# Lever profiling



## jj-x-ray (Dec 31, 2017)

Don't laugh but I thought I'd have a go at manual flow profiling on my gaggia classic since I now have a pressure guage fitted.

However I'm not entirely sure what constitutes a lever profile in terms of pressure and time. I've read it's something like a low pressure (2 bar say) preinfusion followed by full pressure (9 bar) for a short period, then a constantly decreasing pressure for the rest of the shot.

Is that correct? Is there anything more definitive particularly on the relative timings of the periods?

Cheers


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## khampal (Feb 6, 2017)

If you mean a traditional single spring lever type profile: the preinfusion will be at boiler pressure (typically around 1.2 bar), 7-9 bars at the start of the shot and then decrease from there. Tbh I'm not sure how steep the decline is, nor what pressure spring levers typically exert at the end of the shot. Would be interesting to find out.

It's important to note that with a real lever, the temperature will also decrease throughout the shot as well as the pressure.


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## ashcroc (Oct 28, 2016)

jj-x-ray said:


> Don't laugh but I thought I'd have a go at manual flow profiling on my gaggia classic since I now have a pressure guage fitted.
> 
> However I'm not entirely sure what constitutes a lever profile in terms of pressure and time. I've read it's something like a low pressure (2 bar say) preinfusion followed by full pressure (9 bar) for a short period, then a constantly decreasing pressure for the rest of the shot.
> 
> ...


Post 1841 of the decent espresso thread shows a grafic of a pseudo lever shot which may help.


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

you really do like that Arnica being rubbed in









Chuckles

John


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

Gabor, from Naked espresso, added his piston pressure kit to the Profitec 800, this is with the double spring configuration:


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## jj-x-ray (Dec 31, 2017)

ashcroc said:


> Post 1841 of the decent espresso thread shows a grafic of a pseudo lever shot which may help.


Cheers that's a starter for 10.

I'll give it a go.....


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

And here is my sort-of lever profile with the Portaspresso


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

That was some time ago, these days I would let the pressure rise quickly to 8-9 bar and let it drop immediately by closing the valve, so I remove it at around 5 or 4 bars


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## ashcroc (Oct 28, 2016)

jj-x-ray said:


> Cheers that's a starter for 10.
> 
> I'll give it a go.....


Let me know how you get on. I'll have a similar setup to you to play with once I get everything together to fab a gauge mount on the side of my tebe. Unfortunately I don't have clearance if I still want to remove the top easily.


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## jj-x-ray (Dec 31, 2017)

Stanic said:


> That was some time ago, these days I would let the pressure rise quickly to 8-9 bar and let it drop immediately by closing the valve, so I remove it at around 5 or 4 bars


ill be limited by my own hand eye coordination and the shonkyness of my setup :lol:


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

it just takes a lot of practice


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## Kim Baker (Jun 9, 2018)

Stanic said:


> Gabor, from Naked espresso, added his piston pressure kit to the Profitec 800, this is with the double spring configuration:


Thanks for share the video


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

no problem









actually, there isn't a single profile you could call "lever" as each machine is unique in some way, some use boiler pressure pre-infusion, some use pump pressure pre-infusion, some peak at 6 bar, some at 8, 10 or even 11 (like the Izzo Alex Leva), some have a faster pressure fall-off while others a slower one

then there are the manual levers like La Pavoni or Olympia etc. where the profiles are all over the place









edit: but in general, a lever profile has a lower pressure pre-infusion part, fast ramp-up to peak pressure and slow decline together with slightly declining temperature


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## mathof (Mar 24, 2012)

I see the point of a pressure profile gauge like this on a manual lever, as it indicates in real time the profile you are pulling. But a spring lever only needs to be read a couple of times to see what happens, depending on the catch point. After that, it will always be the same.

Matt


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

Agreed


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

some good read on pressure profiling here: http://www.portaspresso.com/page003.html


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## John Yossarian (Feb 2, 2016)

Forgive my ignorance but how would it be possible to do lever profiling on a Gaggia Classic? Once you stop the pump the flow stops as well and the pressure quickly drops to minimum. I definitely am missing something.

On my Appia I have got an infusion option, 2-3 seconds at 2 bars followed by gradual (rather quick though) jump to 9. Once the shot is done (via the programmed keys) the pressure gets back to zero (or the mains pressure as it is connected to the mains).


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

John Yossarian said:


> how would it be possible to do lever profiling on a Gaggia Classic?


You can't on a standard classic. I'm guessing that they've installed the dimmer switch mod or some other home brewed method of being able to tweak pressure.

___

Eat, drink and be merry


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## Nikko (Aug 20, 2014)

Stanic said:


> Gabor, from Naked espresso, added his piston pressure kit to the Profitec 800, this is with the double spring configuration:


Once the lever is released, the videos show a slowly rising pressure which, upon reaching maximum, stays constant until the last 5 or 10% of the piston movement, when the pressure drops by 2 bar. Do not know if the pressure build up is slowed down by hanging on the lever but the pressure decay is not that different to a pumped machine. Can't see the last 5% making a lot of difference.


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