Easy And Safe Burr Alignment
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- Опубликовано: 31 дек 2020
- Align flat burrs with no chance of damage. Unlike the Hale method, my technique is easy, clean, and reversible. Can be adapted to most brands of #CoffeeGrinder. I'm using the Eureka #Specialita as an example.
NOTE: I would not recommend shimming ceramic burrs; shim the carriers only.
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Хобби
8:20 "flat burrs produce more fines than conical burrs in general..."
No, they don't. You have that backward.
You're right. I misspoke.
@@wiredgourmet its awesome to see a genuinely kind and polite response - I hope the internet does not sour you too much 🙂
He is so right. it doesn't make that much of a difference but we have to align that so we can sleep better
Ding!
I already lost hundreds of sleeps caused from "what about if I change that setting.... 🤔"
I just bought my first serious 75mm flat burr grinder.... So really if I'm not losing sleep over but alignment, I don't need to do it ?
have slept good till now, but after seeing this i will definitely sleep worse until doing this.
@@rinky_dinky Alternatively, you could wonder why you are not losing sleep over alignment, thereby losing sleep for another reason. And so on, recursively.
(If you are getting coffee you like out of your equipment, leave it well alone other than cleaning and normal maintenance, would be my suggestion).
Best alignment tutorial out there. Thanks a lot for sharing!
I dont even have a mignon but just had to watch this masterpiece of a video. Narration, music, camera work, and also a great alignment technique very well explained...what a joy.
thanks, this video helped me realign my 2 years old Specialita to a perfect state
"Apprentice torque" - I chuckled on this :D
Thank you for this guide. It was thorough concise with a little bit of comedic relief. I am looking at purchasing a libra and this will deem useful for aligning the burrs.
Thank you! I went from 45 g in 17 sec to 40 g in 38 sec.
Did a mixture of both methods for the upper burr.
That tutorial was so helpful!
Huzzah for a great video! Watched a couple times before starting on my 3 month old Eureka Turbo, then referenced back to bits as I went along. I used a socket wrench to rotate motor, and you can feel and hear when it's properly aligned. Choked my microcasa a leva at old setting so went a good step courser. A truly excellent shot and it's not even totally dialed in but too caffeinated to continue.
Thank you so much for sharing this, I was looking everywhere for an in-depth explanation or guide on aligning the burr set, and this is extremely helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Agreed. Thank you. Other videos I watched used the sanding approach. This is more suitable for me
Thank you! I did this for my Oro single dose, from the moment I'd purchased it I felt something was off, and I had the same issue as you. The top burr was way off and so I used two pieces of foil to make it more even. It's still not perfect but I reckon it's better than before.
Thank you for detailed and kind explanation.
One of the best videos I have ever watched no kidding. It's perfect
Thanks. One does one's best :)
Thank you for this in depth tutorial on flat burr alignment. I never thought that it was something that mere mortals would be capable of attempting.
You're welcome. Glad it was helpful.
1:28: I just rotated the top part just 1/3rd and tried which position gives best result (after cleaning but without removing grinding burrs). This resulted in a perfect alignment and to my surprise no coffee came out at the setting where the burrs just touched each other - didn't have this before. So no need to add spacers, just repositioning and cleaning.
how did you try which position gives best result without removing the burrs? thanks
@@OQULTO I removed the cover plate that holds the burr, painted the 2 burrs like in the video and rotated the cover. However the elevation correction is just a workaround and never gives a perfect result. Best way to get the perfect fit is to use carborundum powder with water (e.g. 1500,1800 or finer) and grind the burrs flat as installed. Cleaning them after completion. You get the perfect fit, no adjustment needed (but always install the same way).
A truly excellent how-to on making my soon to arrive Eureka Mignon better. Also This technique can be applied to all flat burr grinders. Very useful.
Thanks. Just be sure to get familiar with it on the factory setup first, so you can decide which way you prefer it. Have fun.
thanks again for a great video, worked on mine today and now I can finally sleep better tonight...
