Mazzer adjustment collar - ideal grease

#1: Post by **crusty cup** » May 22nd, 2016, 12:41 am

I was going to post to this thread, but it's closed:

Stiff Mazzer adjustment collar

I bought the Dow 111, unscrewed the cap, and... It's clear, not black as expected. MSDS shows it's silicone grease, with no molybdenum disulfide, despite the name "Molykote." Hmm...

I put it on the adjustment collar of my Mazzer Mini today. The result was acceptable, but frankly, not nearly as satisfactory as the result obtained with the teflon-laced grease I used earlier - the Cal's universal drag grease, intended for fishing reels. Possibly this is because the 111 is thicker.

If you seek the ultimate grease for the Mazzer collar, check out Cal's. Food safe? I dunno. Probably it's less hazardous than all the dirt and gases I breathe daily.

#2: Post by **Bob_McBob** » May 22nd, 2016, 2:34 am

Dow 111 is not meant for metal to metal contact and basically does nothing except add drag. There are various products people have recommended on here, but I use Super Lube for all grinder internals and it works perfectly. It is synthetic grease with PTFE like the Cal's, but NSF rated for incidental contact.

http://www.super-lube.com/synthetic-mul ... zp-49.html

#3: Post by **aecletec** » May 22nd, 2016, 2:36 am

I didn't have a fruitful search, but it appears that molybdenum doesn't occur in many food safe greases and given the warnings I came across I would tentatively conclude that it isn't food safe. Exposure to teflon, etc in a grinder is probably minimal but it can be good policy to use a grease for its intended application lest our health in the future suffers for it.

#4: Post by **bettysnephew** » May 22nd, 2016, 9:17 am

I worked as a maintenance mechanic in the commercial packaged food industry for 38 years before retiring and Petro Gel was our go to grease for areas of incidental contact. I believe I saw it at one of the major vendors website. CC or 1st Line if I recall. It may not be the slickest thing out there, but it is safe. We could never use moly on any area of possible product contact. Don't know if it is unsafe but that was corporate QC policy.

#5: Post by **DanoM** » May 22nd, 2016, 10:21 am

Bob_McBob wrote:Dow 111 is not meant for metal to metal contact and basically does nothing except add drag. There are various products people have recommended on here, but I use Super Lube for all grinder internals and it works perfectly. It is synthetic grease with PTFE like the Cal's, but NSF rated for incidental contact.

http://www.super-lube.com/synthetic-mul ... zp-49.html

+1 I've had good experience with SuperLube too. I put it on the K10 adjustment collar, and it works great.

#6: Post by **JohnB.** » May 22nd, 2016, 10:46 am

I've been using the Lubri-Film Plus on the K10 threads for 6+ years now as well on my other grinders. Petroleum based & food safe.
https://www.chriscoffee.com/Lubri-Film- ... -p/lfp.htm

#7: Post by **Marcelnl** » May 22nd, 2016, 5:32 pm

Yesterday I cleaned my Major and used some car brake copper grease on the threads of the adjustment collar, no coffee will ever get there and back into the output again taking enough grease particles with it to worry me, or that was my reasoning....so my Major has high heat grease caoacity now

#8: Post by **Rbudge1** » May 22nd, 2016, 5:58 pm

I have found that on some grinders, if you keep the adjustment collar free of loose grinds, the natural oil from the coffee itself might be enough to keep it from being stiff.
Brass is a softer metal than (what I assume the Mazzer collar is) steel and won't scratch or mark the metal, you could try and find a brass bristled wire brush to clean the threads.
Alternatively, I have used white food grease before to lube up Mazzer, Macap and Anfim collars.

#9: Post by **kize** » May 22nd, 2016, 10:50 pm

When I received my F4e new ( design is much the same to the Mazzer) it looked like the factory used white lithium ( food grade) on it.

#10: Post by **jwCrema** » May 22nd, 2016, 10:59 pm

Rbudge1 wrote:I have found that on some grinders, if you keep the adjustment collar free of loose grinds, the natural oil from the coffee itself might be enough to keep it from being stiff.

I have owned 3 Mazzers and they've all had spotless adjustment collars and all have been almost stuck stiff without some lube. SuperLube is a great suggestion and I think it mimicks (is?) what the factory puts on the threads. Based on my three different machines (Mini, SJ, Major) my observation with machines made in the last four years is that lube is required and a mistake to omit. Maybe older machines were loose compared to the new ones?