Project: Doserless Nuova Simonelli MDE Result: N/A

[ciordia9]

I'm still in discovery for this, not sure if it's a wise idea or not.



I bought this from Roberto with NS also a year + ago. It's the Nuova Simonelli MDE rebranded as a Eureka. Since it's not in a shop I'm not sure how hot it would get on extended runs but for parties at the house it really keeps up well. I just hate the hopper. Ohhh how I loathe hoppers. I'd like to take the hopper off and work towards building a slide/shoot type system. Where I worry is in what damage I might do in taking the hopper off.



The two main bolts anchoring the hopper are on the left/right side underneath the spring mechanism. Do these have backing bits? Since I can't easily see a way of taking the base off I am concerned that if I pull these bolts out their going to cause some metal in the housing and that just sounds like a bad idea. If they are tied in through a threaded ring like rack ears I use at work then it's not a problem at all. Thoughts?


Two little screws are holding the lid in place and probably lightly tying the top of the doser into place. Having a real difficult time getting a screwdriver with the right head thickness but a thin long body to unscrew them. If I could just loosen it a bit the lid will come off but they have some strength to them.

I need some consensus though, should I be mucking with this? The doser bothers me, the chamber the grinds shoot out of is almost 1/2" deep. The grinds come out, then stack and have to be paddled together till they push through that distance in the hopper. Getting the hopper out of the way would allow for consistent easy cleaning (barring a created chute wasn't horrible to deal with), and dosing straight to a PF instead of multiple doser pulls sounds enticing.

-a

[HB]

I need some consensus though...

If Doserless to doser and back again... the debate continues is any indication, you'll have a hard time finding a consensus. I've switched sides and now prefer dosers IF they sweep efficiently. The extra agitation of the thwack thwack thwack seems to improve with the evenness of the distribution.

I can't offer specific suggestions on your grinder, but Lino's modifications prompted a series of good ideas you may find helpful.


See Super Jolly doserless modification for details

[ciordia9]

Good stuff Dan, thanks for the link roundup. I think I'm just going to get the top lid to come off so I can have access to the chute. The sweeping action of this grinder is pretty spot on. If I could be able to clean those stale grinds out that'd probably take a lot of agitation out. I'll start there and see where it takes me.

-a

[ciordia9]

Had to find my wrench toolset to get to those screws in the lid. Freeing the lid and sweeping/chiseling out the grinds from the chute surprised me again. Why build such a thick chute that has no gravity aid? It's nearly two inches of flat space that has to be sprayed through. It naturally builds itself up and then allows for currents of dead/stale grinds to accumulate with ease. Even if I wanted to make this a doserless, it wouldn't be right. Those grinds will need clearing, every time if possible.

I think I'll just sweep that area manually for the last shot for now, but what poop hehe.

-a

[RapidCoffee]

Why build such a thick chute that has no gravity aid? It's nearly two inches of flat space that has to be sprayed through. It naturally builds itself up and then allows for currents of dead/stale grinds to accumulate with ease. Even if I wanted to make this a doserless, it wouldn't be right. Those grinds will need clearing, every time if possible.

Yep, same issue on my Mazzer SJ. Not a problem in a high-volume commercial environment, but it certainly is at home. That's why I eventually went doserless. It allows me to sweep out the entire path from the burrs with a small brush, removing all the coffee grounds. But clumping and distribution do become more challenging. Sigh.

- John

[hperry]

I've switched sides and now prefer dosers IF they sweep efficiently. The extra agitation of the thwack thwack thwack seems to improve with the evenness of the distribution.

I wonder if the issue isn't, in part, the commercial heritage of grinders. They don't appear to be designed to do the key grinder tasks for home users. One of the joys of my Versalab M3 grinder has been that it is a home/coffee house tester's tool. While not geared to high production environments it: grinds slowly (default 500 RPM) so that it doesn't burn the beans, distributes incredibly efficiently, doesn't "clump," is geared strictly to a single dose, and cleans itself out afterward so that you can go from one coffee to another.

The price is high, and, it is not a high production tool as would be needed to serve multiple drinks quickly - but it overcomes the most common home barista grinding problems I have seen reflected in these forums. Could be that other manufacturers will begin to look seriously at producing specialty home units that elegantly overcome home, as opposed to commercial, espresso grinding problems.

[ciordia9]

I wonder if the issue isn't, in part, the commercial heritage of grinders. They don't appear to be designed to do the key grinder tasks for home users.

Truthfully this would be a bad design anywhere. For a shop that had high volume they would be required to dissassmble something that for all intensive purposes was never meant to be dissassembled. Knowing this makes me wonder when we do open a shop whether or not I want to be dealing with the same thing there. I love the way the burr-adjustment works, but I'm not sure if thats enough. I think this has been a sleeping giant market. There is a lot of room for innovation if qualities cost could be solved.

-a

[hperry]

I think this has been a sleeping giant market. There is a lot of room for innovation if qualities cost could be solved.

I really agree with you about the innovation. But the kind of thing you can do with the Versalab, which allows you to change coffee's at will with clean grinds and no burning works great in a home enviroment. But a 20 second + grind and adding enough beans for only one drink at a time won't work commercially. I do think the markets have to be thought through and I do think that they're different.

[ciordia9]

I really agree with you about the innovation. But the kind of thing you can do with the Versalab, which allows you to change coffee's at will with clean grinds and no burning works great in a home enviroment. But a 20 second + grind and adding enough beans for only one drink at a time won't work commercially. I do think the markets have to be thought through and I do think that they're different.

Sure, I'm curious what the cost on a commercial spec'd Versalab would run. Right now I can grind a double in 7 seconds. Is the slowness motor, burr/heat limitation? I might have to look in to a versalab as another home unit though by the sounds of it.

I think at an establishment that gets more and more into SO's the versalab's ability to clean and change on the dime would be more a need. Right now as we think about our needs I'd need a different grinder for each thought, and that's a lot of cost & space I'm giving up to just birth a separate flavor profile.

Good thoughts,

-a

[luca]

Just a quick FYI; as far as I can tell, the Nuova Simonelli grinders are not manufactured by NS. They are manufactured by Conti Valerio Srl, which brands their grinders 'eureka'. They are then re-branded by the likes of NS and LM. Check it out: http://www.contivalerio.com/