Chris King Espresso Tamper

[eolson124]

Originally Posted by Lewis Moon

Yes. A very nice summation of my intent. Sorry if I offended anyone.

OP is not offended. Machining it down seems the way to go.

Thanks to those who responded.

[thirdgenbird]

Originally Posted by Lewis Moon

Yes. A very nice summation of my intent. Sorry if I offended anyone.

No offense here either. I guess I just felt we are all so far down that rabbit hole it isn't worth mentioning. I should have known that it wasn't serious given the source.

[ByronApp]

These are gorgeous. I've been trying for two months to order a pink one but they've been out of stock forever.

If yours happens to be pink I'll buy it from you.

[mister]

i forget where, it was atleast 6 yrs ago, but i found a pretty legit tamper in 51mm for my gaggia factory (same as a pavoni millenium)...

i'm sure one can be found with some searching...or you could get a local machine shop turn the king tamper down or probably even turn one for you...

[Willy]

If you are looking at tampers you might check out Reg Barbers at
http://www.coffeetamper.com/store/pc/home.asp

These are professional custom quality tampers made to your specifications. I got one a few years ago and have not used anything else.

[Pumablk]

I know some of you are have previously been looking for these. I just saw some colors are back in stock.

https://chrisking.com/collections/ge...spresso-tamper

[benb]

Originally Posted by ColnagoFan

The regular King tamper is an indulgence, to be sure, but just like their hubs & headsets, more than worth the cost based on price x life of the product.

Has anyone ever worn out a tamper? Leaving it out in the rain or having the cafe get bombed during a war don't count.

[JedB]

Originally Posted by eolson124

A friend recently gave me a new Chris King espresso tamper size 53 mm. It is beautiful - an unnecessary indulgence I would not buy for myself. The only problem is that my La Pavoni Professional (post-millenium) espresso machine has a 51 mm basket and it appears that 53 mm is the smallest tamper size available.

Does anyone know whether the Chris King espresso tamper is available in size 51 mm or smaller? Has anyone heard of machining a tamper's diameter down to size?

Thanks.

Take it to a machinist.
Bring the Espresso basket with you so they can do a caliper measure.
You will end up with a small dot on the base of the tamper where they put the pin/point in to spin it on the lathe.

I did this for a friend that had a fancy red tamper, but needed the diameter shaved. Turned out awesome with a nice shiny aluminimum beveled bezel edge.

[marciero]

hot take reply:
You mean you are still using an off the rack tamper? Arent all the coffee influencer types having them custom made?

Considered reply:
I would think the machined edge from a lathe would be different than the what is it- forged? cast?- edge that it came with, which is probably very smooth, polished, grain in the metal oriented just so. That type of thing would bother me. I'm sure people have strongly held preferences about such things.

[JedB]

Originally Posted by marciero

hot take reply:
You mean you are still using an off the rack tamper? Arent all the coffee influencer types having them custom made?

Considered reply:
I would think the machined edge from a lathe would be different than the what is it- forged? cast?- edge that it came with, which is probably very smooth, polished, grain in the metal oriented just so. That type of thing would bother me. I'm sure people have strongly held preferences about such things.

Just hold the machined part to a buffer wheel for 30secs...

[jcs7282]

When I swapped to a smaller (49mm) machine, I took the original tamper bottom that came with my CK one to a local machinist and hired him to make me one of the same general shape, but 49mm in diameter. A few days later, it was done. Kept the original base as-is in case I ever wanted to change to a standard size group again.

[mattfee]

Chris King buzz + Caffeine buzz... I want to get a new espresso machine just so that I can get one of these beautiful tools

[climbgdh]

Finally pulled the trigger on one of these….. matte turquoise.

[klasse]

Now I need a Pasquini espresso machine!

[eri]

I’ve been using one of these for six years and it hasn’t gotten old. The shaft is grippy because it’s got a single spiral groove. The face is hardened 440 and very slightly domed. I think this simple object has the nicest machining I’ve ever seen.

My 58.4 is just slightly too small for my baskets. I asked at last open house if they could machine me a face a bit larger but they said they were definitely no longer making the dome version.