Help with impeller replacement for vintage espresso machine

Projects
1

Hey there hackers,

I’m a bit stumped trying to find a replacement for a very small (~1 cm) flexible rubber (or neoprene) impeller for a vintage espresso machine that is otherwise in good shape. Both small water transfer pumps insider the machine have impellers that are degraded. Searching online only leads me to impellers for boats and larger (but still small) pumps, which while as small as 1-2" are still too large for what I need.

Here are some pictures of the machine and one of the degraded impellers for reference:

machine-1
machine-11080×1920 219 KB

impeller-1
impeller-11080×1920 146 KB

Does anyone have any ideas or sources for parts like this? The pumps themselves have no identifier, and while I haven’t begun my boots-on-the-ground shop visit spree to find more info, the part so far is elusive.

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I’ve only restored vintage Saceo machines. There are loads of parts out there for those and I wonder if they are built in a similar fashion on the inside. You might find what you need going down that path. You could also design and then 3D print a mold and then cast a food-safe type of replacement (I’m assuming the impeller is immersed in water so straight up 3d printing a TPU type of replacement may not be food safe).

Edit: here’s a teardown of the Starbucks Barista (saeco machine). Anything look familiar there? https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/VaOSxkkoENPwE3Yp.huge

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Thanks for the quick reply Janet. 10-4. Good idea. I feel like I might need to end up doing exactly that regarding printing the part and making a mold.

The teardown looks almost exactly the same except it appears to be using a vibratory pump, whereas my model appears to use a rotary vane pump. That said, maybe I need to dig more into rotary vane parts vs searching for an impeller.

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It might help to measure the outer diameter, too. I can’t comment as to the food safety, but it’s possible that many boat engine impellers would be compatible, as a pump is a pump.

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That’s a great suggestion and would probably be super-easy to cast as well.

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Thanks! The outer diameter is 10mm, which is quite a bit smaller than even the smallest boat engine impeller I can find. That said, I’m going to keep digging.

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Is it made of neoprene do you think? Also what is the shaft diameter?

edit: I just zoomed in and don’t think it’s neoprene. :smiley:

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This is too large obviously but might be helpful as a design start. It has 9 vanes. Printables

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9

Would an impeller for an RC boat work?

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Thanks all! After looking at all the options, I’m going to print the object Janet linked, make a mould and then make a few silicon copies. Might even make a whole bunch if it’s not too difficult. Will keep y’all posted.

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That’s awesome. Sounds like a plan!