Macap M4 dead after first use. Help!

[arossphoto]

I can't believe this is happening! I just received a Macap stepless today and after the first test grind it is completely dead. No power at all.

Here's the only things I did:

- Following advice in another post here, I turned the worm gear to the finest setting (until I couldn't turn it anymore) to find the zero point with the machine off. I then back it off about three numbers on the collar.

- I put about two tablespoons of beans into the hopper and turned it on. It started grinding, but nothing was coming out of the hopper. I waited about 15 or 30 seconds, but still nothing, so I shut it off and came to this site to research.

- Found recent post regarding similar problem, so I opened the burrs to a much coarser setting and tried again. Now the grinds started coming out of the chute.

- I let the beans run through. Shut off the machine.

- When it was finished the chute looked pretty clogged, so I removed the finger guard and brushed out the chute.

- Turned it to a slightly finer grind. Added some more beans, and then flipped the switch.

- Nothing happened! It's completely dead. So I checked the outlet and it's fine. I plugged it into a different outlet. Still nothing.

I really, really hope there is a reset switch or something, but I don't see anything anywhere.

Anybody have any ideas.

Thanks,

Andrew

[Paul_Pratt]

It's probably still jammed. You need to go coarser again and clean it out, maybe throw in some beans when it is very coarse and grind them through to clear the path. Then you can start to go finer (with the motor on).

Remember you should only make minimal adjustments without the motor on, to crank it finer without the motor on you are almost certainly going to lock it up.

Paul

[arossphoto]

Thanks very much. After posting my message I got up and turned the machine on again. This time I could faintly hear the motor humming, trying to turn, so I knew something was jammed. I backed off the grind quite a bit and turned it on and it was fine again. Now the 7 on the collar is dead center with the front of the machine and it's grinding, but the chute really fills up and the grinds spill out very, very slowly. The chute after grinding and it is almost full. Is this normal?


Thanks.

[HB]

Is this normal?

Yes, the grinds sort of "extrude" from the chute. Really big grinders like the Robur hurl the grinds out, but the "smaller" (haha) boys are a bit gentler. I haven't timed it lately, I would guess around 20-25 seconds to grind a double's worth. I'm about to head upstairs to prepare espresso for my wife's friends if you need more precision.

[arossphoto]

Thanks for the replies. Everything seems to be working fine now. I almost had a heart attack when the thing stopped working, so I'm very relieved and happy that I will be able to experiment this weekend.

I would never have thought that a coffee bean could jam a massive machine like this. But I guess size is all relative, and as Dan said, compared to some machines this is a little guy.

Andrew

[mtnwoman]

I have the macap m4 stepless and find that 7 in the front works for my beans. My chute looks just like yours. When the burrs stop turning, I take a wooden chopstick and pull the grinds out of the chute. Then I turn the machine back on for a few seconds and more grinds shoot out. (I removed that stupid little finger guard from the hopper so I could do the chopstick thing). I also keep the little trap door in the top hopper closed, thus allowing me to adjust the grind setting before I turn the machine on.

[onemoreshot]

I started off using a chopstick then I switched to an old toothbrush, far better imho. I use it to sweep out the bean hopper throat into the burrs (while its running) and then sweep out the exit chute (while its running, but with finesse), then sweep off the center pole. Everything that goes in, comes out, gram for gram. This applies for every shot grind I do with the hope that I don't have much old grind contaminating the next ground shot.

[cajun_brew]

I've found this to be perfect for sweeping out the chute.. http://www.espressoparts.com/product/UB902

I had an old one ready for the trash..... the size and angle are just right for the chute and middle-doser-ledge-thingie on my MACAP.

[Viewer]

Glad it's working.

I use a straw to clear out the chute. Easily fits between the finger guard.

[gedit]

Hello,
I apologize if already addressed the following issues, but I couldn't find anything on my experience.
Just got the MACAP M4 stepless and I have read all about the somewhat frustrating "Zero point" and reference points, but that is not my problem. I set the grinder as instructed and put the beans to try it finally, but no coffee comes out to the doser. The grinder rotates but the beans keep pushing back to the hopper... It was after hours so I didn' call support, but I find it weird that a new machine acts like that...
By the way my counter is 9832.... I don't believe they have had to test it so much, so like some here, I too wondered if it is a refurbished one that wasn't repaired... anyway, I will most likely return it.
Did anyone experience something like that?
Thanks.

