Nemox Lux. Grinder clogging difficulties.

[Kaffee Bitte]

So in the last week I have been having a horrible time getting this grinder functioning properly. I received it and it clogged within about 30 grams of coffee. Got a hold of the company that I bought it from. They told me to remove the hopper, remove the outer burrs and give it a good cleaning. Then put it back together and try it again. Did this three times now! Each time I have ground, even on the coarsest grind this thing clogs! Could this have something to do with the coffee I am using? Did I just get a bum grinder? I am still well within the 30 day return or exchange window. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[another_jim]

Yours sounds extreme; but all the grinder models using these burrs have some clogging problems. If it's working OK, giving its back a whack (behind the spout) while its running will get it to cough up the excess grinds. Another possibility is to clean out the chute and burr chamber by poking around with a pipe cleaner. Do one of these every time you grind.

While most grinders don't jam, it's always a good idea to habitually clear the chute of grinds after grinding a portion. This is true even for the expensive commercial ones.

[RapidCoffee]

So in the last week I have been having a horrible time getting this grinder functioning properly. I received it and it clogged within about 30 grams of coffee. Got a hold of the company that I bought it from. They told me to remove the hopper, remove the outer burrs and give it a good cleaning. Then put it back together and try it again. Did this three times now! Each time I have ground, even on the coarsest grind this thing clogs! Could this have something to do with the coffee I am using? Did I just get a bum grinder? I am still well within the 30 day return or exchange window. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi Lynn. I'm sorry to hear of your grinder problems. I've got a Lux, and never had any issues with clogging. My advice: try some other beans (just in case you have an exceptionally oily batch), and think seriously about a return if the clogging persists.

The Nemox Lux is a decent grinder, relatively inexpensive, quite compact, with a convenient doserless design. But it's slow, noisy, and has overly large grind adjustment steps for espresso. To be honest, I'm not a big fan - there's no comparison with, say, a Mazzer. But it's definitely espresso-worthy:


Nemox Lux pour on Vetrano v.1.0.

[Kaffee Bitte]

Well thanks for the rapid reply. Spoke with the company techie and they are sending a replacement. After trying various types of beans and recleaning about four times just today along with all previous attempts it is time to try again with another lux.

[Ideasite]

I had the Nemox Lux grinder and it clogged badly the first couple of times I used it. I took it entirely apart (be careful not to loose the little spring) and cleaned it out. I still had clogging problems until I figured out a different way to keep it clean.

I took off the chute by sliding it upwards and just used a steak knife to gently loosen the grinds right around the exit of the grinder. I only did this once and the machine hasn't clogged since, even though I have tightened up the setting quite a bit.

I think the grinds actually fill the rest of the grinder area but are able to exit after you punch a hole near the exit. The only strange thing is that the area around the conical burrs is probably lined with packed grinds that get quite old. I'm not sure how much of these old grinds get mixed into the new grinds with each use, but I never noticed a negative impact on my shots.

I replaced my Nemox Lux with a Roma grinder. The roma is a heavier unit with flat, 43 mm grinder blades. Although the Roma feels quite a bit heavier, and grinds more quietly than the Nemox, the Nemox had more precise adjustments than the Roma. I think that, because conical burrs have a cone shape, they actually provide a more gradual change between settings because the burrs move away from each other on a slant as the grind is adjusted.

On a Silvia, I actually had to place the Roma in between two steps on the setting dial in order to get the right grind. I have since upgraded from a Silvia to a Vetrano and have found, to my relief, that the Roma produces a perfect grind exactly on one of the stepped settings. I have heard that the Silvia is one of the less forgiving machines out there and I now agree. It's a great training machine, but an E61 machine just does a wonderful job of making espresso.

I'd recommend keeping the Nemox and getting the path out the chute opened up. Stay with that until you can afford to make an upgrade to something even beyond the Roma I bought. I wish I had purchased the Quick Mill stepless, Doserless model. I've read good reviews and I like the idea that it's stepless. It also looks great compared to the Roma.

[Kaffee Bitte]

I am going to keep the lux, but the problem was more severe than just a couple clogging episodes. It clogged almost instantly each time I cleaned it. The tech at the company agreed that it was pretty extreme in its clogging and has shipped me a new one. So until I can afford to get a higher end grinder the lux and my turkish mill will be the grinders for me.
Lynn

[maximillion]

Hello, how do you remove the outer burr? I need to clean it too, but there's no way I could open it.
Thank you

[Stuggi]

If you mean the top burr you just unscrew it after removing any adjustment mechanisms. I can't give you any more precise instructions since I only have the i-Mini which should have the same burrs, but it's otherwise very different.