Pleasant dreams :)
I had a brand new Eureka Mignon Specialita delivered an hour ago. Before it got dirty, I thought I would ensure the burrs were aligned by following this method. Sure enough, the top burr was out. Took two goes to get it aligned with aluminium foil folded twice on either side of one screw and just twice under a second screw. Retested and it is pretty consistent now.
Thanks so much for this instructional video!!!
You're welcome
Great tutorial. Thanks for putting it up!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks got mignon xl and just needed this
Aligning my Eureka Mignon burrs! Thank you!
i bought a Quamar Q13E grinder 2 weeks ago...and guess what ?
i couldn't sleep without aligning it !
your videos helped so much!
Thank you!
That's great to hear :)
thank you for this, great advice
Fantastic tutorial, subscribed
Thx man!!! 🙏 using the aluminuim foil is amazing idea!!!
Thank you! I believe it made a significant change on my Gaggia MDF!
You're welcome. I'm glad it was helpful.
@@wiredgourmet but... just one thing... do you really believe it is "not really important" / placebo? 🤔
@@uncle-k3mIt depends on how far out of spec the machine is. A few thousandths \ less than a tenth of a mm, I doubt you'll notice a difference. If it's out by 0.25 mm or more, grind quality will start to suffer, more so as the flaw increases. A quality grinder probably leaves the factory in good enough shape not to worry.
@@wiredgourmet I got mine used so maybe it was really “a lot” out of spec
Thank you! I haven't found a video describing this in a proper way. Mostly they are just zeroing the adjustment screw or (in rare cases) align only one of the burrs, thinking they will be parallel to eachother.
Thanks. I'm glad you found it helpful.
How do you zero the adjustment dial? I think I've messed mine up and the burr's are now touching at the 1.5 mark which is way off 0!
Upgraded yesterday from old mci and ec685 to new specialata and used ascaso. I used nearly 1 kg of coffee and was really stressed why I don't get enough pressure on the coffee machine. Then tried the new grinder with the old ec685. Same Problem, wasn't able to get good result. That moment I realized it was about the grinder. After disassembled the asacso half. Yeah so finally, this hint made the big change. Now I got good coffee in the 2nd try. Not 1 kg of waste.
Glad it worked :)
Just rewatched this as I'm swapping the burrs on my first electric grinder. Thanks for the point on overtightening, my burrs are two screw held and me tightening them too much on the stationary burr is giving me a wipe at the top and bottom but not in the middle section, will revise this tomorrow!
Yeah, nice and snug is the way -- and try to apply the same torque to both. I know that's not easy :)
Thanks for all the detailed reviews. Would great seeing you reviewing the Df64!
Thanks. I have several interesting grinders lined up for the next couple of months, but no DF64 yet, I'm afraid.
Brilliant thank you
Very useful!
다른 기종도 참고 할만한 정보입니다. 내가 쓰는 그라인더는 체아도 E37S인대 정품Burr가 장착 되어있어서 얼라이먼트가 틀어진건 생각도 못하고 Burr가 닯아서인줄 알고 교체할까 중이었는대 이 영상을 보고 얼라이먼트를 확인 조정하여 해결하였습니다.
저 처럼 애소 추출시 후반에 터지거나 너무 조이면 분쇄가루가 토출이 잘 안 된다거나 하시면 이 영상 참고 하시어 얼라이먼트를 확인 하신것도 좋으리라 봅니다. 도움 됬어요. Good thank you !
'Apprentice torque' had me in stitches 🤣
Glad you liked it :)
I appreciate the tutorial. My Mignon zero was great before my alignment but now it's just a little better.
To anyone considering this: I'd say it's worth the effort. It's nice to know your equipment is preforming optimally.
I have the zero as well. Would this at all help the clogging issue I have with it? It likes to clog a few times a month and it is annoying.
@@Hillbillyspree It clogs the exit chute?
@@bluemystic7501 Probably. I haven't taken the front off to verify. I will when I get home. And maybe experiment with taking off the declumper.
@@Hillbillyspree Are you spritzing the beans with water?
@@bluemystic7501 I used to, but it caused the clogging more. So I don't.
James Hoffman brought us here!
Welcome to the community, pilgrim :)
@@wiredgourmet Thanks for the great content!
