Hello to the group,

I'm just getting started on my own personal espresso quest (never made any before, but I sure love to drink it) and I'm starting to gather my equipment. My first machine purchase will be a Robur grinder. I've read quite a few posts on this grinder, but I would like to know what specific cleaning protocol you use to keep your Robur clean?

Also, do you use grinder cleaning pellets to help keep the cutters clean? Minute rice? How hard is it to dismantle the Robur for a through cleaning. Any "gotcha's" that I need to worry about? Is the doser hard to clean? I've read that you need to run some beans through the machine when it's new, so the cutters can settle in a bit. How much do I need to run through it? In use, I will only grind enough beans for 2 - 4 doubles per day, with the occasional party.

I'm still pondering my espresso machine... I'm considering the Double Domobar Vibiemme as a minimum, but I have not heard much on the performance of the new design with two boilers. There seems to be lots of good things posted on the single boiler design. I'm also looking at at a LM GS3, but it seems overkill for a first unit. Thanks in advance your your thoughts and counsel.

Steve

Q1. what specific cleaning protocol you use to keep your Robur clean?

While I'm only a recent Robur owner, I've cleaned it once and noted the routine is essentially the same as described in Cleaning a Mazzer Mini, with the exception that the burrs are a lot bigger and the bottom burr is alot easier to remove (one bolt and it's off).

Q2. Also, do you use grinder cleaning pellets to help keep the cutters clean? Minute rice?

I may use grinder cleaning pellets like Grindz if I'm feeling lazy. The cleaning above only takes 10-15 minutes start to finish.

Q3. How hard is it to dismantle the Robur for a through cleaning.

Easy. If you know which end of a screwdriver to grab, you're halfway home.

Q4. Any "gotcha's" that I need to worry about?

Err, unplug it? Don't drop the hopper?

Q5. Is the doser hard to clean?

No, I brush it out daily and wipe it down with a damp cloth if there's any hint of a funky smell. There's also a product from Urnex called Wipz that works well, though they sure look and smell like diaper wipes to me (i.e., the kinds that are non allergenic and without aloe).

Q6. I've read that you need to run some beans through the machine when it's new, so the cutters can settle in a bit. How much do I need to run through it?

It's overkill, but for testing purposes, I run at least 5 pounds of stale coffee through a grinder, generously donated by our local roaster. For my own personal use, I don't worry about it, I'll burn thorough enough coffee dialing it in.

PS: Around here, we call them burrs, not "cutters."

Hello Dan,

Thanks for the information and the correction of my grammar! As a professional woodturner, burrs to me are first and foremost, a high figured area that grows on some trees. Burr is the English way (although I was born in America, my ancestral heritage is English) to refer to this highly prized wood figure. Here in America we typically call it a burl.

I turn burrs frequently in my studio (mostly for bowls, platters and hollow forms) and have turned them on occasion over the years as high-end replacement handles for tampers and portafilter handles. Turning these replacement handles was the main reason I got interested in drinking espresso several years ago, which has led me to wanting to pull my own shots now.

As far as cleaning the Robur, it does not sound that difficult, which is always a good thing since this must be done regularly. Thanks for your assistance. This is a great forum and one that I plan on spending a lot of time on as I begin my espresso journey. Take care and all the best to you and yours!

Steve

hello steve,
after a few weeks of use without cleaning the robur inside looks like this (just screw out the upper burr):



there are about 11 g coffee inside. I use a vacuum cleaner and my tooth brush (of course without water) to clean it...

cari saluti blu

Hello Frerk,

Wow, I would never have guessed there would be that many grinds left in the burrs... It looks like I will need to do frequent cleanings to insure that the accumulations are kept to a minimum. Just out of curiosity, how many kilos of beans do you run through your Robur in a week/month? (I will only be pulling 2-4 doubles per day).

Do you ever remove the lower burr, or just clean it from the top and vacuum? That large bolt head in the top of the conical burr assembly does not look too easy to remove... Thanks and all the best to you and yours!

Steve

Quadshot wrote:Do you ever remove the lower burr, or just clean it from the top and vacuum? That large bolt head in the top of the conical burr assembly does not look too easy to remove... Thanks and all the best to you and yours!

It was easy to remove because the shaft has a spline, so the bolt's job is to simply hold the bottom burr secure, not prevent it from spinning. I had it off in less than a minute (14mm socket, IIRC). The burr sits flush against the bottom with no room for accumulation beneath it, so you could easily clean around it if you prefer.

BTW, the exit chute is readily accessible if you follow Randy's instruction for removing the doser microswitch. I removed it a couple weeks ago and noticed that it's much easier to eject grounds that would otherwise be "stuck" in the grinding chamber.

The Kony cakes up just as bad. I don't think the flat burr grinders hold onto grinds quite as bad. I don't take the burr carrier off my grinders (Cimbali Max) very often. When I want to flush them out good, I just take it to the garage, turn the regulator on the air compressor up to 90psi and give it a good blast of air down through the burrs and another in through the grind discharge chute. You have to watch the last one, coffee volcano. Don't try to look into the burrs with you do that, it turns a white shirt brown and feels like someone threw a fist of sand into your eyes.

cannonfodder wrote:The Kony cakes up just as bad. I don't think the flat burr grinders hold onto grinds quite as bad. I don't take the burr carrier off my grinders (Cimbali Max) very often. When I want to flush them out good, I just take it to the garage, turn the regulator on the air compressor up to 90psi and give it a good blast of air down through the burrs and another in through the grind discharge chute. You have to watch the last one, coffee volcano. Don't try to look into the burrs with you do that, it turns a white shirt brown and feels like someone threw a fist of sand into your eyes.

