Rancilio Silvia (V1/V2) Steam Wand

the item arrived in quick time, fitting was a breeze. undo the original Gaggia nut, and remove their steam arm, It just pops out. remove the gaggia nut from the arm, needs a little force but i found no need to bend the tube. now remove the rubber protector from the ranchilo arm, and slide off the nut. its handy if you unscrew the ranchillo nozzle first, and a little gob oil will ease the process. remember you don't need either the silicone seal or the washer to fit this to the Gaggia. slide the Gaggia nut onto the ranchillo arm and replace the rubber guard. offer the arm up to the gaggia, press home and do up the nut, tight but not too tight. jobs done.

I assumed when purchasing this that because it said it was the Conversion Kit for the Gaggia Classic that the nut would be the correct size. However, I have the Gaggia Classic and the nut is much smaller than this one. This nut is so large it will not even fit in the hole where the nut screws into.

I selected this steam wand as a retro-fit to my Gaggia New Baby Class 06 machine, replacing the standard "panarello" frother. The outcome is good in some ways, less good in others. Positive: easy to fit, and not requiring some of the more radical mods to the original item that are featured in some online videos explaining how to fit it. It just screws straight on. It heats the milk more quickly than the original, and reaches deeper down into the frothing jug so handles smaller milk quantities more easily. No dismantling to clean it either - just wipe off. Finally, my origional "panarello" was becoming a real pain because the rubber seal holding the plastic end onto the metal wand was either getting stuck in the nozzle and thus coming away with it each time I cleaned ... MoreI selected this steam wand as a retro-fit to my Gaggia New Baby Class 06 machine, replacing the standard "panarello" frother. The outcome is good in some ways, less good in others. Positive: easy to fit, and not requiring some of the more radical mods to the original item that are featured in some online videos explaining how to fit it. It just screws straight on. It heats the milk more quickly than the original, and reaches deeper down into the frothing jug so handles smaller milk quantities more easily. No dismantling to clean it either - just wipe off. Finally, my origional "panarello" was becoming a real pain because the rubber seal holding the plastic end onto the metal wand was either getting stuck in the nozzle and thus coming away with it each time I cleaned it, or else tending to lose its grip on the metal tube and allowing the entire frother to explode into the milk jug while in use. No chance of either issue with this new wand. Negative: I clearly have some way to go in honing my frothing technique with this design, but I'm getting there. In particular, some of the online comments claiming it is easier to make "microfoam" with this device are, in my opinion, optimistic. My hope is that, with practice, I will gain the benefits listed above and overcome the difficulties. Also, although it is more straightforward to clean this wand, milk does stick to the outside more firmly so it is important to get to it quickly after use with a wet cloth. Incidentally I bought the wand with standard single steam hole, plus an additional 3-hole tip, to see which works better. I think the 3-hole one is winning.