Great video. Not sleeping well here. It will be great to know the torque needed to tighten each burr screw as we are talking microns here.
Awesome stuff, thank you for this! Really helpful!
Great procedure. I have attempted it twice but couldn't seem to get it to a place that I felt it made an improvement. On the second attempt, I stripped one of the threaded holes on the lower burr mounting plate. As I understand it, that plate is essentially a part that cannot be replaced by the consumer as it is pressed on at the factory with tooling. I would have preferred that Eureka publish torque specs for those screws because I have the tools to do that. Kind of ridiculous it is that easy to ruin a grinder.
The lower carrier is not an interference fit. Just loosen the left-hand threaded nut and use a very small screwdriver in the coffee outlet opening to pry it up. If you're not experienced with thread repair, maybe send it out or replace the part. Hope this helps.
Great video! Is it possible to shim the lower burr the same way as the upper burr? Or do I risk throwing off the balanced motor.
I had kind of a funny issue. I installed an aftermarket adjustment knob which required unscrewing the stock knob, so I backed it all the way out then to get it back on good and tight I screwed it as far down as it would go just to make sure I had enough tension that it wouldn't back off when adjusting coarser. Then I thought while I'm at it, might as well clean it out a bit. So when I re-installed the top plate I didn't first back off the setting so the burrs were still tight so the top plate was actually a little loose. I was going nuts as it would sound like I had zeroed it out, but the extra little play wouldn't let the grind size get fine enough. At about the same time I had also made adjustment to my machine so I thought that was the culprit at first until I pulled out my old machine and got the same results. I finally pulled the grinder apart again noticed the issue.
TL;DR make sure you back far enough off the adjustment that the top plate isn't touching the bottom burr when you tighten it down.
This made a huge difference on my Silenzio. I can go half a turn finer. Recently a blend I like with Sidamo seems to be a little on the old side and I just couldn't grind fine enough for my 120 s dimmer shots. Now I can and I've started to go much finer and the particle distribution seems better the shots are very consistent and predictable and no channeling issues at all (I WDT). Getting super tasty shots. Maybe the cheaper Silenzio doesn't come as aligned as a Specialita or above so it makes a bigger difference? Because once I started preinfusing and grinding much finer I noticed a lot of strange behaviour and inconsistency that went away. I did it temporarily and that helped a lot and today properly with about 5 burr repaintings and now it's super fine. 0 used to be just before burr contact. Now that's two full numbers further down. It's still not perfect, it had a little bit of a tilt left but close enough. I almost considered a new grinder because I couldn't go fine enough sometimes. Maybe badly aligned out of the shop.
Loved your videos. They are the best.. I followed this one to find if my Mignon Manualle was fine. To my surprise the upper burrs were ok but the lower burrs test didn’t pass. Half of the lower burr mark were not wiped out. You didn’t cover how to shim the lower burr.. but I believe the process is the same? Shims should go on the lower burr carrier right?
Fantastic video, shimming the top burr definitely helped me to get a finer grind. However, one problem (?) of my Mignon Oro did not disappear: when turning the dial clockwise, starting from a coarse grind, at some point I hear a grinding noise. I doubt this is burr contact, however, because I do not get a fine grind at this setting. Turning the dial further, this noise disappears until eventually, the burrs come into contact (different noise). At this point, I get a pretty fine grind.
Do you have any idea what might cause this?
Thank you for the useful video! I have a Eureka Mignon oro single dose and I tried your technique only to find that it seemed as though my bottom bur was the one out of whack.. The dry erase markers were completely wiped off the top, but only one small section of the lower. Would you adjust/shim the lower in the same manner?? i.e. removing the bur from the burr carrier and shimming between the burr and burr carrier until even? This is ultimately what I did, and I feel I have improved things, but just wanted some insight on your end if you have any. Thanks in advance!
My bottom burr did not need any alignment, however the top one did. It took me a few hours to align the top burr but I got it to a point I liked.
My grinder started to overheat when I dialed in too fine. I had to clean the inside, when I was placing the bottom burr back in the permanent markings were gone for the bottom burr, I suspect due to the heating.
