I am looking for a pair of flat burrs for the Cimbali Max grinder. Have been looking for quite some time now, but no luck. Was thinking maybe one of you helpful souls here could help me with suggestions on where to look, or people to contact. Chris Coffee do not sell them, or at least they didn't last time I checked.

Any suggestions, links a.s.o. are welcome. If you feel you would rather P.M. me, that's fine too. I am open to suggestions of alternatives to Cimbali Max original burrs also. I just don't know where to look, and everything day without them is one more day with a dead Max in my cellar.

zix wrote:I am looking for a pair of flat burrs for the Cimbali Max grinder. Have been looking for quite some time now, but no luck. Was thinking maybe one of you helpful souls here could help me with suggestions on where to look, or people to contact. Chris Coffee do not sell them, or at least they didn't last time I checked.

Any suggestions, links a.s.o. are welcome. If you feel you would rather P.M. me, that's fine too. I am open to suggestions of alternatives to Cimbali Max original burrs also. I just don't know where to look, and everything day without them is one more day with a dead Max in my cellar.

I think you will need to get those from a major league Cimbali dealer/importer, and then be prepared to wait to receive them as undoubtedly they are a special order item. These flat burrs, although the same diameter as the flat burrs on the Cimbali Jr. and Cadet models, are quite different in design since the conical burrs which precede them in the Max do the initial bean crushing. There is a thread somewhere on HB that has pictures of the Jr. vs. the Max flat burrs, but that thread was posted at least a couple of years ago.

I tried to buy some spare flat burrs for this grinder myself and was told that they are not available in an aftermarket version being as the demand is too low to motivate anyone else to make them. In fact, they should not need replacement in a low use home setting for a decade or two, being as the conical burrs do a lot of the work of the grinder. I was told that the conical burrs should last "forever."

ken

Yep, the irony of it all is that I have a new set of conical burrs, but not of the flat ones, that need replacement (I got a used grinder). Have tried it of course, and yes, it works but can't grind fine enough for espresso, plus the grinds look exactly the way I am used to them looking when the burrs need replacement: a mixture of fine and coarse grinds. And the extraction is way too fast even at the finest grind setting, where the burrs meet.
A slight wobble in the grinder axis rotation is probably responsible for the premature dulling of the flat burrs. I guess a competent technician could fix this, I think I know of one not too far away.

So, only the big time Cimbali importer, then? I will have to bribe them with something then. They haven't even answered my emails yet. Still, it is good to know to whom my charm must be directed...

Didn't the Versalab use the same flat burr?

Bluecold wrote:Didn't the Versalab use the same flat burr?

I don't think they are the same diameter. If the Versalab uses the old DRM mixed burrset, then the Versalab flat burrs are 68mm, and the ones in the Max are 64mm.

ken

Yup, the Max's flat burrs are 64 mm. Just measured mine, to be sure.
Just in case someone here didn't know, they do not have the same burr cut pattern as flat burr grinders' burrs - they lack the inner "coarse grind"/auger cut, since this is done by the conical burrs.
They have three mounting holes. The lower burr rotates clockwise if seen from above, and the top burr set is screwed into the lower burr set with a left rotation threading.
On a side note, the lower flat burrs don't seem to be all that easy to unmount - the conical burr looks like it slightly "overlaps" the flat burr, and in that case one would need to first get the conical burr loose. It is fixed directly to the grinder axis. Haven't pulled hard on the bottom flat burr, so I can't be sure.

Old thread here with lots of nice pictures of the burrs, and confirmation of the difference between Versalab and Cimbali Max burrs:
La Cimbali Max Grinder - a first look

Hi Matt, any news about your search for Max flat burrs?
I just won a bid on ebay, and thinking to replace the Max burr.
I'm already try searching from some online sources. The one that could be close is from espressopart http://www.espressoparts.com/MC_32 , but this one is 68mm not the 64mm for Cimbali Max.
If you have a better luck, could you share it with us.
Thanks

Thanks Roeland, you are always full of resources
But ouuch, the price almost the same with the big conical burr.
For a 64 mm flat burr the price is quite steep.
At first, I'm thinking the price would be the same with Super Jolly burr.
Is this because it's so rare / limited production quantity?