So I received my LIDO 3 last week and was loving it....until today. For some insane reason, or more likely out of boredom, I decided to take it apart to give it a good cleaning and then align the burrs, per the OE YouTube video showing how to align the LIDO 2. When I put it all back together the nice blue lines that marked the zero point are no longer in alignment and it seems to me that there is a much bigger gap between the adjustment ring and the locking ring (when the locking ring is as far up as possible) than there was when it was fresh out of the box (and this would also be consistent with the blue lines not matching up).

When I try to get it back to its true zero, it ends up being at around -1 (I'm assuming those who own a LIDO will know what I'm talking about). This really isn't that big of a deal I guess but I am wondering if anyone else out there has had this issue? I sent an e-mail to OE asking about it but does anyone know if they would be willing to get it back to "factory specs" if I were to send it back to them?

This is my first manual grinder and I realize that there is a learning curve involved with the LIDO so maybe I just need more time, but I took it apart and put it back together probably a dozen times trying to get it back to factory settings and I absolutely cannot do it. At this point I'm actually thinking about selling it and getting a different grinder just because I'm severely annoyed by the fact that I can't get the blue lines to match up at the true zero point.

I was surprised they marked the zero point as it changes once you wear in the burrs. Sounds like you might have some loose screws if you noticed an increased gap in the adjustment ring and locking. It's hard to really tell based on your description but I'd go through the video again and see if you missed something. Does not sound like a defective unit though.

Is it possible that you installed the locking ring upside down?

Ah, nevermind, see Doug's post which explains that this does not matter.

brianl wrote:I was surprised they marked the zero point as it changes once you wear in the burrs.

The two blue lines may originally be marked at a zero point, but they're intended to be used as an index. It doesn't matter where the actual zero sits because you use the fixed line as a reference for the line on the locking ring when making adjustments and returning to previous settings.

Hello...just a couple quick points to keep this on the rails:
The locking ring is symmetric so there is no upside down.
The gap between the locking ring and adjustment ring cannot change no matter how the grinder is assembled or aligned.
I think we all have read enough forum posts on grinders, manual or electric, commercial or home size to accept that the term ZERO on any grinder is almost a term or art and is open to interpretation from user to user. I call out the zero point on a manual grinder very quickly and in my opinion, accurately, from having built thousands of grinders, but this point is still a sort of zone, almost a concept and one can usually tighten the burr even farther below this zero if you try. The marked zero point is merely a reference marker to allows one to repeatedly set the grind adjustment ( it gives you a point to count from) and plus a mark or minus a mark one way or another simply indicates that one assembler has a different idea of the "feel" of zero than another. I think this zero idea causes more confusion and problems with our grinders than anything else and understand why the majority of hand grinders do not call out a zero in any notable way.

I've attached an image here so you can see what I'm talking about regarding the gap between the adjustment ring and the locking ring. In this photo, both the locking and adjustment rings are as tight as they will go, the grinder won't turn at all but you can see that there is a rather large gap between the two. If I'm not mistaken, when I first got the grinder the two blue lines were lined up and there wasn't much of a gap between the locking ring and adjustment ring, even though the locking ring was as tight as it would go. Is this not correct?

Um, the locking ring is supposed to be rotated against the adjustment ring to hold the grind setting. Unless I am missing something your photo shows the locking ring tightened against the burr carrier collar.

I understand that the locking ring has to be up against the adjustment ring, the photo is just to demonstrate the fact that when out of the box, if both rings were tightened completely I didn't think there was as much of a gap. In the end, I guess what I'm trying to understand is why everything doesn't line up the way it did after having taken it apart and put it all back together, per the OE YouTube videos. I'm not suggesting a faulty product, I am really just wanting to figure out what I'm doing wrong, if anything. I think tomorrow I'll make a video of me assembling it and hopefully someone can tell me if I'm doing anything wrong (if anything at all).

Make sure you clean out all the coffee between the burrs and off the threads

I have a brand new lido3 with a similar problem. The burrs were making a grinding noise and sounded out of align so I took it apart and followed the realignment video and now not only do the blue lines not match back up " not really a big problem" but the finest grind setting I can get is a french press like grind. the burrs and everything look great aligned sitting flush in each other but when I tighten the final screw on the bottom slightly it pushes the gap between the two burrs further and further apart.