The top burr is still aligned, however do I have to do the whole realignment again if the placement of the bottom burr isn't exactly in the same position as when it was first aligned?
Or is it still technically aligned?
First time stumbling upon your videos and I'm staying! This is the tutorial I have been looking for :D And I also use a Mokka pot like the one you showed so I'm really curious as to how you do your Mokka brew
Thanks. Do check out Moka Pot Voodoo; I think you'll like it.
@@wiredgourmet Thanks! I'll do that in a jiffy!
Love this channel as I am new to espresso. Just purchased the Eureka Mignon LIbra grinder and am having trouble getting the grind fine enough to get the desired pressure during extraction and fuller extractions.
Has anyone upgraded the stock burrs on their Eureka Mignon LIbra to SSP or another burr manufacturer? If so, did you find it to be a worthwhile investment. I do not have the engineering or mechanical experience and aptitude of Thomas or many of the others that have commented on this video.
Much to learn!
I’ve got a specialita with a lower burr carrier that is not exactly concentric when rotating. I can see it’s slightly off the center axis as it rotates, any suggestions for this? I’ve tried shimming both top and bottom burrs and reseating etc but at first touch of the burrs I can see they are still not parallel to one another and the lower carrier is definitely off axis. There’s alao not enough play on the lower burr to solve the non concentric rotation of the lower carrier. Any suggestions?
Hello. Thank you for the helpful video. I see you described this in other responses as optional and more of a solution to a problem rather than a preventative maintenance. As such, do you advise against aligning immediately out the box? My first flat burr grinder is en route now, and I'm thinking of how best to care for it.
If you have trouble dialing in a decent grind in the very fine range, like Turkish and espresso, you may have mis-aligned burrs. If you can get a nice grind, they're probably pretty parallel. If you do mostly pourover or French press, you probably wouldn't notice much difference either way :)
So I dismantled my Eureka Mignon. Initially I wanted to remove the bottom burr carrier for cleaning, so I turned the nut clockwise till it came off (at first this kept turning non stop but I managed to figure it out by unscrewing the dial completely first). In the end I couldn't remove the carrier so gave up and put the nut back on by turning it anti-clockwise. The nut seems to be right, but it just keeps turn and never reaches a point of resistance where it feels tight. So, assuming it is tight enough, I then put everything back together (unfortunately, I didn't mark the burr positions the first time I dismantled it). I then saw this video and decided why not do this. So, I marked the bottom and top burrs. The pattern I saw was the bottom burr isn't flat. I shimmed it but it either results in too much or too little change. I couldn't get the bottom to be flat, so then tried to compensate by shimming the top burrs. Now when I operate my grinder I can hear the burr's unevenly touching at about the 1.5 setting when previously I couldn't hear any contact even at around the 0.3 mark. It seems that my zero is not calibrated anymore. Is this because I haven't tightened the bottom burr nut properly or have I messed up the alignment with the shims? Could you give me some advice to help me fix this please?
Can anyone tell me how to find the true zero in the specialita, I haven’t find any tutorial about it :(
I'm really tempted to give this a go, but the fear of messing up my Eureka Oro is real 😂
Great video, thanks! I have a fairly new Mignon Brew Pro, and when I was checking the alignment, my burrs do NOT touch at all, even at the finest (closest) setting, as I rotate the motor shaft, there's no sound of rubbing, and none of the dry erase board markings were scrapped off.? Also, how do you remove the lower burr if I wanted to shim it upwards? I removed the 3 screws, but it doesn't want to budge.
The Brew Pro has an internal spacer that limits the burr adjustment knob travel. You'll have to remove it while you test and calibrate. You can get a small, slotted screwdriver between the lower burr and its carrier by removing the front panel and going through the coffee outlet. But I don't know why you'd want to remove the burr before you see how it's oriented via the whiteboard marker test.
For some reason I can't get most of the flats touching!
I'm always right before the 0 point for espresso.. and mostly it's not fine enough to dial good shots!
Can't even use my VST basket at all..
