wurf209 wrote:I think it's just finer setting. Now I'm trying to change the orientation of the top plate, to see if that affects anything. I think I'm seeing some changes but it's getting too late here for me to continue grinding.

In theory, you should be able to get the same effect by trading your top posts around as by changing the orientation of the plate. That way, you won't have to mess up that all-important bling.

When you do have time to play around with alignment, you can also consider the bottom bearing carrier, see if you can get any improvement by adjusting that. I hear cigarette rolling paper works really well for making very thin shims, but I lucked out and got good results just by adding a tiny piece of printer paper under the inside of the one post.

I'm interested to see what others come up with for alignment solutions. When I was considering this grinder, the apparent lack of adjustability worried me a bit, but I figured there's always a way. My paper shim seems to work just fine, but I don't think it would be too hard to find a more permanent, more elegant solution. Now, I guess adding shims only affects radial alignment, I haven't yet thought about axial alignment.

dominico wrote:The reason I want to know when people fist start hearing the rub is because that IMO is easier to measure consistently and less ambiguous across many people rather than "burrs lock tightly". I also wanted to avoid "Zero point" because that could also be interpreted differently.

Finding the "First Burr Rub" point seems like the easiest and clearest way to get a common reference point to me.

It may or may not be easier to measure, but by itself, it's only a reference point for how they set the gauge at the factory. My thought is that to get an idea for alignment, it's more useful to know how far it is from lockup to no burr rub. And in this case, since the adjustment comes already marked, it seems to make far more sense to use "zero" only to refer to the number on the dial, if we're calling anything zero.

We are in agreement about the zero part.

How do you define complete burr lock then? Is it where you can't turn the dial any further? Is it where you can't turn the handle anymore? Is it where you can't turn the handle anymore with no resistance? Variance is people's willingness to put force on their grinders or how the interpret resistance could fudge those numbers.

I set my "zero mark" on my LIDO at the point where I can't tighten the adjustment anymore. It's not very far at all between sliding the bottom ring to that point and snugging it up. When I refer to "lockup" on my Mahlgut, I mean about the same thing. I don't crank it down super-tight, and if I do it doesn't budge very much anyway.

Anyway, my only point about the zero mark on the dial is that it's basically set to an arbitrary position. My understanding is that their procedure is to set this zero mark to the tightest setting where the burrs do not rub. If they are getting it just right each time, then when we compare their zero mark to the first sign of burr rub, we'd be checking either how the alignment the grinder differs from when it was set at the factory, or how much deburring or "seasoning" has taken place, or both. Both of these could be interesting to know. I do feel like referencing burr lockup could perhaps be a useful piece of information to add to that. How much practical significance any of this has, I don't know, but we all like to think about these things in the dead of winter, right?

Doesn't Mahlgut claim that the zero is the same for all grists? I can make the adjustment screw go past zero, but at the zero point on my grist there is no play in the burrs if I pull up on the shaft. At +1 there is some movement. Based on my grinder that's how I assumed Mahlgut established the zero mark

My Grist finally arrived and I've been breaking it in grinding pour over until I clean up the Brewtus and get it ready for espresso again.

This morning I was pondering if I could drive it with a drill or something and figured out that by using a 1/2" female to 3/8 male socket adapter and a 3/8 drive 1/4" hex bit, I could easily get power from my battery powered drill to the Grist.


It doesn't give a lot of flex in the connection so replacing the hex bit with a 1/2" socket and chucking a bolt in the drill might work better.

I've not tried it yet as I've already ground all of today's coffee. I also wonder how hard it will be to hold onto the drill. More answers tomorrow!

Ira

Well, it works. Chucked that assembly in my 18V Rigid drill set to low range and it grinds coffee just fine. Not sure I'll ever do it again as it doesn't seem any easier. The drill has a shorter lever arm and needs to be held on to really strongly and for 21 turns it's hardly faster since I can't leave the drill on the kitchen counter or I'll never hear the end of it.

Ira

spressomon wrote:The other factoid at play here is the burr mfg's tolerance; an unknown.

Are you sure? It's funny that you give the fault to the suppliers.
They promised to align the burrs for the same grist.