I bought the Pharos 2 as soon as it was available from Orphan Espresso, lived with it for a while, modified it to be easier to use, and lived with those mods a while. I think they make it a much more livable grinder.

Here is the info on the mods and a link to the folder where the STL and DXF files are in case you want to make these mods yourself:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zfpdms4f6hzx ... -R0Xa?dl=0

Here is the readme from that folder:

For $300 the Pharos 2 from Orphan Espresso (http://www.oehandgrinders.com/OE-Pharos ... _p_79.html) gives you a compact hand grinder with a set of 68 mm burrs from a grinder that would cost thousands and take up your whole counter. The build quality is very high. The grind quality is very high. The ease of adjustment is also good (especially compared to their Lido 2, which is tiny and produces a great grind, but whose adjustment procedure I find a complete nightmare). Now for the issues I don't like as much and how I addressed them.

The Hopper
You are supposed to load your beans into the top of the grinder with the assist of a small plastic ring. The ring is supposed to help guide the beans into the grinding chamber. After the beans are loaded, you are supposed to (optionally) cover the loading holes in the grind chamber with a circular rubber flap to prevent bean shards from flying out of the grinder towards the end of the grind. Instead I wanted the beans to be dumped into a large-ish funnel and get automatically fed into the grind chamber. I also wanted the flying shards to stay contained in the grinder without having to remove and replace a rubber flap. The hard part about making a funnel is that the grind-adjust collar has to be able to rotate relative to the grinder handle, so you can't just make a one-piece design. Also, to adjust the grind you need quick and ready access to the socket-head cap screw in the collar. Additionally, there is a bit of a choke point at the bean loading area because of the diameter of the grinding chamber. My solution was to make a ring that fits over the adjustment collar. I replaced the locking screw in the adjustment collar with a longer one. The longer screw permanently engages the adjustment collar with the plastic ring I ensuring they always remain aligned. The ring is designed to let the beans enter the grinding chamber, but not let them pop out or spill sideways. The ring does not interfere with grind adjustment. I then made a funnel piece that friction fits onto the ring over the handle. This funnel can stay on all the time but is easy to remove for adjustment when changing the grinds. Beans now go automatically into the hopper and no bean particles fly anywhere. Both pieces are easily 3-d printed and the screw is available from McMaster Carr

Getting the Ground Coffee
Underneath the grinding chamber and burrs the Pharos has a receiving chamber. That receiving chamber has a single outlet hole that is stoppered with a rubber cork during use. After you grind you are meant to uncork the grinder and shake out the grinds. Instead I added a mechanism similar to a doser to the inside of the receiving chamber to sweep out the grounds as they are being made. You could design a more effective one than I did (by more accurately measuring the inside of the Pharos, or add a brush/sweeper/etc), but mine works well enough for me to quit futzing. The doser blade fits loosely on the grinder shaft. A pin engages with a hole in the bottom of the bottom burr and also engages a hole on the doser blade. The hole in the doser blade has a ball-point pen spring which pushes on the pin. The spring makes sure the doser makes gentle contact with the bottom of the chamber and the pin makes sure the doser rotates when you turn the grinder. One problem with the doser is that if you grind with the bottom cork in, the grinds tend to clump around the doser still forcing you to bang on on it a bit. Also because the grinder isn't elevated off the counter, you have to hold the grinder over a piece of paper or bowl while you turn the handle. To fix this problem I built a holder from three thicknesses of 3/4 baltic ply that elevate the grinder and let you grind directly into a measuring cup or portafilter. Much better. You could make the base out of plastic (I have included an stl), but wood is better for this.
You have to rotate the handle back and forth a couple times after grinding to make sure you get out most of the grounds, but it works.

Leverage
I have no problem holding the Pharos down while I'm grinding, but my kids can't do it and it isn't always fun even for me --especially for finer grinds. The finer the grind, the harder the grinder is to turn --by a lot (it does not appear to be a linear relationship). I don't want the Pharos to be a knee mill (it was intended to be used either as a knee or counter mill), so the last thing I did was clamp it down to the counter (not shown in pictures)

What you need:

• 3D printer
• Ball point pen spring
• Metal pin about 39 mm long and around 4.5-4.75 mm diameter (I used a left over IKEA tool and cut it off with a dremel.
• ABS for printer.
• 25mm long M4 .7 pitch Stainless Socket head cap screw (McMaster Part 92290A176)
• If you are making the base out of ply: ¾ inch Baltic plywood (if you are going that route ). You only need a little. My friends cut
  it for me out of scrap.
• Some 2" #8 Spax screws or equivalent.

