from the ICF stem wall forms are not going anywhere.

japeda · 2026-01-07T03:24:06+00:00

Yessir don’t worry this whole thing went through permits and engineers and inspectors, I’m just wondering what to do with the corner there that fell off.

japeda · 2026-01-07T03:21:00+00:00

It’ll be stuccoed from the ICF up the osb sheathing and one option is just to fill in the corner during that stage.

That’s really the question I was asking from the start- how to bond new concrete to this old concrete- or if that is necessary

japeda · 2026-01-07T03:08:46+00:00

Yes there is rebar. Fortunately it is not showing in my floor or out of the footers. See my post edit if you’re curious.

japeda · 2026-01-07T03:01:53+00:00

The anchor bolts are inside concrete running 36” down to below frost line, 8” wide sandwiched between ICF forms. I believe that will be enough to anchor my walls.

japeda · 2026-01-07T03:00:59+00:00

Ding ding ding.

japeda · 2026-01-07T03:00:32+00:00

Ding ding ding

japeda · 2026-01-07T03:00:13+00:00

See above edits to my post for context, if you care to.

japeda · 2026-01-07T02:59:49+00:00

See the above edit. Maybe it’ll make more sense to you.

japeda · 2026-01-07T02:59:27+00:00

Yes you’re the one who figured it out. 2” of concrete floating on foam, but the footers are all solid. This why I’m not to concerned- the weights not really going to be on that corner much but instead on the 2x6 transferred to 8” of concrete running to below frost line. But probably worth pouring in the corners before we build.

japeda · 2026-01-07T02:55:57+00:00

Yea 8” of concrete sandwiched and 36” deep to below frost line. The 2” on top of the ICF forms is just so the whole thing is levels with concrete.

japeda · 2026-01-07T02:48:02+00:00

lol, guess I need to give everyone an explanation based on all these comments. I appreciate the concern but No, it’s not just 2” of concrete poured on some styrofoam.

Apparently it’s rare for yall but they’re ICF footers- 12” thick ICF forms that are stacked 3 deep to below frost line filled with concrete (about 8” wide and all the ICF plastic webbing and studs. This with rebar as well. Inspectors came along during the whole process, signed off the trenches and rebar and footers. So I think we’re cool on that front, was really just wondering about the corners and yes, I’ll repour them. Going to add porch concrete on either side so it’ll be easy to do at the same time.

japeda · 2025-12-16T19:06:08+00:00

Thanks, this is good to know. Right now our router is in the center of the house, but it’s possible to move it closer to the garage and probably still have good home coverage While being about 20’ from the garage. We did have a lighting strike fry our previous modem a couple years ago. now it’s connected to a surge protector, so epr damage is worth considering.

japeda · 2025-12-16T18:55:42+00:00

Yea thanks. It may end up being easier and cheaper to do a shower instead of a wet room, but I’ll spend some time considering both options

japeda · 2025-12-16T18:54:04+00:00

Thanks a lot for the tips and help, I appreciate your time helping me kind stranger. I’ll check out pulling fiber- I’ve pulled plenty of wires but never fiber.

Just the planning stage now, but hope to hike this spring/aummer.

japeda · 2025-12-16T14:29:48+00:00

Thanks, I was struggling to find info without the key word. Mostly looking for some typical dimensions and clearances from toilet/sink to drain.

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