I just got a new hg1 yesterday. I decided after realizing that the feldgrind I ordered might show up who knows when and that the hario slim I use for pourovers is a pos, I figured I'd just pony up the cash for the hg1 and use the feldgrind for my pouover travel grinder.

Wow what a work of art the hg is. Beautiful, functional, and does what it's supposed to do very well.

On mine, I noticed that the burr shaft bolt on top of the gear housing has a very noticeable wobble to it, and wondered if it's cause for concern. I took the funnel off, spun the handle quickly and smoothly, and I think I could detect the slightest wobble in the burr.

I can't say whether the espresso grind looks normal or not, as I've never used a good grinder before. And, these are my first espresso shots I've pulled, so I can't judge from that either.

On a side note, I seasoned it with 2 boxes rice, and have ran through 2 bags of cheapo beans practicing. So here's what I've got:

The grind is set about 1 and 1/4 rotation past touching zero, on the number 5.4. It takes about 45 cranks to get the beans ground. I have been practicing a 17g dose into a double mcal basket on a cremina. I use the blind tumbler and do some redistribution before putting it into the pf with a thin fork handle (size of chop stick). After lifting the stopper, I vertically tap the pf onto the table a couple times with the tumbler funnel still on top. Then take the funnel off and do the vertical tap a couple more times to settle the grounds into the channel round the edges where the funnel was. I do a single tamp making sure it's level. I have tried the nutation and and the spin polishing thing, and I seem to get the best results without doing them.

Then on the cremina, I have the cheap Taylor thermo wire rubberbanded to the back right side of the group, just above the large part of the Bell and the liquid crystal thermo strips (1 on each side just above Bell). Starting at 188f, I give a nice smooth lift on the lever that takes around a total of 15sec to get to the top, a 10 sec dwell starting from when I hear the water rush in, and then pull, ending at about 201f.

This has gotten me a 34-36g shot in 25-30 sec pretty consistently. Sometimes with wicked squirting out the sides of the pf, sometimes a really nice looking shot tigr stripes and all. It took me at least a full bag to get some decent shots. I noticed that if I go into the pull with too much pressure on the lever, it seems to exacerbate the squirting.

Looking at the puck post shot, it's dry and has quite a cratered surface, with the larger pieces of grounds grouping around the craters. When I have a terrible shot, the craters are much more exaggerated and larger.

Tried posting a couple pictures, but can't due to file size. I wish I could upload a video to show the wobble and my procedures and shots, but can't. How's all this sound? Normal and that I need practice? That's what I'm hoping since the 2015 hg1 is supposed to be factory aligned. Thanks for any and all help!

congrats on the HG1. You really ought to record a video of the wobble so we have some point of comparison. But it sounds bad, IMO. Mine does not wobble in the least, nor is there any visible runout on either the shaft or shaft cap on the gear box.

I also use the HG1 regularly with my Cremina and my routine isn't too different from yours, with exception to the temperature readings. I don't bother with numbers, I only adjust based on visual extraction, timing, and cup flavor profile.

It takes quite a long time to break in the burrs so until that happens your shots will be inferior, whether you can tell now or not. I've had my setup for two years now, and it keeps getting better. My burrs happen to be the TiN-coated Mazzer burrs and they take 35 rotations to grind 14g or so, excluding the clearing effort at the end of the grinding.

If your puck has craters there is much room for improvement. Mine usually looks evenly rough, if that makes any sense. No craters or irregular shapes or dips. Reason for the rough appearance is that the larger bits stay on top while the finer grounds flow towards the basket holes.

I have quite a few videos on demos and preps with my setup. PM me and I'll share them with you, on whatever topic you're interested in.

One tip you might want to try is instead of tapping the PF to dispense the remaining grounds from the blind tumbler, hold both the PF and tumbler firmly together and quickly swirl the grounds to "wash" the remaining ones down. I find tapping results in unpredictable shots. And other tip is to relax the PF in the group before raising the lever and just before the point that dispenses the water, tighten the PF in the group and then dispense your water. If you've got water rushing down the sides of the PF, either you didn't tighten it enough or you need to replace your group seals. Either way it's not acceptable.

Lastly, you need to get a shot mirror so you can control your extraction from an ergonomic angle. If you're leaning all the way down to watch the pour, your control over the lever might be disrupted, resulting in a less-than-stellar shot.

Good luck.

Rtockstein wrote:Tried posting a couple pictures, but can't due to file size.

Photos can be up to 256K and 800x800. Most camera photos are bigger, but HB's server will automatically resize on upload. If you want to resize prior to upload, see Posting images on HB for suggestions.

Rtockstein wrote:I wish I could upload a video to show the wobble and my procedures and shots, but can't.

You can upload your video to YouTube and then inline it following the instructions in Posting videos on HB.

Here's the puck. Some were better, some were worse. This is slightly worse than the average.

Thanks for the tips!

As for my videos, I think maybe you can see the wobble on the burr that I mentioned if you look to the top right edge of the burr... About the 2:30 position?

Also forgot to mention, there's a periodic short whine it makes while spinning the handle. It happens in the same spot every revolution. I think it's probably the funnel wiper touching the funnel. Maybe the wiper just isn't built to the same tolerances as the rest though.

The screw is offset on the shaft of my K10. You can double check but it's probably okay.

There is no wobble on the burr itself, don't look at the screw. The screw wobble does not matter.

I'd be quite unhappy if it were mine. You are paying a premium for precision engineering on these beautiful grinders. I'd contact HG-1 customer support with links to the videos to show them the problem. I can't imagine that they won't be able to provide a fix.

Mine did that and the folks at hg one said it doesn't matter