i mean the top bolt. anyway, i'll check tonight and call them if i see a "problem" .
thanks

achipman wrote:Here's the offending loose bolt on top of the gear case.
<image>

YES! Thank you thank you thank you! Hello again, turkish grind
I was scrolling through this thread hoping that someone had had the same problem with ever coarser grinds as we have, and lo and behold... the helpful home-barista heroes come to the rescue.
Maybe that particular bolt has a tendency to come loose in transport. In any case, an extremely easy fix - once you have figured it out. I was worrying that I might have to pick it all apart or maybe glue the burrs back in place or something. None of that - problem solved now. Thanks HG One, thanks achipman for sharing, thank you all! The world is a lovely place.

My pleasure! Glad to have helped someone!

I can assure you I had the exact same relief and exultation when I figured it out!

Andrew - Hey, NICE work on diagnosing, fixing and THEN sharing what you did... those pics are awesome...

I just shared your pics in the other HG One thread with a poster (Jagoman) asking about how to know if the grinder is aligned.

Good work man, it is contributors like you that make this board a worthwhile place to learn!! It helped me!

Tim

Thanks, Tim! I appreciate the shout out!

As I promised I will definitely post some more results when I have some time to actually play with the espresso range. Right now I'm just using it for drip (not enough time in the mornings) and it is incredible! Grinding is obviously quicker with a drip type grind setting. It is almost one turn per gram. I'm doing a 65g recipe and I end up with around 70 cranks on the HG-One. (Keep in mind, I have not seasoned the burrs yet... only about 1.5 lbs through).

zix wrote:Maybe that particular bolt has a tendency to come loose in transport.

If the HG1 uses a pair of angular contact bearings and the top bolt is used to preload them in order to eliminate play, it's not designed very well. Preload should be done via a locking mechanism, not a bolt, even if it's got threadlock on the threads.

Regards,
dsc.

Not sure I understand what you mean, but the design of the top part with angular cogs, bearings, main axis and such can be found here: http://hg-one.com/bearings/

I'm sure I've seen some docs on their website saying that they moved to angular contact bearings, but I might be wrong. Anyone interested in the subject can read up on bearing pre-load and why a positive locking mechanism is needed.

Regards,
dsc.

Here's where they mention switching to angular bearings for testing:
http://hg-one.com/bearings-ii/

As promised, here are the results of the initial dialing in and testing with my HG One. To remind folks of the original issue and solution that was discovered: My grinds were incredibly coarse (read it looked like gravel) even when I "zeroed" the locking ring completely (you'll see why I used quotes there later) I found that the axle cap top bolt was loose. (Sounds like I'm talking about a car! hehe) I tried tightening that bolt while the locking ring was zeroed. What follows is a summary of the subsequent dialing in sessions and results.

Pull 1: 16g (all shots tamped to 30 lbs); locking ring adjusted to 1.0 turns off of "0"
Results: choked

Pull 2: (i'll abreviate the rest I promise) 16.3g, 1.0 turns off 0 + 5 more tics coarse (not sure how else to refer to the tic marks so I'll say "+ tics" for coarser grind and "- tics" for finer)
Results: a little fast. 60 ml in 20 seconds. Tasted smooth, beany, and balanced. While on the phone later with Craig trying to diagnose the problems I was having, I actually described this shot as the best espresso I had ever had. I suppose I was for the first time tasting "real" espresso potential.

Pull 3: 16.3g, 1.0 + 3 tics
70 ml, 20 secs. Still buttery and smooth.

Pull 4: 16.3g, 1.0 + 1 tic
60 ml, 18 secs... ????? ok starting to get confused. Shouldn't this be getting tighter and slower?
Welll... still buttery and smooth.
Wait it gets better...

Pull 5: 16.3g, 1.0 - 1 tic
gusher... like a faucet...

Pull 6: 16.3g, 1.0 - 5 tics
holy gushing brown water batman! Gave up for the at this point.

A couple of days later I got a call from Craig and he helped diagnose the issue. Can anyone guess?
Yep! The bolt came loose again! Why? I hadn't tightened it while the locking ring was loose. So, when I un-zeroed the locking ring, the force required to do so loosened the top bolt.. In Craig's own words, these things are built "like tanks, and they're dead simple."

So.. Session 2 (one week later) I loosened the locking ring way out to like 3 turns from 0 and retightened the bolt on the axle cap top.

P1: 1.0 + 0 tics, choked
P2: 1.0 + 10 tics, choked
P3: ... you get the picture
P5: 1.0 + 20 tics... we have some flow! but its slow
P6: +23 tics .. spritzers and too fast.
P7: +21 tics ... perfect flow rate... but spritzers
P8: +22 tics...I discovered a way to stop spritzers from getting in your eye while viewing a naked extraction!! But that will be for a different post..

Ok.. ok... I guess I'll do some WDT.. I was really trying to avoid this but here goes... grind into blind tumbler instead of directly to the basket... stir for a few seconds with the included glass stirring rod.. place tumbler over the basket and pull the plug.. finger level and tamp... pull
P9: +22 tics and WDT of sorts.. ding ding ding!! we have a winner! no spritzes! Tiny bit slow though..
P10: +23 tics, Bingo! perfect flow, and no spritzes!

and now I need to spend some time away from caffeine for a bit..