Same thing here in the states, chap stick. I believe most of these are composed of a wax, like beeswax, or another waxy substance. I never thought about trying bees wax. I have a big lump in the garage if I can find it. I use to use it to wax bow strings (bow and arrow). A very, very tiny amount may work good. I do not believe it attracts dust and grit like a petroleum or petroleum like lubricant does. It is more like a dry film lubricant than wet lube.

cannonfodder wrote:I do not believe it attracts dust and grit like a petroleum or petroleum like lubricant does. It is more like a dry film lubricant than wet lube.

Once you find the lump of beeswax in the garage, and get all the dust and goo that's stuck to it off the lump, let us know if you feel the same way. Maybe it's just the desert dust around here, but it's just as fond of the wax as it is of the petroleum based lubes. Could be the temperature, as well. Wax is more often a semi-liquid here in Tucson!

I read this thread a year ago and I thought "boy with my luck I'd cross thread something trying to get it back together" If that happened I'd have to go and buy a Robur or something as a replacement...

FWIW, my grinder is about a year old and is a Mini-E (type A). I've used Grindz twice a month faithfully (grinding usage = 4-6 lbs. a month).

I re-read this post a few days ago and saw Karl's success and thought why not give it a go myself? So with HB instructions in hand...

As others have said, this turned out to be such an easy task you'll wonder why you ever balked at tearing the grinder down for cleaning before. If this is a 10 minute job, that's only because 9 of those 10 minutes are spent cleaning the burr carriers. Dis-assembly and assembly turned out to be a piece-of-cake.

A few personal observations:

Even though I've used Grindz as stated above, I still had a bunch of stale old coffee packed into the "corners" of the upper and lower carriers; particularly around, along and below the ejector vanes and in the screw recesses. A stiff nylon bristle brush and my shop vac made quick work of this. (Anyone use a soft metal brush, such as one with brass bristles for cleaning the burrs?)

First time I've had it apart in about a year of ownership and Mazzer had gobs of white grease on the threads and smeared around on the inner collar. Hmmm, Cannonfodder was right about too much goop! This was cleaned up. I didn't re-lube anything.

The thing that intimidated me the most was the thought of trying to get it all re-threaded again while under spring pressure, as I would have to apply downward pressure in the throat while trying to screw everything back together etc. You know, strip the threads and have to buy the aforementioned Robur... At least for me, it turned out to be a non-issue. On my grinder there is enough "slack" in the threading so that I could get the threads started easily without much downward pressure (if any at all) before it then started to tension the springs. I tried this several times just to be sure it wasn't a fluke and each time it was the same. As Dan said, spin the collar CW (loosening) until you feel the threads drop firmly into place and then reverse direction (CCW) to tighten it up. There is a fairly obvious "click" when the threads drop and engage.

I also spun the collar around to different points to try and get the threading to start at a different position than the collar removal mark that HB suggested but I couldn't find any other spot where the threads would engage. There seemed to be only one point where threading would start (which then always took me back to the original zero point for the burrs- Wow!). So I'll probably skip this collar mark step next time.

Lastly, I made a mental note where the hopper lock screw hole was in the upper carrier throat (even though I've long since removed the screw to facilitate a quick hopper off for cleaning) so I would mount the equidistant upper burr carrier studs in their original position (if this matters).

The only other thing I would throw out is that I've had to take the push button DL "lid" of my type A apart on a couple of occasions as the vibration from the grinder seems to eventually rattle loose the little hex nuts that hold the inner circuit board in place. They then rattle around inside the lid when I grind. Two Phillips screws out and apart it comes. Even though a rubber O-ring seats the lid halves, it was suprising to me at first how much espresso dust wiggled in there as well-

Cleaning the Mini turned out to be such a simple job that I'll probably skip Grindz in the future and manually clean my grinder every few weeks instead.

Now for the best part- the shots I pulled after this thorough cleaning were some of the best I've had in a while!

Thanks for this thread guys!