[jesawdy]

I merged your question here with an older and similar issue. See also Macap M4 Doserless Grinder (stepless) clogging.

You may need to open it up to get it cleaned out, you may have caked on some grinds to the burrs at this point. You could follow the disassembly instructions in these cleaning instructions.

Since it's new, I would call the vendor for help if you think you need it.

[HB]

As Jeff said, if the beans are spinning, they're not entering the burrs because the burrs are really far apart or coated. Don't be fooled by resistance when dialing down to find the zero point. I check the zero point by emptying the hopper and clearing the grind chamber, then tightening the setting with the grinder off until the burrs touch firmly. Sometimes the threads have crud in them that offers resistance like bottoming out, but it's not. A cleaning will resolve the problem.

By the way my counter is 9832.... I don't believe they have had to test it so much, so like some here, I too wondered if it is a refurbished one that wasn't repaired... anyway, I will most likely return it.
Did anyone experience something like that?

I've received new grinders with the counter set to the high 9000's. I assume the manufacturer set it high so they could test it / demo it and the counter would "rollover" to 0000 for the new owner. If it really had 9832 pulls, you'd see obvious signs of wear elsewhere.

[Psyd]

If it really had 9832 pulls, you'd see obvious signs of wear elsewhere.

Unless I used it for three doppios at my house!
Really, every decent grinder seems to come with grounds in it from testing. I thing that they all make a few grinders, and then use each one, serially, at coffee-break, returning the ones that don't perform well to the line.

[gedit]

Hi,
So eventually it started to cough up the coffee. It wasn't clogged, but my conclusion is that the zero point setup is elusive and confusing (maybe in my machine or maybe it's because it's new, I have no clue). But what I did, is turning the worm back and forth to make about 3 numbers to the coarse and back to fine and back again until the coffee started to come out. I guess Dan was right about the disks being too far apart but I can't explain how I reached the zero point at the beginning and backed up about one number to have the disks so far apart. That is why I think the clicking I was hearing maybe weren't indicating the zero point but unfitted disks, or god knows what..

In experimenting with it for a short time I think I came to my own setup procedure avoiding the zero point all together, because as I mentioned, i found it elusive and confusing and probably not a true science either. The following require a bit patience and about a 200-300 grams of Espresso beans to get the best results on YOUR Espresso machine. So maybe you should buy a cheaper bag of coffee for this experiment...
1. I took away the hand guard from the doser to allow a free access to the chute for repetitive cleaning (to make the new grind free from grains of the previous grind for accuracy)
2. I closed the hatch form the hopper to the burr and poured some coffee beans and turned on the machine
3. Opened the hatch to let few beans in and watched the coffee grind that comes out to the doser.
4. Turned off the machine, put a piece of aluminum foil under the doser opening and pulled the lever to get the coffee out and on the foil. Observed its coarseness. If it looked still grainy then I'd set the burr on a finer number (turning counter clockwise).
6. Cleaned the chute from the remainder of the coffee using a soft brush and cleaned the doser by pulling the lever until most of the coffee was out.
7. Turned the machine back on, closed the hatch and poured some more beans.
8. Moved the worm 1 to 2 numbers (as long as there is no harsh clicking noise from the burrs then it's safe), and repeated the process.
9. When the coffee started to get finer, I began to make Espresso cups to observe the flow, crema and taste.
10. I repeated the process until I got the fineness that I wanted and the Espresso was incredibly better.
This whole thing took me about 20 minutes to complete and it may vary from machine to machine and one's taste preferences...

With that said, such a machine may be an overkill for one who makes just a few Espresso cups a day (because of the hassle involved in cleaning the chute to avoid stale coffee - believe it or not the chute stores a shot worth of coffee), but could be a major improvement for one who is entertaining a lot or have a small business... but that is a different discussion.

Thank you.