I found that the burrs touch at 1 specific point first but when i tried chiming, I got really weird results.. like touching exactly at opposite sides like 12 O'clock & 6 but 3 & 9 don't touch!!
I need help please 😅 i feel like i messed up the flats that I think I might need new burrs idk 😅
Cheers for this awesome video!
I have a soecialita as well, but noticed that the lower burr is wiggeling a tiny bit while grinding. Is this normal due to rotatory forces?😅
The most common cause is one of the three screws holding the burr to the carrier coming loose. I would check that first. If they're all snug, it's probably fine.
Hi man do u know what type of screw using for top burr?
Hello! I hope you can get to this reply even though it has been 2 years. What if the lower burr is not balanced? I repeated the steps you have provided and the lower burr doesn't behave like the way it does in this video when it comes to the color being removed in a uniform way by the rotation.
hi, thanks for the great video. is it better to wipe off the marker once you are complete, or just run a couple of shots worth (36-40g) of beans through and let them wipe off the marks?
15 g of coffee should remove all the white board ink residue.
New Specialita owner here… is this done with every cleaning or when burrs are replaced?
will this work with the Mignon Manuale Model too ? i saw it has a different motor and smaller burrs than the Specialita. thanks
Great stuff. I used it to perfect the alignment of burrs on a non branded Chinese grinder. The alignment was far from perfect when I received the grinder
Thanks. Glad I could help :)
if i was suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder i would definitely do this 😂
Great video. It seems the grinder does not have any shims from factory. Do you know how they make alignments? Or, if there is to adjust, why does grinder come out of alignment in the first place?
At the factory, they don't usually make adjustments; they simply pass-fail test, and if a unit falls below the company's standards, it's rejected. Later, with years of use, there's wear on bearings, shafts, and burr surfaces, etc. A new grinder from a quality outfit shouldn't need any adjustment.
What do I do if the motor is not balanced? It’s the bottom burr that touches the top and then loosens so I hear a periodic scratch chik-chik-chik if I rotate. Is there a way to check if the lower platform moves strictly horizontally? And if not, is there a way to balance it?
Does anyone knows how to change de zero offset of the knob for the eureka. Mine is at 5 when the burrs touch each other.
Wait for that last part, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't most of what you said the opposite of general consensus? I thought it was flat burrs that tended to produce less fines than conical, and that once aligned, will have a more unimodal particle distribution. Doesn't this upgrade prompt one to grind finer, not coarser due to the faster brew times and the reduced possibility of channeling?
I would not be surprised; if you look around the channel, you'll find that most of what I say goes against popular consensus :) I report my own experience, which, in this case, is that alignment will (slightly) narrow the size distribution of your bigger bits, yielding (slightly) more tiny bits knocked off, thus (slightly) increasing your fines, but also (slightly) improving size distribution overall. As for the "in general" statement, that too is based on personal experience, which might or might not be broad enough to be reliable. But then, 'popular consensus' is unreliable because it's something 'everyone knows,' so we tend to repeat it without testing. At least I'm empirically unreliable :)
Great idea... I am trying to increase my 18 to 36g shot ratio to be in the 25 range, yet still getting 13-15 seconds, and it sounds like am bringing my Minion to a screeching halt at times. So, Im not sure if my burrs are worn, or the issue you have demonstrated, but I dont here a "OFF" spin where its touch-no touch-touch...etc. I need to slow my time by 10 seconds! and not sure what the issue is? My temp is about 93C.
Seams like I resolved this. See other posts of mine.
Could you make a video on radial alignment as well? Thanks.
I will, in time. I've got several equipment maintenance/repair/hack demonstrations planned.
Can one use edible ink markers? I am loath to have the chemicals in dry erase ink in contact with my food.
Thank you! I have had a Eureka Specialita for about a year, am very happy with its espresso grinding performance, and your video is a great resource for maintenance. I use a single-dose funnel instead of the hopper, and also a bellows.
I check my Specialita about once a month for cleaning. Recenty I have been finding that my burrs and the grinding chamber have been staying relatively clean, but I get extensive clogging of coffee powder in the rubber chute and especially around the "clump crusher" attachment (zig-zag metal wands) at the top of the chute.
