How do you change grind setting on modded Hario Skerton

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
entropy4money
Posts: 84
Joined: 9 years ago

#1: Post by entropy4money »

Hi, I have a heavily modified hario skerton ceramic manual grinder. The grind is very consistent and it is a very good quality grinder, the only problem is, that it is a pain in the ass to change the settings. This is what I did to my grinder:

- Removed the step grind selection system and added 2 M8 nuts (with a split lock washer in between them). I added the locking washer because otherwise they would slowly move together and mess up my setting. So, the lower nut sets the grind size, the upper nut locks the setting.
- On top of the nuts I added a washer and on top of the washer an acorn nut.
- I turned it into semi-automatic by using a very slow rotating speed power drill.

The problem is that to change the grind size I have to carefully unscrew the locking nuts which is a pain due to the split lock washer, and it is very hard to do measured adjustments, impossible. I have a very accurate digital caliper, but I don't know how to measure my setting because there is not a flat enough surface to rest the caliper to measure the length of the shaft.

Those of you who modded this tiny cheap grinder, what do you do to change grind setting and measure/record your setting in a painless way?. Yes the $300 of a baratza preciso are totally worth it considering all the work to get this manual grinder to work... But I didn't know that before doing all this, and I've already done all this work so I won't just give up. I won't go back to the original step setting mechanism because it is terrible, the jumps are too large.

rubbish cyclist
Posts: 6
Joined: 9 years ago

#2: Post by rubbish cyclist »

Couldn't you just tighten the burrs until they're locked, then make a mark on both the lip of the upper hopper and the lower nut so that they line up? After that, you could open up the burrs to a position suitable for whatever grind setting you like, then again make a mark on the lip in a different colour, thereby giving you a reference. That would allow repeatability at least in some form.

darokz
Posts: 15
Joined: 9 years ago

#3: Post by darokz »

your system doesn't work well. you have to use a drift shaft collar like the pharos one's. here is mine on my porlex