OCD for the win!

Toward the beginning of this thread there was some discussion about knocking. I'm definitely a knocker, though maybe I don't go about it as vigorously as some.

Steve, what you're suggesting sounds plausible, so I'll check my nuts tonight (uh, that sounds wrong). I've never had trouble with these things working their way loose before though. Guess you're suggesting yours were never properly tightened in the first place?

After reading this, I knock mine on the side to get the last bit of grinds out as well. I wonder if I should stop that now

*deleted. Maybe a bit over the line with the double entendre

Update: I checked, and this LIDO knocker's nuts are nice and tight.

Related: for an easy way to reduce the need for knocking in the first place, you might try adding a drop or two of water to your beans before grinding. I was initially skeptical but came away impressed after a quick test. Check out my post in the relevant thread here:

Reducing Grinder Static - Revisited

that wont rust the burrs?

Apparently not based on comments over there. But I don't plan on doing it often--just thought it was a cool trick.

I've done the drop of water trick before, works like a charm most of the time. My Bodum is a little more static-producing, it takes maybe 4-5 drops to get the static down on a really sticky bean.

OT:
I'm pretty sure the nuts were tight upon receipt of my LIDO. It was only recently that I knocked mine out of alignment.

Since my LIDO is now aligned, I decided to experiment with it. The first thing is to check the torque overnight - tight.

Grab my mallet, give it a semi-mild tap on the burr carrier, and check the alignment. Oooohhh... now it's out of alignment, even though the nuts were tight. Bummer. Good news, tho: I could just adjust it back, but it goes out of alignment easier than I thought. It took a borderline sub-painful palm hit to knock it out of alignment - far more than normal but still possible without a mallet.

So, this morning, I modified the cap on my LIDO. Got some #6 washers (about 9.5mm dia), worked with a fine woodworking gouge and tapped a hole around the two main nuts (not the ones on the adjuster carrier bar). With the bar nuts tight, I removed the main nuts, pulled the little donut of plastic out (in the shape of a washer) and stuck my two washers (approximately 1mm thick) into the hole. Torqued the two main nuts.

Then, I removed the adjuster carrier bar, and the cap came off just like I wanted, while the grinder remained clamped and aligned.

Then, I drilled out the adjuster carrier bar holes in the cap, cleaned up all four holes, and put the cap back on. Then I put two washers in, installed the adjuster carrier bar, and torqued them up.

Nice feeling, it clamps down with a clean torque, doesn't feel like it's continually creeping. The cap is a smidge over 1mm thick, but it's smushed around where the nuts used to clamp.

Then, I removed the two main nuts, and installed #8 washers on top of the #6 to capture the cap.

This mod does two things:

-It puts basically metal between the nut and the burr carrier. Stable clampload when torqued, little opportunity for creep or clamp loss.

-It allows me to remove the cap without ever losing alignment (by alternating which pair I keep clamped). I can remove the #8 washers, tighten, then remove the carrier bar, and the cap comes off.

It takes about 3X as much force to misalign it now (but yes, it can still be misaligned with a VERY sharp tap or two). I expect (tho I won't be doing it) that it would stand up fine to hand tapping, but I think I'll leave it be and just use a combo of water drops and vertical-only taps. (I was unable to misalign it with palm hits, but I think I'll still refrain from doing so.)

I did have to move my zero point - it changed by 0.25 turns because the washers under the carrier bar are slightly thinner than the plastic. t-point is still another 0.5 turns tighter than zero.

I couldn't see a way to get a mason jar lid to work without a secondary seal or a metal plate adapter - A standard lid is recessed, so if you clamp it to the burr carrier without a washer, it will just distort badly. If you clamp it with washers, then there is a space between the burr carrier and the cap for grounds to get stuck.

I suppose some day I'll probably move to a metal lid of some sort, but this stabilizes the grinder for now.

CHEERS!


(BTW, 2.0 is decent for a Moka Pot, 2.25 is about 18.5% extraction, 2.0 is about 20%, and 1.75 is right around 22% - at least that's what I've seen with a few quick pots).

I've never seen that much grind retention for static in a Lido as I saw in this picture !
With the grinder's body in my left hand, I just slap the glass jar a couple of times and, if still necessary, a vertical light blow with the rear of the jar on the rubber mat and a final slap, that's all.
The minimal remains left, I clean with a toohpick (lasts many days), a dry cloth for the jar (only coffee "dust") and a lip blow near the burrs (over the sink), 20 seconds max.

Strange. I don't whack the grinder with my palm, although it does get a shake. After grinding and brewing, I clean the LIDO. The only coffee left in the grinder is in a ring around the burr and some chaff that is stuck to the pointer cap. I give it a quick blow over the garbage or sink. Then I take a brush that I use to clean my Baratza and a 5 second brushing dislodges all the fines clinging to the outside of the burr. While I dump those in the garbage I flip the LIDO upside down, blow into the burr from the bottom and this tosses out a bunch of chaff and gunk that gets stuck in the chamber.

I've stopped taking my LIDO apart because this cleaning regiment leaves the burrs perfectly clean. Additionally, I see no alignment issues forming. I have had my LIDO tightened up by Doug, due to a completely unrelated issue having to do with loctite, but even then I had no alignment issues.

My zero shifted 1/4 turn and settled nicely. Completely tight is 1/2 a turn past this new zero.

#25

bmb wrote:I've never seen that much grind retention for static in a Lido as I saw in this picture!

Like I said in the other thread, that was with no knocking, shaking, or clacking of any kind. Retention is not an issue with my LIDOs in general. In this case the static was probably from a combination of low humidity and older (presumably drier) beans.