Wow! That was easy, and there was an immediate difference in the taste of my shots! Thanks so much for that post. I had just ordered some Urnex Grindz right before I read this post. I guess I'll keep the Grindz on hand for occasional maintenance, but this was so easy, I imagine I'll just do this once a quarter, and do the Grindz during the other two moths. So easy to do...!

Hi

I live in Hong Kong and purchased my Mazzer Mini more than a year ago overseas. When it arrived, I tried it once but the grind seemed to be very coarse and it was not possible to get a finer grind. I thought that I needed to carry out initial adjustments before using, to I disassembled the burr carrier. Ever since then I have not been able to get it back together and working properly.

Following the instructions on this page I can get the upper burr carrier and collar in position and rotate the collar counter-clockwise but there is a great deal of resistance about 1/3-1/2 way down the collar. I am not sure if it is meant to go all the way down, and I did not want to cross-thread the collar by forcing it. When can get the collar more than 1/2 way down and try and use the grinder it will grind a couple of beans and then stop, making a clicking sound but the burr will not move. When I clean it out it starts working again.

I would have just taken it in to be professionally adjusted but I don't think there is an agent in Hong Kong.

Any hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Dan

Thanks for the tip. I did try without the top burr carrier in place without any luck. There is quite a bit of resistance at about 3-4 turns. I'll try again later to see if it has something to do with my lack of technique, but I don't think so. I hope I don't have an expensive Italian paperweight on my hands...

I decided to give cleaning the Mazzer Mini E type A a try after 6 months and reading this thread. I'm trying to turn CCW after I see it drop but am only able to turn it about 3 full turns. I should have looked more closely before I took it apart but should you be able to see any threads when looking from the side? It gets tight when there are about 3 threads visible from the side. I hope I didn't mess it up. Thanks.

Dave

It's weird, even when I take the springs out and place the upper burr in, there's still a large gap between upper and lower burrs (~1/3"). For some reason, the burrs don't come close to touching. I can screw the ring all the way down with the top burr out but not with it in place (so the threads seem fine). I don't think I'm missing any parts. Any ideas? Thanks. I'd love to get this thing back together and not have to ship it out.

Dave

edit:
OK, I think it may be ok. When I turn it on and adjust just a touch, I hear the burrs touch. I think it may have been clogging up before because I was just dumping beans in then trying to grind. Are you supposed to turn the grinder on then add the beans from the hopper?

The problem seems to be that when I turn the grinder on, no grinds come out and the motor shuts itself off after 10 sec with grinds getting compacted around the sides of the bottom burr. I'll have to see if the internal chute is clogged. Thanks.

Ok, it looks like it was just a clogged chute. Thanks for your help.

Dave

I add this.
What about cleaning the doser chamber?
I ask it, because I feel difficult to move the handle,after 7 years of use.
Any suggestions?
Regards,
Theodore.

It's worthwhile to clean the doser chamber itself but the binding is more likely to be in the doser arm and return spring assembly. Unload the grinder, invert and remove the two small hex screws that hold the bottom plate of the doser assembly in place. You'll need a 3 mm hex/allen wrench to loosen them. Slide that assembly out and you'll find a center ratchet gear with a doser return spring that is - when it works correctly - designed to make the handle spring back automatically after each thwack.

If your issue is that it's hard to pull rather than just not springing back then it could be a need for some lubrication grease on the ratchet gear, repositioning of the spring or just a thorough cleaning. I'm inclined to think that it's somethign other than just coffee grounds impeding the handle action - I've cleaned a number of these that had once been in heavy commercial use and rarely found that to be an issue.

There's a thread here somewhere (or a link to one) that has excellent photographs of an entire doser chamber disassembly and reassembly. In the meantime.... here are some low res diagrams that may be helpful.

Is it safe to assume that the only difference between changing the Burrs and the instructions above for cleaning is taking out the screws pictured pulling off the burrs and putting the new ones on? (I can't imagine what else would make it more complicated but it seems wise to ask.) Also is it safe to assume that the Super Jolly instructions are essentially the same as the mini instructions?

And finally is there a difference between the upper and lower burr (perhaps it will be obvious once I open it up, but my hunch is that the answer is no)?

Yes, that is essentially how to change the burrs. The top and bottom burrs are the same.