Is there a good, simple way to clean this chute area without opening up the machine as we do when we need access to the grinding burrs?
Rocking it back and letting it fall forward a bit while running usually works for me. For stubborn clumps, I use a pipe cleaner and push it toward the outlet from the bottom of the chute. With the grinder turned off :)
At 3:36, you rotate the dial even finer after finding the zero point of the burrs. Is this required as part of the alignment?
We need to align the upper burr only, or both bottom burr and upper burr?
Well i have to try something. Watched a vid on cleaning, took mine apart and cleaned it, now it's terrible. Can hear the burrs touching but the grind is far too coarse. Basically it's ruined, so I hope this will fix it. I did not remove the upper burr from it's carrier, just took the top bit off and got the bottom burr off (eventually) and no, I didn't know to mark anything. Since I didn't take the top burr off, I guess I need to shim underneath the bottom burr? Or just try rotating it across all 3 screws and hope it lines up again? Edit: So today I took it apart again and simply rotated the lower burr, . Then the machine jammed up and wouldn't turn? Motor got hot. Weird. Let it cool down and tried rotating one more postion, and now it works. Did the magic market test and pretty even. Now back to making proper coffee, but I'm still unsure about the main motor. Why did it overheat and jam?
Wow.....
Well, I was finally able to do this adjustment just now(with some success), It took me about 5 layers of heavy duty alum sheets to make some improvements...AND I was able to grind finer, more even contact(85-93% even marks), but it is at my grinders ZERO point!!! Whats the point if I cant use this setting normally? I have the older Mignon, aka MFC, which is very similar design, although they isolated the top plate and gave the top burr a independent plate. Also some more insulation.
Unless there is something completely different I am not considering? (Before I had just ordered burrs for my model grinder, and I am not sure if they are espresso burrs. New ones I ordered are. But I think they are, since the time before this new espresso machine, its been at least 7 years since I was drinking espresso with this grinder and a Nuovo Simonelli Oscar. I dont think I was timing my shots then either, LOL>
I know burrs last a long time, but I have been mashing hem up trying for a finer grind, and to rule it out, I ordered a new set of 54mm burrs. I am contemplating buying a new Mignon grinder to compare and see how and why mine is so close to zero point, and only now getting 23seconds after pre-infusion. Any help would be most appreciated!
What a GREAT video!!!
Nice Video, I had a good time watching. Of course I had to try it to save my good nights sleep. But. I used regular permanent marker. What would the advantage of the white board marker be?
The permanent marker needs a lot more friction to be wiped away. Whiteboard ink rubs away easily, so you can detect minor issues. It's a more sensitive test.
@@wiredgourmet that makes sense indeed. Now i need such a marker. Thanks for your quick reply!
Brother, what to do when the burr marks 2 opposite points of contact?
Could you gently run the burrs against each other to kind of run them in with each other then blow any fine metal dust out with an air line?
The burs are precisely made HS steel with a quality surface; no de-burring needed. You can't really lap them against each other.
hey cool video. i just cleaned my perfetto a few days ago, just before i watched this video. i didnt mark the original positions of the burrs and now i have some vibrations. not much, but definitely more then before. do you have any advice for realigning/centering the burrs again?
Thanks. If you think it worth the effort, you can rotate the upper burr carrier through its 3 positions and test each for the least vibration, then mark it.
@@wiredgourmet Thanks for your reply. I guess the problem is, that i unscrewed the lower burrs, that are attached to the motor. The upper burrs should not cause any vibration since they aren't rotating. I give it a go and try all positions.
Great video again! But I don't understand why you disapprove that running the grinder untill hearing the chirping noise slighlty. The outest side of blades are flat and actually not cutting anything. Unless you go so finer and finer after the chriping point, that might not be a problem, right?
Oh, just covering my bottom. No one can say I told them something harmful, when they crank it too tight while it's running :) But for my own preference, touch is more reliable to me. I mean, I can feel how much contact there is better than I can hear it.
can I use 55mm burr for 50mm burr mignon
would this process be different when aligning the Fellow Ode burrs since they are interlocking and are not flat at the edges?
