I've made about 8 espresso shots today. In the end I followed one of the simpler suggestions here... I stopped trying to measure grams in. I threw a few scoops of beans into the hopper, ground them, then dumped them into a Corelle bowl. Then I scooped the grounds out and measured my dose by weight.

It wastes more coffee but it saves a lot more time. And with a MyPressi, Hand Grinder, and Bellman Steamer - I really don't have much time to spare... LOL

My only other probs with the Pharos are when the grind setting seems to change as I grind .. and that the grinder is really hard to use on espresso grind. I get my wife to hold down the one side, while I hold the other and grind - that's at about 1/2 a turn to 5/8th of a turn. But I'm sure we'll figure out something for those too - its a wonderful grinder - I love the consistency of the grind. I actually ground too fine on one of my first attempts - and when I tamped .. the whole puck lifted out (attached to the tamper) as one solid piece .. THAT's consistency in the grind that allows that.

Try adding a roller bearing set between the bushing and adjustment nut, this will eliminate friction between the two. Your setting will not creep on you unexpectedly and grinding will be pleasurable

Will

Will,

I keep imagining a Pharos with a large whole cut in the bottom plate, mounted on top of a doser, with a 50 KG weight in the base of the doser . When at home open the large hole on the bottom plate, mount Pharos to the doser with a twist lock mechanism or some such lock, then use the Pharos as a counter top doser grinder. The 50 KG weight in the base would allow you to turn the grinder with one hand and hold it in place.

I will stay fixated on a better way to get those grinds out and get them in to my basket until such a method is found!

Jeremy

This was posted on Coffee Geek:
https://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/espre ... ers/570871
It's an intriguing suggestion.

[quote]Try adding a roller bearing set between the bushing and adjustment nut, this will eliminate friction between the two. Your setting will not creep on you unexpectedly and grinding will be pleasurable

Willquote]......sorry about keyboarding skills
Will-
Very interesting. Do you have pics of your set-up ?
Most of my roasts are in C+ range-if they were all Vienna, past second crack, grinding would be a snap.
I'll try anything that makes grinding easier.
Thanks,
gene

The set consist of washer, bearing cage and washer. 1/2" Shaft Dia and I went with the .032" thick washers
http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-rolli ... gs/=gmgzpn

Pretty amazing photo Will.....makes the humble Pharos look like some amazing high tech outer space gear !

Will:
I copied the photo--I plan to take it to Fastenol this week to try get the bearings and washers. Does it make a lot of difference in smoothing out the effort?
With this bearing between the bushing and the lower nut how does it affect the adjustment as you change grind settings?

Many Thanks,
gene

Like Jeremy I don't fuss too much about getting out every last bit of grounds. I rap it a couple of times with my knuckles into a small steaming pitcher sitting on the counter under the funnel. Awhile back, Marshall Fuss wrote that he isn't so concerned to clean stale grounds out of a grinder. I guess he reasons that they collect in the nooks and crevices and your fresh coffee bypasses that. I haven't done a taste test but the idea makes sense to me.

Prior to this, when I've really wanted to get all grounds out, I bounced the Pharos level on its rubber feet a few times on our granite countertop. Whatever method I use to get the grounds out, my secret weapon is a miniature dustpan and a cheap paintbrush (trim brush) -- used only for coffee grounds! -- to sweep up the counter. The collected grounds get tapped into the pitcher, which I empty into an AeroPress using its dosing funnel. When making espresso I empty the pitcher into the wide-mouthed dosing (canning) funnel sold on OE, which fits perfectly into a 58mm basket. For narrower gauge machines I position the canning funnel over a basket fitted with an aluminum OE dosing funnel. It all goes in at once and is easy to tamp from there. I weigh my espresso shots for consistency, so what's in the basket is what counts.

I've gotten pretty comfortable with my Pharos and have found that using it exclusively for a couple of weeks seasoned it so it's a lot smoother to operate. There's a very satisfying feel and sound to this grinder. To steady it, I hold it down firmly with my left hand while using the right exclusively to turn the handle. In other words I don't push down with both hands. The Pharos is inserted into the stabilizing pad, of course.

All this sounds much more complicated than it is in practice.

Thanks Doug! It is a pretty cool pic considering it's from my camera phone

Gene,
The bearing does not affect the adjustability one bit, it'll zero out just as before. I would say it'll take at least 25% less efforts to crank the handle depending on the beans, the harder the beans the more you would notice.

Will