I don't know if it's just old folklore, but dust, bearings and compressed air in combination may not be a good idea. The thinking is the compressed air can blow the dust into the bearings. I'd be inclined to power up the shop vac if I wanted a quick, not so clean.

HB wrote:It was easy to remove because the shaft has a spline, so the bolt's job is to simply hold the bottom burr secure, not prevent it from spinning. I had it off in less than a minute (14mm socket, IIRC). The burr sits flush against the bottom with no room for accumulation beneath it, so you could easily clean around it if you prefer.

Thanks so much for the additional information and clarification of the disassembly procedures. It looks like I will have to monitor the burr chamber closely at first, until I can determine how long it takes (when pulling 2 - 4 doubles per day) for it to need a cleaning. Since I'm somewhat obsessive about these things, I will no doubt have that bad boy apart on a regular basis... Take care and best wishes to you and yours!

cannonfodder wrote:When I want to flush them out good, I just take it to the garage, turn the regulator on the air compressor up to 90psi and give it a good blast of air down through the burrs and another in through the grind discharge chute. You have to watch the last one, coffee volcano. Don't try to look into the burrs with you do that, it turns a white shirt brown and feels like someone threw a fist of sand into your eyes.

Been there, done that with wood dust in a bandsaw many years ago. I wonder if there is some way to add a mod where you can direct air upwards through the burr assembly, thus minimizing the possibility of dust getting into places it should not? Will have to give this a look-see. Thanks and all the best to you and yours!

cafeIKE wrote:I don't know if it's just old folklore, but dust, bearings and compressed air in combination may not be a good idea. The thinking is the compressed air can blow the dust into the bearings. I'd be inclined to power up the shop vac if I wanted a quick, not so clean.

You raise a good point here... I doubt that the bearings are sealed (but they might be?), so high velocity dust may work its way inside the bearings. Food for thought! Thanks and best wishes to you and yours!

I use a vacuum on the band saw. The trick is to turn on the dust collector before you start cutting, the planer is even worse but the belt sander takes the cake on dust. As to the coffee in bearings, I can't say. You would think the manufacturer would make the jump of logic that coffee dust may get into the body of a coffee grinder and seal the bearings. But then they probably did not think anyone would be blasting them out with an air compressor.

cannonfodder wrote:As to the coffee in bearings, I can't say. You would think the manufacturer would make the jump of logic that coffee dust may get into the body of a coffee grinder and seal the bearings. But then they probably did not think anyone would be blasting them out with an air compressor.

Even if the bearings are sealed, they are probably low pressure designs to exclude dust / retain lubrication at atmospheric pressure.

IIRC, part cleaning sandblasting cabinets operate around 50psi. Admittedly, they don't use coffee

HB wrote:It was easy to remove because the shaft has a spline, so the bolt's job is to simply hold the bottom burr secure, not prevent it from spinning. I had it off in less than a minute (14mm socket, IIRC). The burr sits flush against the bottom with no room for accumulation beneath it, so you could easily clean around it if you prefer.

Can you confirm that the bolt unscrews clockwise? How did you fix/hold the lower burrs? Since chute and lower burr 'vanes' are at an angle, blocking from the chute side does not work(?), nor does Paul's method for flat burrs to screw down the lower burr assembly. Using force on the (aluminum) vanes seems like a BAD idea.

BTW it's a 13mm bolt on mine.

Suggestions?

Sorry for the slow response. I just cleaned the Robur and you're right, the bolt is 13mm. It unscrews counter-clockwise. I stopped the burr carrier from spinning by blocking the vane with a screwdriver; I agree this is generally unwise, but it took very little force to loosen the bolt. If the bolt is stubborn, the only other option that comes to mind is securing the burr itself using a set of well-padded channel locks (?).

No problem!

Counter-clockwise?!! Thanks a lot for the confirmation!!!
I was afraid that might be the case because of the spline

As to holding the lower burr set - channel locks sound a bit dangerous, if you slide off that might damage the threading for the upper burr? I was thinking more along the lines of leaving the upper burr set in and sandwich some wood in between to stop the burr from spinning (I am installing new burrs anyway)?

There should be an 'official' (maintenance manual hint-hint ) way to do this ?

Edit: If it's an Italian manual probably using the screwdriver method is the official way

eastpresso wrote:I was thinking more along the lines of leaving the upper burr set in...

D'oh! Just tighten the grind adjustment down one-half revolution until the burrs meet, effectively immobilizing the lower burr, then use a socket wrench to loosen the bolt.

HB wrote:D'oh! Just tighten the grind adjustment down one-half revolution until the burrs meet, effectively immobilizing the lower burr, then use a socket wrench to loosen the bolt.

That's the idea, but metal-on-metal is a no-no (interlocking burrs..). Some wood should do the trick(?), putting pressure on the bearings also seems like a bad idea. 'Touching' should be sufficient. Preferably I don't want to be the first one to try it though

Techs where are you?

eastpresso wrote:Techs where are you?

HMmm, Wha?!?
Waidaminnit, lemme gedda cuppa...

'Kay. Lessee, use anything softer than the metals involved to stop the rotation, and use less force than you think it should take to break parts off*. As an old Mexican linesman turned television engineer used to tell me, they used to instruct the linesmen to tighten the porcelain insulators, 'half turn before the cracking'.

I use a construction pencil, but any stick of similar dimensions will do.


*Things are usually less robust than I imagine, use your own scale, and if you need to exert an amazing amount of torque to loosen the bolt, you may want to look into some sort of chemical wrench, and cleaning the rest of the parts and bits really well before re-assembly.

eastpresso wrote:That's the idea, but metal-on-metal is a no-no (interlocking burrs..).

In that case, move the grind setting one revolution coarser, grind some stale coffee, then move the grind setting one revolution finer (if you can).