great mod Sweaner.

there are some paranormal activities at OE...

I'd bought my dosing funnel when I was still using the SJ and after trying it out,
it didn't seem to fit into my routine so it went into the drawer for over a year.
But when I got the Pharos, the funnel found its true purpose.

Apparently it has happened to you too, altho for me, oddly, it's actually a dosing funnel.

Coincidence???

It is the 53mm dosing funnel. Fits the Pharos AND the Pringles lid like a glove!

I assume you can remove the funnel w/out having to remove the crank handle
when you need to make a grind adjustment?

For me, I flip up the rubber cover and expose one of the slots
and pour the weighed beans from the basket fairly easily w/out losing any.
It's not nearly as cool as the funnel mod though.

Order Placed: 1/22/2012
Date Shipped: 1/26/2012
Date Received 01/30/2012
#277 arrived

Initial Impressions
Upon un-boxing, I was pleased to see that the grinder was double boxed and the components were neatly wrapped. The grinder looks solid and the construction/materials feel like it will last forever. The Pharos is dwarfed sitting next to my Mazzer Super Jolly and Alex by Izzo Mk1.

Dialing in the grinder
The initial aligning of the burrs and dialing in the grind I found to be quite a frustrating process. I watched the OE Pharos Bulletin #5 and followed this alignment technique posted in the video. I followed this procedure several times and sometimes it seemed to work and other times it didn't. When I would get the burrs aligned to my level of satisfaction, I ran some stale beans through the grinder to get a feel of how it grinds. After each grind my burrs would get out of alignment. After adjusting then grinding, adjusting then grinding, several times I eventually seemed to get it right somehow. I accepted that there would be a learning curve and suspect my troubles early on were simply user errors. .

With my burrs aligned I was ready to break out my Stumptown Hairbender which I had just purchased for this occasion roasted only 2 days prior.
First shot - choked the machine. Time for some adjustment.
Second shot - 10 second gusher. Okay, just trying to get into ball park range here.
Third Shot - choked the machine. Hmm...lets try again.
Fourth Shot- another gusher. Now I am banging my head against the wall thinking how the hell do people make fine adjustments on this thing.
Fifth Shot- Finally I am in ballpark range, about 24 seconds. Nice dark crema and a palatable difference versus what I was getting with my super jolly. I am excited, but its 10:00 PM and decide no more coffee for the night... and I am scared to try and make a small adjustment.

I decide to start going through this thread and learn a thing or two. I watched samuellaw178 adjustment video which turned out to be HUGE help. Thank you! I also printed out the scale that is in this thread and meticulously cut it out and taped it to my grinder. Thank you too! samuellaw178's video combined with the scale really make a big difference. Since then, my shots have been really good. The conical burrs seem to be more forgiving and bring out a flavor profile that I really like (and prefer) over what I was getting out of my Super Jolly (could be user error).

Additional comments
The amount of time to added to my morning routine by switching from the SJ to the Pharos has not been significant. I have been using my 12 oz steam pitcher on a scale to weigh out 18 oz of beans. The spout on the pitcher help guide the beans into the hopper of the Pharos. This eliminates the round disc (Bean catcher) for me.
When I am finished grinding, I remove the rubber plug and place the hole directly over my steam pitcher. I give it two knocks straight down, a couple taps on the side, then two more knocks straight down. This does a pretty good job at getting the coffee out of the Pharos. Now my grounds are in my pitcher ready to be transferred into my basket which when done carefully results in zero mess!

Overall my experiences with the grinder are very positive. I cannot recommend the print out scale enough to help provide reference points when adjusting! I hope this helps someone!

Chris,

Congratulations on your new Pharos!

I've found two more pieces of gear very helpful, the OE dosing funnel and a canning funnel. Once I've got the grounds into a cup, I place the dosing funnel on smaller baskets and hold the canning funnel above that to dose into the basket all at once. Then it's straightforward leveling (Stockfleth's) and tamping.

