"Tamping Assembly"

I call the black plastic diagonal assembly with the brown top the "tamping assembly". It receives the ground coffee, forms the puck, holds the puck while the water/steam goes through it, and then drops it in the waste tray (I presume).

Note If you choose to remove the tamping assembly you should carefully note where the brown portion is on the larger centre plastic screw. Maybe take a picture, or count exactly how many threads are above the brown portion.

When you reassemble, this it needs to be in the exact orientation it was in when you took it apart or it might break the machine. I realised it was a timing mechanism after having taken it apart and misaligned it. Luckily I had pictures to help get it back to the starting position.

Remove the three T15 screws marked with the red circles. Top two are fine thread and bottom course thread. Note the screw marked with a blue sqaure does not need to be removed to remove the tamping assembly.

Also note the unused screw hole marked with a green square. You might need a long handled screw driver or an extension bit.