Just finished yet another Delonghi branded bean to cup coffee machine. This one (Magnifica S) was clogged at the grinder and not letting anything through. Customer just sees read light and no coffee. We’ve had a few of these and the manual says clean it, but the customer would need to know how to take off the rear, sides and top cover, then strip down the grinder which has a reverse thread screw, not loose the ball bearings or springs and then put it all back together without missing anything, risking an electric shock, or moving the mechanism out of calibration.
Other machines we have repaired have had worn o-rings (first cup of coffee works but second doesn’t), split plastic (letting water pour over electrics) and not into the mug and the internet also is full of videos of people trying to fix or clean them because they seem overly complex and prone to failure.
Note. Other brands are available!
Repair is possible and parts are too, but what an over-design for a cuppa.
I don’t think we’ve seen any of these at our repair cafe. We’ve had a few pod machines which are terrible to work on and a few classic Gaggias (one that the owner had tried working on and hadn’t got the wires plugged back in correctly and one that really just seems to have needed a good clean).
I’m hindsight, I’m quite glad we ended up buying a fairly simple one for home a few years ago.
Only to you - it was set to be editable by Trust Level 2 or above. This is one way in which we can keep things like the safety guides in reasonable condition, by restricting who can actually create things there.
However, that makes no sense for Repairs > Brands & Tools so I added write access for TL1, knock yourself out
Pod machines are not good either. Brittle plastics, etc. ok if it’s just a pump that’s failed but if it’s the brew unit?…
Another pod machine last week had a barcode reader on it. The lens was opaque and needed polished back to clear with a Dremmel and then descaled not because it was clogged but because of some internal counter. Customer didn’t realise there was a fake plastic pod in the back of the machine to initiate the clean cycle.
Continuing to investigate. Looks like the motor is stuck and needs brushes sorted along with bearings checked. YT videos can be very beneficial sometimes.
Sorted. Motor needed a clean, pump then started to leak and needed reassembled and cleaned. Nice solid pucks of coffee coming out and reasonable coffee. Onwards to the next one.
