Pharos - Removing Coffee Grounds - Page 4

#31: Post by **SlowRain** » March 13th, 2012, 12:44 am

orphanespresso wrote:I have mentally designed numerous placements of the second bearing...above the burr, directly below the burr and followed through the thought exercise of adding a jar or direct dosing mechanism and in each case the height begins to shift or the number of plates increases, the current small hand hold area disappears etc. In some cases custom machined parts come in to play and the $$$$ begins to jolt up. And then we get back to the well seasoned observation that every person looks at things in a different way and to be honest, none of the ways of seeing a thing is more relevant than the other, just different.

One tempting simple idea floated our way is to use a top plate for the lower bearing and instead of a funnel, use a tube to direct the grounds straight through into a pf basket, and of course construction some type of base to hold the basket or entire pf, like a custom grinding station. But in this case, the Pharos is moored to the counter and no longer can travel without the station and we return to the moving vehicle problems as mentioned before! I have made a couple of different bases for direct basket grinding from wood but could not envision myself producing such things on any scale as my woodsmithing lacks the central needed element of patience.

I hope a solution presents itself. The static and ground-coffee-retention from the funnel and the method of dosing are all that's keeping me from pulling the trigger on a Pharos.

#32: Post by **Bak Ta Lo** » March 13th, 2012, 1:01 am

orphanespresso wrote:
One tempting simple idea floated our way is to use a top plate for the lower bearing and instead of a funnel, use a tube to direct the grounds straight through into a pf basket, and of course construction some type of base to hold the basket or entire pf, like a custom grinding station. But in this case, the Pharos is moored to the counter and no longer can travel without the station...

Doug, yes, this! No need to moor to the counter, the basket can clip to the underside of the grinder! this would completely perfect the Pharos for my dedicated espresso use. How much do you want!?

This idea is exactly what I want, the pass through tube. Just make a simple metal clip to hold a loose basket, out of the PF, under the grinder and grind directly into the basket! This is the best feature of the Portaspresso Rosco grinder, it grinds right in to the basket and then goes straight to tamp and brew.

Just let me know when I can order the mod kit.

#33: Post by **CoffeeMac** » March 13th, 2012, 1:45 am

opother wrote:The massive torque required to turn the large burrs in the Pharos is probably not suited to the size and design of the Lido.

Do the Pharos burrs really require so much more torque than the Lido, or more importantly more torque than the Lido's design can support? I own both, and I have to say I'm impressed with the structural rigidity of the Lido, even without the massive plates and spacer rods of the Pharos. I suppose the polycarbonate tube on the Lido provides a fair amount of rigidity.

Another interesting thing I found is that the outer diameter of the burr carrier for the Pharos actually appears to be slightly smaller in diameter than the Lido, despite holding larger burrs (couldn't get my calipers in there far enough to measure the Pharos exactly).

I wonder how much of an exercise it would be to swap out the Lido's burrs for those from the Pharos...would definitely need access to a machine shop...perhaps this is the project that I've been looking for to justify getting a membership at http://www.techshop.ws

Actually, I'm pretty happy with the Lido so far, so I doubt I'll be Frankensteining it any time soon. But if I did, I suppose you could call it a "Phido" grinder...

#34: Post by **GeoffPDX** » March 13th, 2012, 4:55 am

SlowRain wrote:I hope a solution presents itself. The static and ground-coffee-retention from the funnel and the method of dosing are all that's keeping me from pulling the trigger on a Pharos.

I'm in the same boat.

March 13th, 2012, 6:34 am

Tom, that's not a 'burr carrier' on the Pharos that you are seeing - that is the outer burr itself.

#36: Post by **galumay** » March 13th, 2012, 8:17 am

I have the luxury of also having an electric grinder with a doser, so my method is to grind, then hold the pharos over the doser and give it a couple of taps on the side of the middle plate with the palm of my hand to knock the grinds free. I dont find this to be any effort and I dont have an issue with grind retention.

Then its just a matter of filling the PF from the doser, which aids distribution anyway.

#37: Post by **coffee.me** » March 13th, 2012, 8:51 am

SlowRain wrote:I hope a solution presents itself. The static and ground-coffee-retention from the funnel and the method of dosing are all that's keeping me from pulling the trigger on a Pharos.

Same here. I don't need one, I just want one, and this ^ is the excuse I use to wean myself of OE's site...so far.

#38: Post by **voodoodaddy** » March 13th, 2012, 8:58 am

Here's a trick I use to lessen grounds retention in the funnel, spray the inside with some food safe silicone lube and wipe dry, nice and slippery

Will

#39: Post by **skittles_s** » March 13th, 2012, 9:17 am

coffee.me wrote:Same here. I don't need one, I just want one, and this ^ is the excuse I use to wean myself of OE's site...so far.

x4

#40: Post by **CoffeeMac** » March 13th, 2012, 10:56 am

voodoodaddy wrote:food safe silicone lube

Great idea! Didn't know the stuff existed. I was looking to try the kind of wax they use on fruit to do the same thing, but couldn't find a source for it. At $11 on Amazon, I may just have to get a can of the food-grade silicone spray for the next time I disassemble and clean my Pharos.

orphanespresso wrote:that's not a 'burr carrier' on the Pharos that you are seeing - that is the outer burr itself.

Doug -- thanks for the clarification -- and for the two great grinders. I hope you don't mind all of us either mentally or physically altering your "babies", or critiquing their idiosynchracies. It's a testament to your and Barb's thoughtful design and quality construction that so many people here and elsewhere are passionate enough to debate these relatively minor details.