How:

Doser:
Print the doser stl. I would not polish it (I seem to get more static in polished ABS). Make sure the hole for the central shaft is clear (it should slide smoothly in the shaft of the Pharos) and make sure the ballpoint-pen spring fits into the smaller hole on the side without binding. Set the adjustment collar on the Pharos as tight as you can (to "lock" the burrs together) and disassemble the Pharos according to the instructions on their website just to the point of being able to remove the lower grinds receiving chamber. Put your metal pin into the hole in the bottom of the bottom burr , put the spring into the doser blade and put the blade on the Pharos shaft making sure that the metal pin enters the hole in the doser blade and engages the spring. Replace the lower grind receiving chamber and reassemble the grinder.

Hopper:
Print both hopper stl files. Make sure the 25 mm M4 screw fits through the part properly (you might need to trim with an xacto, dremel, or sandpaper). Remove the handle from the Pharos according to the instructions. Remove the socket screw from the adjustment collar and slip the plastic ring (the lower part of the hopper) over the adjustment collar making sure the holes in the ring align with the threads in the adjustment collar. Put the 25 mm screw into the adjustment collar and tighten it down. Be careful as the screw exits the back side of the adjustment collar and engages the plastic ring. If you are misaligned you could break the ring. Put the funnel on top and you are done.

Base:
Scale the drawing file so that the screw holes in the drawing are exactly 1/8 inch (the pilot hole size for number 8 screws). Cut it out of 3/4 baltic ply. Sand the pieces. Screw the 3 U's together first, then put the Pharos on the U's, make sure all the cleat pieces align, then screw the Pharos down. Done. You can use the base without clamps, you can clamp it to any counter with 6 inch clamps, or you can screw it directly to the counter for a semi-permanent install.

If you want to make the base from plastic you could print the STL file but it will take a long time to print a strong one. The STL file also doesn't have cleats in the front, So you'll have to clamp directly to the rim of the Pharos if you choose to clamp to the counter.

Very interesting mods - thanks for the taking the time to share. This is very much in the spirit of what I understand to the MO of the Pharos grinder...

Terrific 1st post, now I want a pharos. Thanks Dave!

The bean funnel pieces should be a winner.

Great ideas and implementation!

Howdy baldheadracing,

The hole in the middle of the ring is 13mm in diameter. That isn't the critical dimension however. The outside of the collar on the 2 has a diameter of 30mm and takes an M4 socket head screw. As long as that is the same you should be OK. The other critical dimensions are the height and the diameter of the inner skirt on the printed ring. There is a thin skirt on the inside of the ring that rides inside the four socket-head screws that bolt the top burr and grind chamber to the top plate. My original version didn't have that skirt and some smaller beans were escaping. That skirt is 53.2mm in diameter. Also, that skirt drops down and just barely skims the top plate. The part assumes that the distance from the top of the adjustment collar to the top of the grinder is a bit over 13mm. On the Pharos 2 (and presumably the original) the distance from the top of the collar and the top of the grinder remains fairly constant (what changes is the position of the shaft).

I don't have access to an original Pharos, but if you give me the important dimensions I can try to alter the file. I have added the actual .sldprt file to the folder, so anyone who can 3D model and owns an original Pharos could also modify it for us.

@baldheadracing
If I had to guess from your description, I'd say the shaft collar you have on the OG Pharos is similar to McMaster part 6438K52. If that is true, You have an outer dimater of 1.125 inches (28.575mm) when unclamped (prolly a bit smaller when tight, which might account for the .3mm differnce from your measurement). Luckily, the set screw head in that collar is a wee bit smaller than the M4 screw, so you should be OK there. I have made a new file and included the STL in the folder. As requested I incresed the length of the skirt slightly --to 15 mm. It will prolly need some cutting and sanding. Hopefully, some OG Pharos owner who has a 3d printer can verify the file for us before you pay someone to print it. By the way, the thing I'm thinking about changing in my current setup is the amount the removable funnel engages with the ring. Right now I knock it off sometimes --not a big deal. I could increase the engagement, but that would mean I need to remove the funnel to change the grind --right now I don't. Another possibility is printing a groove on the inside of the funnel and a ridge on the ring --that would make it secure for sure. One of the advantages of having a printer is being able to fool around with different schemes.