Hi everybody,

I bought an used Pharos with voodoodaddy's mod, but I can't use it and I think I need some help.
When I get it, I dissemble the complete grinder to clean all parts.
When I assemble everything again, I think I did no mistake, but it seems that this is not true

When I work with the grinder, the grinder gear is not working fine, because it looks like, that the grinding gear is not 100% straight and I don't know why. Do you have a tip for me? I tried everything, showing on OE's Video.

Thank you very much for your support.

Just a quick idea that comes to mind.
Since your Pharos has the Voodoodaddy mods, there is a new shaft support that was installed under the middle plate. Maybe this part need to be put back in the same position it was retrofitted on. You can try to switch it around to see if the alignment would get better.
Just a thought...

Yes, I tried this, but no results.

What I don't understand and I hope someone can help me to bring it on the right way is that I don't know how tight must the 4 screws who holds the outer gear?
If I do it too tight, I can't put in the 3 Aluminium stands between the 2 round metal plates, because there is not enough room.

Sorry for my bad English and thank you very much for your help

Michael

Hi Michael, the 4 screws are supposed to be totally loose as in easy to turn with figures with no resistance.

OE have videos on YouTube showing assembly and alignment so have a look and see how you go.

I think (and hope) that I understand what you are doing.

The four (smaller) screws with Allen heads are not designed to be tightened down, they must be loose so that this part can move a bit whilst you bring the burrs together and tighten down the plate screws. As you begin to tighten the plate screws this part must have come into line. (I think OE has some videos on this?) After the three large Allen head bolts are tightened they squeeze the polycarbonate piece and the outer burr to force the outer burr to retain alignment. The four screws are there to hold the part close to the position where it needs to be during the tightening and alignment procedure.

The basic idea is that whilst you tighten the three large Allen head bolts, the burrs must be tightened together so that they stay in alignment as they are locked in place by the tightening of the Allen head bolts. If you have the four bolts tight it will be impossible to align!

The bolt covers are important, they are a fairly precision length for plastic. (I made new ones from aluminium and discarded the originals.)

Did I say this intelligibly? Did I understand the problem?

Argghh, i can't catch it up.
Is there another tip to tighten the 3 bolts to bring the burr in alignment?
I make a fast iphone video where you can see, that 2 of the 4 small screws are great. I can move them, but not the other two screws who are wedged.
Furthermore, when i grind without beans, i can hear that the burr will scratched.

I hope i will find a solution, because i lost my enjoyment on the pharos.

Please contact Voodoodaddy for help reassembling your Pharos. We have no experience at all with a Pharos that has been modded by Voodoodaddy. I am unable to help you with it because once it has been hacked it is no longer the same grinder as we make.
Barb

Watch this video a few times until you get the feel of it. It is still relevant even with the mods.
One thing you need to be careful with is the 6 aluminum bolt covers, they are not the same length. 3 of them go to the top, and the other 3 go to the bottom. I forgot which is which, since I currently use it without them. But I think they are mentioned in this, or the other Pharos videos.

Once you absorb the information, it will be easy to align it

The spacers are not the same on the top and bottom, or at least they were not on my mine. (Anyone machining new aluminium ones must also be aware of this and the fact that substantial precision is required to do this. It would be next to impossible to do this properly without a lathe.)

I am a bit confused by the Voodaddy mods and exactly how that impacts your problem. I rejected it as something to do with mine. I found that simply modifying the coffee retaining rubber stopper enables me to get the ground coffee out without difficulty. (I shortened it and attached a piece of aluminium bar stock into which I had cut deep grooves so that when I pull out the stopper, it "unpacks" the grounds around it and prevents their packing into the base of the funnel as well.)

I suspect that what you should do is be sure that the four screws holding the lower burr in place are loose. The three bolts holding the plates together should also be loose enough to permit motion of the lower burr. Then use the grind adjustment to bring the burrs tightly together. Begin to tighten the plates a bit. Be sure that they are all tightened evenly! Tap the plates lightly with something like a wooden Hammer from time to time. Again be sure that they are tightened evenly. Tighten each one just a bit at a time. Does this modification have aluminium spacers or does it use the original plastic ones? Again with the original ones the ones on the bottom are different length than those on top, and there will be problems if you mix them.

If it behave enough like the original Pharos once the three bolts have been tightened it should be fine.

Added Later:

There is a picture of the modified rubber stopper here:

A week with Pharos 633

Huuuuurrraaayy, i got it.
Okay, i didn't got it for 100%, but for 98%

The grinder is not for 100% adjusted. At one little Point, the grinder rub a little bit, but not everytime. It depends on the grinder settings, but i can use the grinder and i can produce a reproducible result.
I hope someone can bring me to 100% if we have a Coffee-Meet up here in Germany. If not, i will aks Will to help me. For your informations, the longer Aluminium Spacers comes on the top and the shorter at the bottom.

Okay, but some impressions from my side.


The Pharos (Sorry, i only knew my version with the Voodoodaddy mod) is really great. Not 100% perfect, but great. OE and Will did a good job. The price, quality and results are awesome. I checked the grinder against my Quamar m80e and my little Porlex JP-30 and the coffe from the Pharos is more intensive with a greater body, but without sourness. If everything is fine and the Pharos is aligned, the handling is really easy. You don't need so much power to use the crank handle. This Grinder will 100% be perfect, if you can grind direct to the portafilter, but this is only a goodie

Thank you very much for your support.

Michael