Several weeks ago I serviced the Swift we have used for many years and replaced the ceramic burrs. This is an earlier one SN642. I put a couple of drops of Singer sewing machine oil on the threads and reassembled the burr carriers and everything seemed okay. Over the last few days the adjustment has locked up and one of the adjusting mechanisms snapped. I took the machine off line and tried to unscrew the carriers which are locked down tight. I called Roger at ESI and he was very nice, but informed me the machine is now a boat anchor. Seems the lower casing can get touched by the burr carrier and gall the threads somehow. I'm not satisfied that the machine is now considered unsalvagable and the repair parts are equal almost to a new machine. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of problem? Seems like a major flaw to me.

Bernie

This probably ain't worth 0.0002p, but

You may want to try freezing or heating the unit. There's a very slight chance you may gain enough to allow you to get the carriers out.

Bernie I had a similar problem to yours, I believe the barista ground it so fine it blocked up the chute and kept on adjusting as they wondered why nothing came out. Being made from aluminium mine was so bad that the shop barista kept cranking the adjustment worm gear thus chewing up the teeth on the upper burr carrier. A combination of heat and good old fashioned elbow grease got it out.

I was lucky after a good clean up the threads were ok, the only damage was to the teeth. Roger would have more experience of Swifts than I so be aware that it may be knackered.

IIRC I may have taken off the adjustment worm gear on the other grinder and used both on the same stuck grinder. So you have two adjustments at 180 degrees to each other so you can get more torque.

I took the machine down to the warehouse and pulled one motor/carrier assembly out. Man, these things are solid. I've put some heat to it and it still isn't moving. I will try and get a schematic of the machine so I can see if I can put a small grinder wheel on a long shaft down the throat and back-grind enough of the old carrier thread down to back it out. Pretty sketchy way to repair the piece, but I think just putting enough pressure on the geared carrier to back it out will really ruin the threads. I didn't know these Swift's had a counter inside. I was a bit surprised to see damn near half a million cycles clicked off on the counter.

Bernie

Hi Bernie,

My experience with Roger at LM USA is that he's very competent and knows what he is doing. Of course, he hasn't seen your machine and you might be able to coax it back into life, at least for a while, following other suggestions you will get on this thread.

It is unfortunate that so many things become boat anchors before their time.

Where's Orson Wells when we need him the most?

ken

Orson Welles

Orson Welles:

cafeIKE wrote::?:

Orson Welles

Well, at least I didn't say "Orsen Wells"

zin1953 wrote:Orson Welles:

And certainly it remains a matter of debate as to whether there ever is "a time" for Paul Masson Wines.

ken

Well, within the wine trade, the joke about those commercials was that the example they had Orson drinking was Paul Masson Emerald Dry, a wine that took less than six months from harvest to bottle.