OE recently sold me this canning funnel, but I don't find it on their site anymore. If it's actually the same one it fits perfectly into a 58mm portafilter, so no OE dosing funnel needed.

http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Stainless-Steel-Wide-Mouth-Funnel/dp/B00004UE88/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328165832&sr=8-1

Nice dosing ideas there...it really does illustrate the many ways of looking at a thing as in almost a year it had not occurred to me to use a milk steaming pitcher So obvious and sitting right in front of me all this time...I guess I got used to the big funnel.
Sorry you got off to a rocky start....aligning it right out of the box would sidetrack a person pretty well (although we suspect that a lot of people take them apart right away just to check out the burr and then have to do the assembly and alignment). The grinders are pretty much "factory" aligned when shipped and I tighten the top nuts down really tight so there is no burr jostling during shipment and this may cause a person to assume that the tight setting as it comes out of the box is zero but it is actually well below zero. When I set zero, I lay the grinder on its side and run both nuts up the thread so the burr is loose, then pull the burr up until it is rubbing. At that point I spin the lower nut until it naturally stops against the bearing on its own. This is the zero point that I use when setting up the grinders. I spin the upper nut to touch, back it off and set the lower nut back 1/4 turn, using the long pin as a guide. I hold the lower nut still with the long pin and tighten the upper nut against it with finger pressure.
I have done this enough that I suppose I should be able to do it in my sleep but I still have to pay very close attention on the final alignment. In my sleep I mostly sleep.

Echoing what you have just said Doug, I think one of my biggest my hang ups was over tightening when I was trying to find zero. Then when I would back off a 1/4 turn I would still feel some rubbing (probably cause I was still below the zero point!). I suspect this was the main culprit in my inability align the burrs initially. "Spin the lower nut until it naturally stops against the bearing on its own" as you have said. This works beautifully, after 10 + grinds alignment still seems great!.
Gary, thanks for the good ideas. I have been debating whether or not I want to get an OE dosing cylinder or funnel. My system seems to be working pretty well now but the addition of the dosing funnel will allow me to be less cautious when transferring my grounds. Hmm... maybe I will place another order

expy98 wrote:I assume you can remove the funnel w/out having to remove the crank handle
when you need to make a grind adjustment?

For me, I flip up the rubber cover and expose one of the slots
and pour the weighed beans from the basket fairly easily w/out losing any.
It's not nearly as cool as the funnel mod though.

I missed this post before. yes, it is rather easy to remove the funnel, as it fits over the handle.

thanks for the answer Sweaner. Again, elegant mod.

Have to try the pitcher trick, I have the small Tiamo 5oz pitcher that I never
had much success with for steaming.

The benefit of the dosing funnel is that it keeps mess to a minimal and
it makes distribution almost perfect every time.

I have really been enjoying Pharos #285!



Here's my modified version of petrush's adjustment scale. I scaled it up a bit and added holes for the nuts and pin hole, so the scale stays on the top of the Pharos without tape.


Downloads (print on 8.5x11 paper without scaling):
http://www.scythide.com/pharos/topplate_scythide.pdf
http://www.scythide.com/pharos/topplate_scythide.svg
http://www.scythide.com/pharos/topplate_scythide.ai



To find zero and make consistent adjustments, I basically follow the method that samuellaw178 showed in his video.

1) Put something long into the pin hole (I use a chopstick)
2) Rotate handle clockwise until it rests against the chopstick
3) Loosen adjustment nuts, clack the burrs to remove any residual coffee
4) Pull up on the handle and spin the bottom adjustment nut down until it touches, that's zero
5) I find the hole in the bottom nut closest to the 0 on the scale and then I stuff some of the paper from the holes I cut out of the scale into that hole to mark it.



6) Use the pin in the hole with the mark to make grind adjustments, and hold the pin with one hand and tighten the top adjustment nut with your other hand to lock the setting.

I find that this method is pretty repeatable and so far I've not found any changes to the zero setting unless there's some grinds still stuck in the burrs.