Hey guys,

Does anybody know about a cheap digital timer that could be assembled in a coffee grinder? I'd like to optimize my actual grinder (Breville Ikon) before I can buy my Baratza Vario in next year.

I already did some modding on it (removed inside lock to grind finer, locking up the gaps in the upper burr, put new scale in the espresso range and locked safety button to allow operation without the plastic reservatory). It's becoming better as I wait until I can buy a Vario, because here in Brazil is really expensive to acquire good quality espresso stuff. The Vario will cost me around US$ 800,00 after s&h and local taxes.

Next step I'm thinking is to get a good timer to allow me dosing by time.

Thanks for any help.

Leonardo

A 1/10th second enlarging timer works well for all but titan class grinders.
Relatively cheap and easy to find on eBay.

Once you get the Vario, you can reBay it and recover most or all of your investment.

That being said, whether the Ikon can deliver consistent doses for constant times is unknown.

leopm wrote:Hey guys, Does anybody know about a cheap digital timer that could be assembled in a coffee grinder?

Why not have a look at darkroom (photography) timers?

Thanks for answering.

CafeIKE, I also don't know if the Ikon will perform well with a 0.1s timer, but I think that it worth a try, because it's not a fast grinder. It actually takes 8-10 seconds to grind 10g of coffee in a fine setting. If we consider 0.1s as nearly 1% of this time, we could possibly vary dosing by 0.1g, depending on clumping amount. It's the same precision of my recently purchased digital scale, with the advantage of being much faster to operate.

Vad, I found that darkroom timers are a little big to make a decent modding. But I found this on eBay (thanks IKE) as low as US$ 27.80:



Does anybody know how to install such thing?

Well, I was reading some stuff today about Lelit PL053 and it turned me a little skeptical about this solution. It seems that quantity of beans in the hopper can cause big variations in the grinding speed as in the density of the grind.

You Vario owners have anything to say about it? It can deliver consistency with time dosing?

I don't understand. The Breville Ikon already has a digital timer in it. The adjustment knob is analog (no readout for number of seconds)... but it should be repeatable, which is all that matters.

Well, for me that knob is useless, since it doens't have precision and even a graduated scale. Besides that, the knob is too soft to move and even a slight touch of my hand takes it out of adjustment...

Anyway I'm seriously thinking about changing my grinder to a more consistent one. At the moment I'm studying Virtuoso Preciso, Ascaso I-1 and Lelit 053...