I have a new grinder project, I picked up a couple of Majors from ebay, got them last week, and they have assorted problems.

My main question, does somebody have the McMaster Carr part number for replacement Mazzer springs? Since I need a set of 4 for a Major, the Mazzer springs get kind of pricey.

Both Majors have rusty burrs. I think the previous owner tried to clean the grinders, and got something on the burrs which rusted them. A shame, since one set of burrs is still sharp, and appear to be pretty new. But, I figured it's not worth messing with, so I plan to replace them.

Other issues with these majors, one of the on switches does not work right. It is a combination on/start switch, the start part is a momentary switch that activates a relay. The start part is broken on one of these grinders, so I had to add another switch to turn it on. I think I will end up adding a momentary switch in the portafilter holder, but I have to drill a couple holes to do it. I looked a little at trying to remove the relay, and rewire the major yesterday, but there were more wires coming out of the motor then I expected, and am not sure what they all do.

One of the dosers is messed up, I may try taking the guts out of it, and converting it to a doserless version, or I may try fixing the doser. I have not had a doser before, and not sure if I want one or not.

Also, one of the adjustment collars is messed up, it goes in about a turn, then stops, and I don't want to force it. I am trying to find the spot where it hangs up, but there is nothing real obvious, so still working on this.

On the positive side, I was able to make one good working major yesterday, except for the burrs, and all the other problems are fixable, will just take a little work. Only thing I might have to buy is a new adjustment collar. Oh, and I got a good price on these, so I can handle some problems.

Randy

Get a quote from Owen @ Phaelon Coffee for the Mazzer parts before looking aftermarket as he has the best prices I've found. You can bypass the start function & make the switch work as a standard off/on switch by adding jumpers where the two doser switch harness leads attached. Possibly someone messed with these connections & thats why the start function isn't working??

JohnB. wrote:Get a quote from Owen @ Phaelon Coffee for the Mazzer parts before looking aftermarket as he has the best prices I've found. You can bypass the start function & make the switch work as a standard off/on switch by adding jumpers where the two doser switch harness leads attached. Possibly someone messed with these connections & thats why the start function isn't working??

OK, thanks for the heads up about Phaelon, Chris seemed to have the best prices for burrs, but I will check phaelon too.

I am not sure what you are saying about the switch. My switch (both units) has three positions, OFF-ON-START. Off is obvious. On turns power on, but only up to a relay. Start is a momentary setting, which shorts two wires together, and activated a relay, which turns on the grinder. In the original configuration, there were two ways to start the grinder, with the off/on/start switch, and there was another switch, in parallel, connected to the doser. After 10 or so doses, this switch would short, and turn on the grinder.

When I got it, I could not turn it on with the START switch, and I accidentaly found out that if I pulled the doser enough times, it started. I only figured out why later, after I pulled things apart.

Now, I have removed the doser start switch, and added one small switch, which I can use to short the wires, and turn on the grinder.

I didn't buzz out the wires going to the START switch, to see if they are correct, but I did not think anyone would have messed with them, although there could be a broken wire, so I will check that out.

Randy

There are two doser switches; one upper that you saw & one lower under the bottom cover. If you follow the leads from each switch to where they attach to the connection block inside the grinder, remove each set of leads & replace with a jumper between the two terminals at each location the stock switch will now work as a standard on/off switch without using the start function.

OK, I got it, that makes sense. I only shorted the "doser full" switch, on the top of the doser. The other switch, for now I had replaced it with a little toggle switch. I can see how shorting those leads would just make it turn on when you turn the switch to ON.

I checked Mcmaster tonight, and could not find a spring the same size as the original.
I found some that probably would have worked
But cafeparts has the springs for a somewhat reasonable price, along with a couple other things I need, so I will order it from them.

Randy