Hi guys,

I doubt Owen was suggesting jamming the metal tool into the threads as hard as you can, simply run the fine thin tip of the tool along the threads, without applying any pressure and it will work without damaging anything. Stuff usually simply falls out of the threads when you do that and the grinder works fine afterwards.

I understand panic mode if an angle grinder was suggested for cleaning out the threads, but not a small tool like a dental pick.

Regards,
dsc.

My Pallo tool worked great on the SJ burrs. They are plastic so I was never really concerned about damaging anything, but they were stiff enough to get off the compacted coffee when someone adjusted finer without the motor on.

I've also had this problem when trying to grind for turkish straight out of the machine. It worked for a while, then bound up and had to clean the burrs. I probably shouldn't have tried, but oh well, learning experience.

Could be a silly thing, but...

Sometimes, bit of coffee are stuck on the burrs. Not a big amount, but enough. When turning off(if single dosing), with the burrs spinning down, it can almost sounds like the burrs are touching, and unevenly at that. First time I heard it, I was scared to death. Then i read that coffee on the burrs can cause a chirping sound. I confirmed this, by having the sound go away by either 1)pulsing the grinder on/off 2)grinding through more beans.

It doesnt sound exactly like burrs touching, but it's close. If you've never heard it before, it can be scary, and sound like something has gone bad.

reason I bring this up, is because the few times I ground for french press using the Major, I heard this sound when zeroing the burrs again, and was tricked into thinking I was at the zero point, but was really in the espresso range, on the coarser side.

Still, Id open her up, clean things out, and have a look-see. Cant hurt the clean.