I finished assembling everything, hooked it up and tightened all the fittings. I turned on the water and there was a leak right at the start. The initial connection from the pump to my “assembly” was leaking.
I started up an HB thread and it looks like I need some kind of sealing gasket in this case. I’ll probably need one at the other end as well.

Emails are out for gasket options. The project continues..

**Update 2016/08/06**
Quick update that didn’t rate its own post. Copper crush washers were the answer. I needed one 3/8 and one 1/8 to seal both sides of this thing.
Part numbers:
CU-2-RP-2
CU-6-RP-2

Based on feedback, I am setting the needle valve to between 40mL/30 seconds and 60mL/30 seconds and will be trying actual espresso on this thing this weekend.
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First Test

Bad Actor