# Fracino 'Naked/Bottomless' Portafilter



## origmarm

Just a quick thread regarding the bottomless portafilter that Fracino sells direct. Worth knowing about this as Fracino charge a whopping 25% restocking fee on returns.

Anyhow as you can see from the pic below, the filter (purchased for my Cherub) is not truly bottomless. As such if you use Fracino's baskets (which taper to the centre) they work i.e. all the holes in the basket are exposed. If you do not use Fracino's baskets and use VST or any other aftermarket basket I've tried (3 or 4), these will not work as some of the holes are blocked. This results is lots of spraying/unpredictable large jets of coffee. Not good. Anyhow just a word of warning so that if you order it, you know what you're getting.

It has also been cut aftermarket (presumably by Fracino) resulting in naked brass around the cut. In addition there appear to be scuffs on the portafilter near where it joins the handle presumably from the vice used to grip it while the cut was made. Overall unimpressed with the effort from Fracino here. Anyhow I will be returning it but wanted to allow others to avoid the issue. Fracino state that it works, it's their 'design' and they can't be expected to support other baskets which is not entirely unreasonable.









All other bottomless portafilters I've used look more like this (from Happy Donkey) and do not feature the problem:


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## SweeneyTodd

Surely, under the distance selling regulations, don't you have seven days to return the item if it is unsuitable at no cost to you?

Obviously, that is subject to you returning it it in a saleable condition.


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## Callum_T

Pass it on to me ill cut it like the HD bottomless - I've been offering this to forum members for £12 and ill pay return post this is mine










Have a look at my thread I think it's in the commercial/special offers.

Obviously I won't rechrome plate where I've cut, but I think a hint of brass is nice and purdyyyy


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## origmarm

SweeneyTodd said:


> Surely, under the distance selling regulations, don't you have seven days to return the item if it is unsuitable at no cost to you?
> 
> Obviously, that is subject to you returning it it in a saleable condition.


I thought so also but apparently this is not deemed unsuitable as it works with the basket supplied/supported by Fracino. That and they maintain they can charge a restocking fee anyhow. I argued about this for a bit but in the end felt it better to retain the relationship with Fracino (I may well need them in the future) for the sake of £6. I must admit I was not particularly impressed with this. That said I was dealing with someone in spares so it might have been different if I had been dealing with a sales person or similar.



Callum_T said:


> Pass it on to me ill cut it like the HD bottomless - I've been offering this to forum members for £12 and ill pay return post this is mine
> 
> Have a look at my thread I think it's in the commercial/special offers.
> 
> Obviously I won't rechrome plate where I've cut, but I think a hint of brass is nice and purdyyyy


Hi there Callum,

Thanks for the offer but I've already returned it to Fracino. I've got another on the way from a friend of mine who originally bought it from HD so I'm sure that will be without issue. If you ever get round to those handles let me know.


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## Callum_T

Those hardwood handles, I'm going to order some hardwood off cuts probably next week and then all I'd need is a) time on a lathe and b) thread size (which is dead easy) other than that if you only want a generic design (matching OEM plastic dimensions, is should be able to run off probably 10. Ill keep you up to date anyway.

I'm shocked at the restocking fee from fracino, seems abit rediculous for a pf (for a machine though I'd agree there should be a fee)


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## origmarm

As an update, the truly bottomless filter (Faema model) from Happy Donkey. Much better and £10 or so cheaper:


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## Steve_S_T

origmarm said:


> As an update, the truly bottomless filter (Faema model) from Happy Donkey. Much better and £10 or so cheaper:


Does the Happy Donkey bottomless PF work with the 8mm gasket?

Steve.


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## origmarm

Yes. I would go so far as to say that the 8.5MM gasket is a tad on the large side. The 8MM is just fine.


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## Steve_S_T

Thanks Origmarm, I've ordered the Happy Donkey bottomless and will switch back to my 8mm gasket before putting the Fracino bottomless and 8.5mm gasket up for sale.

Steve.


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## espressotechno

8mm group seal + card shim = 8.2-8.3 approx.


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## origmarm

Make sure to give the 8MM a go first before you sell but should be fine. I say this as my Cherub is an older one. I can't imagine the group has changed but...

I've been very happy with the HD model. Did you try the Fracino with the VST in the end?


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## Steve_S_T

origmarm said:


> Did you try the Fracino with the VST in the end?


I clipped it in but it did look as though some of the holes were partially covered so I didn't try it.

Steve.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD


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## Thug

New here and sorry for resurrecting an old thread.

I have been the happy owner of the Fracino Cherub for around 10 years and use it daily and was wanting to go bottomless.

Is this the one you bought from HD https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/faema-bottomless-portafilter.html


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## jlarkin

Thug said:


> New here and sorry for resurrecting an old thread.
> 
> I have been the happy owner of the Fracino Cherub for around 10 years and use it daily and was wanting to go bottomless.
> 
> Is this the one you bought from HD https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/faema-bottomless-portafilter.html


I just got this one for my fracino 2 group - I was happy to get the bigger basket with it as I wanted to try a 21. Similar-ish price if HD are charging delivery.


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## ajohn

The Fracino bottomless on Amazon UK has a very slight rim at the bottom. I'm having a bit of a portafilter seal problem but the same applies to the standard partafilter. Fracino produce a 21g filter basket. As the shower screen etc on a Piccino looks pretty high end I would suspect their baskets are too. In fact one review stated amongst the best they had used. They are cheap too. Pity about their £8 postal charge for a few baskets. Seems to be DPD next day but no email to tell when it will arrive. At that cost shame on them.

John

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## ajohn

No problem with the seal and portafiltter when I didn't put as much coffee in. As far as I can see it fits as well as the standard Fracino porrafilter does.

John

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## Mister_Tad

Or alternatively, blast the stock one with one of these... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0002JT7EO/ref=pe_385721_51767431_TE_dp_1

It's way more fun and I had surprisingly tidy results.


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## ajohn

There is a bit of a problem with the Amazon portafilter. For my sins I have a full set of Fracino filter baskets. They are all ok in the Fracino portafilter but not so good in the Amazon one. It's down to Fracino really. They have a ridge part way down the filters and the size and more importantly the shape varies between them. Net effect with the Amazon one is that the 12gm is tricky to get in and very difficult to get out. It has a very narrow sharp ridge - unlike the rest. Not sure what is going on with the 14g but think it's just slightly larger than the others and can be use as the ridge isn't so sharp edged.

So as I have a Gaggia basket kicking about that can be use as a gauge the reason is just that the Amazon spring clip is a touch tighter than the Fracino one so it very difficult to get the narrow sharp edge ridge on the 12g one over it.








Murphey's law. Fracino's 7gm basket probably wont hold 9g. My favourite bean at the moment needs circa 9.5g so the 12g one is the obvious one to use. On the other hand if I grind finer the 7g basket might be ok as the 9.5g is best for Sage's 8-10g basket.







The joys of espresso machines. The extraction on the Piccino was crap with the 7g over filled a touch with the same grind as I use on the Sage.

John

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