There's some scattered information but I wanted to focus it a little bit and there's also some information for the older model that wont pertain in some threads and its hard to know which one a person has. I have had it since late September so it's not worn in a lot (<10lb and maybe a lb of instant rice) and I'm not sure if what I mention below is a facet of it still being semi-new. I have not had consistent results but some shots have been heavenly (I am not the most experience so it may be my technique or both).

The test: I laid a white sheet of paper underneath the cone. I took off the magnet cone and did some grinding. I noticed that the top-left part of the circumference always has less coffee than the rest of the circle. I also noticed this same pattern while removing the cone after a grinding session but its less scientific as numerous things could affect that. I should mention that I also have the static cone thing attached to the burr carrier as well.

Does this indicate the burrs are out of alignment? Is there a more scientific way to test this or another reliable method? Or just a second way to verify results of the above test?

Alignment: The HG One website is a little sparse on information but I am led to believe that you go the finest you can until the burrs touch. Then would you loosen the two screws on the bottom and then try to go finer until you cant anymore. Then retighten and done?

Is there a tool that aids in the precision? I have a lot invested in this machine, so I don't mind investing a little on a worthwhile tool.

thanks in advance.

HG one grinder - a precision hand grinder

For your reference

Brian,

Break-in has nothing to do with burr alignment, so the smaller amount of coffee in one quadrant (if I interpret your post correctly) versus the others definitely points to an alignment issue. Your burrs are too close together in the quadrant that is producing the lower amount of grounds.

To check using a very non-scientific method, with the lower funnel removed and the grinder adjusted fine enough so the burrs make initial contact, turn off lights in the room and point a flashlight into the throat of the grinder. When looking from below, you should see very little light (if any) where the burrs touch, more light where they don't. Now, turn the handle to ensure your shaft is not bent. A bent shaft will have this gap between burrs change as the inner burr spins. Highly unlikely your shaft is bent, but you might as well check. If the gap doesn't change, and the burrs do not have equal light penetrating from all 360 degrees, you have an alignment issue. While you are at it, you may want to also push on the shaft from the side to look for play. Any play will allow the inner burr to move around within the outer burr as you are grinding. That fix is far more involved, so hopefully you don't have that issue, and that would produce erratic sizes in the grind on all 360 degrees, which you did not mention.

To align, I'd think you would dial it down until the burrs make initial contact, loosen the alignment bolts so you can then dial down even finer (not too much) to center the burrs (the inner should fit perfectly inside the outer). With the alignment bolts just loose enough to move the lower carrier, dial finer until the center burr is fully inside the outer burr and is making contact on all 360 degrees. Tighten the alignment bolts of the lower burr carrier, taking your time to snug each one up and then alternating, applying a little more pressure on each one versus tightening one down all that way before moving on to the next. Dial the grind setting out a little (more coarse) and then re-check the alignment to ensure it hasn't moved.

Please keep in mind that perfect alignment will not get rid of the need to RDT and WDT, but it should now produce an even distribution.

Hope this works out for you.

Cheers!

I read that post Jago, but most seemed to deal with the burr collar clamp, which is the old version. I just wanted to see whether there were better ways of doing things. I just got done realigning my Lido 2, so its probably a similar process.

Merle, thanks! that is exactly what I was hoping for! Especially the extra information about checking if shaft is bend and etc. your description for tightening at the end reminds me of what I do when I adjust my bicycle brake calipers! I'll update this post tonight with the results.

okay. so i tried to align it and its impossible to seat the upper burr into the lower burr. Is there a precision tool I can use to verify?

EDIT: It seems to look better at least when grinding on a white sheet of paper than before. I just wish to have some sort of precision as it doesn't have the feedback the Lido 2 did when I aligned it to know I was close.

How bad was the spent ground visually? This was from the original production HG1 that I had to realign on my own. Wish I know a good reliable method. I am afraid to take it apart to clean and mess up alignment.

Espresso with my Reneka

I am still sure with alignment but mine looks different than your picture as it doesn't have an boulders. Maybe some fines but hard to tell.

Quick question, As you align the grinder (you're able to go finer without rub), should your shot range for espresso also get finer?

I'm noticing a much more even ring of coffee when grinding on a sheet of paper. I was only able to go 10 notches finer without rub, when aligning, but probably had to grind about a 15 notches from my normal espresso range for a decent shot.

Finally, What is a good range from the espresso setting till the start of burr rub? should it be a quarter turn? half turn? I find that a little under a full turn from my espresso range the burrs lock up and I can't turn the handle. Of course if I loosen the aligning screws, I can go finer but I'm not sure whether this just promoted malalignment or not.

If you don't see such huge boulders then you are probably Ok already. It does make sense to me that you should be able to go finer for the same shot time when you have better alignment. Yours is probably not generating as much fines with better alignment.

Mine is from the original run and my settings for the Cremina and MCAL levers are at around the same point as yours, a bit less than 1 full turn from zero.

When you say from zero. Do you mean when the handle wont easily spin (almost locked) or when you adjust finer and then the handle turns on its own (sign of first rub)?
Mine is a little less than a full turn (prob around 3/4) from the locked position of zero but only about 1/5 to 1/4 from the first rub. I expect my setup to require a finer grind than your lever (I also generally use city+ for espresso which requires finer grinding still). I'm just curious finding my range much closer to the first sign of rub than I'd like.

Thanks for the response. Its just frustrating that there is no tell tale way to align the thing. Because when you loosen the bolts you can actually keep going finer with the burr but it will cause the bottom burr carrier to start to go sideways (so there is one absolute zero point for each and its kind of just a stab to get there. The only way I can judge that its close is using my fingers to feel the gap around where the burrs meet at the bottom of the grinder but that assumes that the burrs are even (because the part you touch is not a cutting surface).

Yes, my zero is at first rub when the flywheel starts to turn. I am at a little bit less than 1 full turn from first rub. Are you sure your burrs were clean when you attempted to find first rub? 1/4 to 1/5 of a turn is pretty amazing. Any chance that your grinder is pretty much perfectly aligned? Could you take a close up photo of a spent puck?

I remember reading someone used a digital camera to take pictures of the burr alignment from the bottom then zoom in on the PC to check for evenness. I think I'll use this method next time. I had the grinder upside down when I did aligned mine and it was tough to determine alignment.