It seems the flats might not be 90 deg to the sides, so the ink test doesn't work. If that's so, you would likely need to use an indicator. www.home-barista.com/grinders/fellow-ode-brew-grinder-review-t65577-840.html
Hello, my specialita unit was so much burs desaligned that i need put two .2mm shims betwn the low bur carrier and upper (only the 2 screws near the display). Before this my unit cant grind for espresso WHITOUT the burs are in contact. Very dissapointmet whith EUREKA quality control. I really hope faultless grinder in a 400 euros grinder.
Hi. Im European, us the "aluminium foil" the same what we call tin foil? I know theyre two different metals, but the stuff you wrap the BBQ meat in we call aluminium foil, but Americans seeem to call tin foil. This foil comes in little strips, while the "tin foil" (American) stuff crumples and stuff.
And how do the tiny strips stick to the burr holders?
At 7:14 you say when you're shimming the carrier you need to shim the opposite side from where the ink is rubbed off. The spot where the ink is rubbed off is the closest the two burrs get, and when you're shimming the carrier you're moving the burrs further apart, so you have to shim the screw holes closest to the touch point, not opposite the touch point. You shim the opposite side when you're shimming the actual burr, because then you're moving the further part of the burr closer to the other burr.
Sorry if I was confusing. I meant opposite the side we shimmed on the burr itself. As I say, for the carrier we shim "the opposite side, where the ink had rubbed away indicating early contact." I could have expressed it better, but I wasn't wrong.
I just wanted to thank you so much for the tutorial! I was finally able to align the burrs of my Mignon Specialita. It was the bottom burr that was misaligned and after 6-7 hours of work I came through. Weird observation though: yesterday the top burr seemed to be misaligned as I hadn’t checked the bottom burr yet. Today, when I started with the bottom burr and I aligned it, I ran the marker test on the top burr and it seemed to be aligned too. How could that be!?
Maybe the top carrier wasn't fully seated or fastened at that time? Anyway, glad I could help.
@@wiredgourmet No, I don't think so, the top burr was fastened properly from the very beggining
Would you say it is worth it to try all combinations of fixed burr position on the carrier and mounting positions of carrier in bid to find a parallel to rotating burr before shimming? Or once promising shimming combination presents itself just to go for it?
In DF64 we have 9 positions to try for fixed burr 3 between burr position on the carrier and another 3 carrier to body.
I would definitely not worry too much about that. I say mark them before you start, so you don't introduce inconsistency during the procedure. But once it's shimmed so you get both burrs wiped pretty well, you're done.
@@wiredgourmet I aligned it today. It is not done to perfection but it is much better than it was. Construction of DF64 is quite different but your tutorial was still very helpful.
I am based in Dublin maybe you would like to meet and test DF64 with SSP burrs. I know I would be very interested in seeing robot in action :)
Please, I need some confirmation about burr alignment on an eureka mignon specialita.
To align the upper burr (the stationary burr) of the grinder, we should add the aluminum shims on the side where the ink has not been erased… is it correct ? Thank for your help :-)
Yes if you shim the burr. No if you shim the carrier.
Why do we have to adjust the grind with beans inside? Will the burrs get damaged if not?
I don't believe it's necessary to do that.
Thank you for sharing your method.
What I also find very interesting while finding my zero point is, that the zero point seems to be different while the grinder is running:
(values are not accurate, I rounded to 1st digit)
When the grinder is running, the touching-sound occurs at 5.1. When I set the grinder to 5.2, while running, the sound disappears. When I then stop the grinder, I can hear the sound again as the grinder reaches 0 rpm. To get rid of that sound at low rpm/when manually rotating, I have to set the grinder a bit coarser, let's say to 5.3.
Do you also experienced something like this? Is this maybe caused by bad alignment?
At the moment I have a very bad experience dialing in. The new beans are maybe not freshly roasted as they unfortunately got bought from the super marked during my absence. At the moment, I have set my grinder to the finest setting possible (5.35 considering the example above) and ony this way I get a ratio of 1:2 in 23 seconds. This is so strange to me. Maybe it is really only because of the bad beans, but that is how I found out about the 'issue' described above, because I tried to use the finest setting possible.
