Hi all,

My 2 year old Ascaso iMini (used for one or two cups a day) has recently started changing the grind slightly itself whilst grinding! The change isn't much, but I can clearly see the adjustment wheel at the side rotating a few degrees.

I flipped the lid off today to give it a quick clean (which I do fairly regularly anyway) and see if I could tighten anything but looking at the insides it appears that the circular wheel that sits on top of the burrs is actually moving slightly.

I have never replaced the burrs as I don't use it that extensively (I did anticipate its probably on the cards soon but not quite yet). I also don't adjust the grind widely , just quarter / half a turn here or there as the coffee dictates. However the last coffee I had was a stubborn one which meant I had to turn the wheel 2 complete turns to coarsen the grind, which is the most I have adjusted it since I bought it. I only noticed the problem the last few days.

If anybody knows this grinder well and has experienced this problem id love to hear from you, sending it to Ascaso for repair is an expense I could do without right now (as well as not being able to grind for a few weeks - nightmare!)

Never used the IMini. Is the burr carrier spring loaded like a Mazzer? The tension springs could be getting week and letting the carrier turn under load. You could also give the upper carrier a couple wraps of Teflon tape to stiffen it up.

No springs i'm afraid, its just a standard conical burr grinder.

Today I took the entire thing to pieces and cleaned it.

http://yfrog.com/3timag01170j

The ring on top comes off if you twist it counter clockwise after loosening the twirly thing connected to the grind adjustment knob. This was loose and wobbly, so after giving the burrs (which appear to be in good order) a good clean I screwed it on as tight as it would go, and reassembled everything. powering up the grinder made a horrible sound that its never emitted before, and the adjustment wheel turned! I then took a turn off the ring, so it was still tight but not as tight as it would go and reassembled it. the sound is now much better and how it always used to be, but the knob still turns (even without any coffee in the hopper).

I undid the four screws holding everything together and gave everything inside a good tighten and check too, but no joy

aaronb wrote:Hi all,

My 2 year old Ascaso iMini (used for one or two cups a day) has recently started changing the grind slightly itself whilst grinding!

Your Ascaso is trying an experiment in "grind profiling", in analogy with "pressure profiling", etc. It's one of the last - perhaps the last - unexplored frontiers in espresso-making .