Thanks to JohnB who laid out the original plan in this topic.

First, disassemble the sweeping vane assembly. Unscrew the dose adjustment knob (I had a hard time with this at first be cause I didn't realize that you _could_ unscrew it), remove the retention clip, and the vane assembly will come out. In descending order, it comprises:

• upper vanes
• plastic washer
• dispensing chute plate/block off plate (has 2 small detents that allow it to fit snugly above the dispensing chute)
• lower vane cover, which has 6 spokes and covers each of the bottom vanes
• vane spring
• bottom vanes

First, swap the position of the washer and dispensing chute plate. By placing the washer under the lid, the upper vane will make much closer contact with the dispensing chute plate as you advance the mechanism, eliminating one source of retention.

Next, apply some type of heavy tape or velcro to the leading (or trailing) edge of every (other) lower vane cover. This is the famous "tape mod", documented by Teme on his blog in 2005 and referenced on HB that allows the lower vanes to sweep the bottom of the doser clean.

Finally, get yourself something to sweep out the burr chute. I have a couple of extra hooks that look like these:

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/shel ... d=10000990

that I've bent into usable shape using a bench vise and a pair of pliers. I cycle the motor and sweep out the burr chute 3-4 times, and it's pretty clean. I'll post some pics in a bit, with vid to follow.

Optionally, make a schnoz for the dispensing chute. I find that the doser likes to dump left-ish, and these tiny 49mm baskets don't give me much room for error. Careful, though. AndyS may come knocking on your door for royalty payments!

Lots of good information exists here on HB; unfortunately it has all been slanted toward Mazzers - understandably so, but the concepts apply to most other dosers. F'rinstance, Improving Mazzer Doser Efficiency


L-R: Adjustment cap, upper vanes, dispensing chute lid (detents visible), washer, lower vane cover, vane spring


Closeup of lower vane cover with velcro on the leading edge


Container Store hook, bent into submission


Vane disassembled, peering down the dispensing chute. Schnoz is visible, as are slots for fitting the detents of the dispensing chute lid


Hook in burr chute, doin' some cleaning

I've been cleaning my chute using a 1" rubbermaid spatula, trimmed to the width of the chute, with its end squared off. It can bump against the grind chamber sweeper while the grinder is on w/o hurting anything, and cleans it out well enough that when I flip it on and off a couple times there is no coffee coming out.

I use an acid brush with the bristles cropped back to sweep out the chute/burr chamber.

Me too. Works great. I also flattened the handle end of the acid brush with a pair of pliers and bent it up at about a 45-degree angle. That provides a little scraper to get grounds out of the chute corners.

At the end of a session, I use a 1" paint brush to sweep grounds off the upper burrs into the burr chamber, pulse the grinder, and use the acid brush and/or a small grinder brush to do the final sweep of the chute. Sometimes I give it one sweep with the 1" paint brush for good measure.

I've done the tape mod, and believe it's an improvement, but I wasn't able to swap the positions of the plastic washer and block off plate (or whatever you call it.) That's because I removed the block off plate altogether, as I believe is recommended by Teme. I saw no reason to have the plate in there. I always single dose, so very few grounds accumulate in the doser, and they never get above the block off plate level. But they do get on the plate, which then must be swept off. Also, it's a lot easier to clean out the doser chute with the plate removed. I think the doser is a lot friendlier without the plate, but YMMV.

Regardless of whether the plate is removed and/or you do the tape mod, grounds will remain in the doser -- on the walls, on the floor, etc. I find that sweeping with the 1" brush as I activate the doser is the quickest way to get virtually all the grounds out of the doser.

As alluded to by Peter. My first revelation with this grinder was to use a non metallic object to sweep the chute while the motor is running.

I still would advice against sticking things in a running grinder. I broke all three lower burr carrier vanes with a soft brush. A replacement lower burr carrier for the k10 runs 44 euro from eunasa.

It's not perfect but darn near so and it's simple. I use a plastic flexible straw to sweep out the chute and I'm getting some pretty darn good shots. I do love this grinder.

Bluecold wrote:I still would advice against sticking things in a running grinder. I broke all three lower burr carrier vanes with a soft brush. A replacement lower burr carrier for the k10 runs 44 euro from eunasa.

I'd like to hear more about how that happened. To me it doesn't sound possible.

My Faema MC was still spinning down. I was too fast with brushing. The brush broke all the vanes. Simple story really.

Mind you, the chute of my Faema is much much bigger.

On my RR45 I once did the same thing, but nothing broken.
After that (and picking broken bristles out of the grind) I always made sure that the motor was stopped when brushing (grind, stop, brush, grind stop brush brush brush).
I use a pastry brush.

On the Super Jolly I don't have to brush the throat - I just slap my hand over the throat and the air pressure forces the grinds out of the chute (all the way against the front of the doser).

That doesn't work on the RR45 because there are other paths for the air to go.

I have no idea about the Compak.