The sound might be just coffee grit between the burrs. Also there is thread lash, so there is some play in the adjustment system. Now, if you have trouble with fine grinding, maybe the beans are an issue, or maybe the burrs might not be aligned well, so check with a whiteboard marker as shown, or ask someone with some mechanical experience to check for you.
@@wiredgourmet thank you very much for your fast reply. Meanwhile, I also assume that the beans are the issue. However I will also check the alignment just to be sure. I think that now I can exclude that my grinder has an issue. Thanks again for your great content, I love it!
@@wiredgourmet I did the alignment and it's definitely worth it. I was really surprised how 4 layers of super thin aluminum foil can change the grind result. Now, I can grind the beans at almost +1 instead of +0.05 getting still longer extractions than it was possible before!
What shim thickness and machine oil did you use?
Hello, nice tutorial!
I just found out that my new specialita is not aligned, but I decided not to mess with it because I can sleep well even if I know that my burrs are not aligned lol.
By the way, do you have any idea how to loosen the knob when it is too stiff to turn?
If you mean the grind adjustment knob, you can take some load off the pre-tensioning spring. I show how to do that in the Single Dose review. ruclips.net/user/videoAw0EhqPCEXc
@@wiredgourmet Awesome! Thanks! I will check that out :)
Fwiw, I would use a small dab of Vaseline instead of machine oil to hold the shim
Thanks to you I could realign my burrs quite easily. Bottom burr had a lower point at one screw. 1 set of 2 shims around the screw made that lower point much more narrow: marker stays on a lenght of about 1cm vs 4 cm before. I wonder if that's safe because I find it's odd that ink stays fully there while it's all wiped out everywhere else. On upper burr I had to place 2 sets of shims and alignement looks now perfect. Prior to this I had like 30% of the surfaces still marked after test.
Sound test: I still can hear burrs touching at a particular point just before touching evenly when I tight the knob a slight more. Before alignment I couldn't hear the burrs touching evenly so it seems a great progress.
Noticeable change: zero point has moved closer to 0.
I had no complaints with my 2 months old Specialita but I'm new at grinding. I'm not sure I will taste any difference but I'll comment on that!
I just took my eureka grinder apart & didn’t know it should be aligned! Now how can i align it. It’s grinding ok
If it's working fine it doesn't need aligning.
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I've been leant an Atom 65 (currently using a J-max) by a friend and thought it would be great to check the alignment of the burrs to make sure all is running well before I begin. His was used in his coffee shop but burrs seem in good shape. Performing the marker test everything seems even all around, but the flats aren't completely cleaned of marker. The inner point remains and only the outer edge is rubbed away. On both top and bottom burrs. So I'm not really sure if that's normal or where to go from here haha. Any advice from anyone?
Yes, they're fine and don't need attention. The "flat" surface may slope away from the burr circumference on some models. Not an issue.
Thank you for this excellent tutorial. I just had one question. You mention over tightening and this is honestly my biggest worry. Is there a way to determine how tight the 3 flathead screws holding the burrs in place need to be without using a torque screw?
The screws have to be snug or the burr won't seat evenly in the carrier, but you can overdo it. A screwdriver with a narrow handle gives you less rotational leverage and is less likely to cause trouble. It's one of those things where experience helps: one develops a feel for it.
I actually have torque screwdriver. Do you have any idea to what NM it would be ok to screw burrs in? I am currently doing 1.8nm which seems similar in feel to the feel that first unscrewing gave me :)
Another question what is machine oil? I have some choices of automotive oils like differential oil, would that do?
BTW would you be interested in testing comparing DF64 as I am in Dublin :)
Cheers
Just curious if you know of a way to calibrate the zero point of the grinder. Now that I’ve aligned the burrs, the touch point is no longer at zero, it is instead at negative 4.5. My OCD is driving me up the walls.
A bit hit or miss, but you can unscrew the knob and place small flat washers on the threaded rod. With the right thickness it will line up on zero.
Makes you wonder how the heck they even get anything remotely close to zero point calibration at the factory.