I keep on going finer until I feel the burrs rub. I get this "washboard" feel as I turn and if I try and go finer, the resistance just goes up until I can't turn it any longer. I get a nice even grind but I guess it's still to coarse since I get gushers when I pull a shot.

My PeDe was never used, so perhaps it needs some "break-in" to reduce the washboard feel and tighten up the grind?

[post moved to new thread by author]

I finally got a shot of roughly 25 seconds out of my PeDe hand grinder. But let me say, it was pretty bad. A very inconsistant pour and no flavour depth at all.

It made espresso like a $50 grinder (which is what it costs).

I'll stick with my Mazzer SJ.

Please help!

I've added two hand grinders (a KYM and an unknown Ahner Vienna) to my collection but they both have the same annoying problem... they both have the ability to produce very fine and uniform grinds - almost like flour - but they take absolutely ages to get the job done! After 300 turns I stopped counting. From my inspection of the burrs (which I've cleaned thouroughly), the grounds seem to clog the channels that go down into the finer part of the burrs. The end result is that the first two turns effectively grind normally until the burrs get clogged up and the beans stop channeling down through the burrs. The handle turns with almost no effort after the first couple of turns.



I suspect that these grinders weren't designed to grind so fine. When I loosen the adjustment, they start behaving more normally, but naturally at the expense of the finer grind

Is there anything that can be done to the burrs to make them swallow more beans? I've got a rotary tool at home and have experimented a little with making the grooves deeper on the shaft and grinding down the top sides of the fixed burr (is that what it's called?) which I thought were impeding the flow of the beans into the burrs, but with minimal success. Pics of altered Ahner burrs:



I know it's not very clear, but you can see that I've ground the inside lip of the "channels"


And these are the pics of the KYM burrs:





Are there posts or web pages that explain burr design? Thanks for the input!

My KYM goes plenty fast, and the burrs look about the same I think. The other does look slow. Part of it may be whether the hopper is steep enough for gravity to work, but I suppose its mostly the burrs. I can't explain why the KYM takes so long...

PC

Are you using very oily beans?

The beans I use normally are from a tin and not particularly oily... The same happens with bone dry old decaf I had.

Here are the pics of the hand grinders themselves (an Ahner Vienna and KYM). This should contribute to the original purpose of this thread...

I've seen those KYM's around - they look like they could be a lower-end model, although I don't know more than that.

I tested a Dienes today and ground 28+ grams in 105 turns, which I think is normal for Dienes and the KYM's I've used. I did try a no-name recently, and it was VERY slow. These are better for press coffee I think, and should be able to sold as such.

PC

Turns out the KYM works pretty well, just slowly and the Ahner Vienna is plain junk (the rotor has uneven wear and the burrs are dull). Been fiddling with both grinders for over a week and I finally arrived at the conclusion that the impossibly slow grinding time was due to over tightening the KYM. My main mistake was to assume that I needed to grind with the adjustment just short of the burrs touching. Unlike my Armin Trosser, the KYM just clogs up at the tightest adjustment. It does produce an incredible turkish grind, but does so in over 400 turns! The grind I need for my lever takes about 150 turns - which is slow but bearable. I'm still on the lookout for the ultimate hand grinder...