Owner experience with Pharos manual coffee grinder by Orphan Espresso

and

Pharos Grounds Removal Tips and Mods

represent the two methods I've had for catching grounds and stabilizing this fabulous titan conical hand-powered grinder.

I now have the 3rd generation of this approach which I will post later today.

If any of you Pharos owners leave it on the shelf rather than using it every day because it is too hard to stabilize, encourage me to bring this idea to the Buy/Sell forum.

In a post later today I'll show some of the aspects of my current design that may need another go at the drawing board while I put it into test mode starting this week. Pictures to come...

As the beneficiary of one of your earlier designs, I can't wait to see what you are doing these days. Your chessboard stand still gets regular use in my office!

Thanks for the kind words. Do you secure that box to something or use it in some other way?

Well here are those pictures.

The first shows some of the still amateur effects of learning woodworking techniques as I go, but I like the more exact circle which I'll make a bit deeper in (hypothetical) subsequent production. In testing I'll see if large opening causes grounds spray or works better than the small funnel hole in the stand I use at home now.


With a new unaltered Pharos I will want to verify that it doesn't lose alignment from the torque one creates with it firmly bolted to a cabinet. So this one will be at my work for a month (bringing the noon espresso up a notch I hope after I grind a lb or 2 of rice through it.) I forgot to screw the OE cap back to the grind shaft after installing the handle.


I wanted more decorative hinges. (The rusty one I used on my second model Pharos stand has held up well but I also wanted some design with less side to slide play even without the stabilizing pin (second model) or the two moveable oak dowel pins I'm using in this one. These looked straightforward until I demonstrated how soft brass screws are.

I'll certainly have to do better than that if anyone expresses interest in having one made. But first some tasty tests at work.

Thanks for looking!

I anchored the box to one of my desks using industrial-strength velcro tape; this makes it easy to remove for cleaning purposes, and avoids the need to anchor it to the desk.

The hinge-system seems very nice, and I imagine it makes it fairly ergonomic to clack the grinder up and down to shake out any stray grounds. Is there a retainer system inside to hold a portafilter in place?

If you did end up selling these, I'd be likely to buy one from you. It is prettier, and more space saving, than the giant chess-board. I'm a big fan of non-destructive approaches to improving the Pharos's ergonomics, so this sort of thing is more appealing to me than the VDD mods.

I was planning to bolt this one to cabinet but I don't have the right length bolts today, so I decided to try double-sided tape. I did not think it would work so well, I guess I did not wish to think a few strips of tape are stronger than my grinding arm.

I anchored the box to one of my desks using industrial-strength velcro tape; this makes it easy to remove for cleaning purposes, and avoids the need to anchor it to the desk.

Judging from the three shots I pulled today of medium roast espresso and your comment about what you've done with the box, I'd say both velcro and double-sided tape work quite well. Both might add to the attraction of such a system since most people don't fancy drilling holes in their espresso work area. Over the next few weeks I'll see how well it holds up.

The hinge-system seems very nice, and I imagine it makes it fairly ergonomic to clack the grinder up and down to shake out any stray grounds. Is there a retainer system inside to hold a portafilter in place?

The clacking adds an undesirable noise factor to the manual espresso process, but it works well for grinds removal. It might make a portafilter retainer block less practical as well. I may mold a test one out of clay and see what I think of grinding directly into a portafilter.

[creative nickname] wrote:I'm a big fan of non-destructive approaches to improving the Pharos's ergonomics, so this sort of thing is more appealing to me than the VDD mods.

One big advantage of this approach is for people who don't have a large hand to grip the bolt covers. You can just turn it instead of being concerned about holding the Pharos to the surface.

There are a couple of VDD mods that seem worthwhile even with this wooden holder. The aluminum bolt covers make it hold alignment seemingly forever. The floating adjustment bearing with pointer are a pleasure for dialing in shots.

Agree - I never ended up getting the VDD catch cup mod, but the aluminum bolt covers and the pointer collar adjustment should just be stock aspects of the Pharos. They really do make that much of a positive difference in the user experience.

The new adjustment system that OE includes does seem much better than what he used to ship, but you guys are probably right that the needle system is even easier to use. I only use my pharos at work with a Caravel, and with a manual lever you don't need to make frequent adjustments to grind size to get great shots, so the stock version hasn't annoyed me enough to be worth switching out. But never say never...

Mine has also held alignment very well; if that starts to change, I'm sure I'll be putting in an order to Will for the bolt covers!

The Caravel requires a pretty coarse grind, and mine matches up well with the Trosser box grinder I bought in the OE close-out sale. BTW I do use the full VDD mods and the catch cup works great. There has been no problem with the change in position of the lower bearing and the shorter axle. But I think this tabletop holder has its advantages. Personally I would love to see it with enough room to slide a portafilter in there and grind directly into it. How you get all of the grounds out of an unmodded Pharos without bouncing or hammering it is another matter.

With my "Chert v1" chessboard stand, I just clack the Pharos up and down a few times, holding onto the top of the axle, and all the grinds fall down into the little catch cup I place underneath the stand. I do a generous amount of RDT before grinding to facilitate this.

I keep meaning to modify the box to hold the portafilter itself, but I never get around to it.