Hi

I just purchased a second hand Astoria Super Jolly manuale. An older Model I guess. I replaced the grinding plates with brand new ones. It is grinding good for an espresso, but I find something weired about it:

If I set to maximum fine grinding level (so that the discs/burrs start to touch & sound slightly), the Astoria is still not grinding fine enough to block the water when brewing with my Rancilio Silvia. I always thought, that at the maximum level of the Super Jolly, I have to be able to grind so fine, that no water will come through.

But this is not the case. Why not? Is this normal? Anybody experienced the same behaviour?

I have also a Silvia Rocky and with that one I can easily set the grinding so fine, that no water gets through the Silvia. Both have new grinding discs/burrs.

Any experience/ suggestions are welcome


Another question is, whether it is possible to figure out the production date of my Astoria.

The Label sais on the left side:

MM
MM
Mazzer

Super Jolly Manuale
N 9703382
220-230V / 50hz / 350W

On the back of the grinder is the red Astoria Signature in big letters on it.

Thanks in advance

Are you sure you are turning it all the way to fine? you do know that 0 is not a true 0 right? it can definitely go less.

turn it until the burrs touch (with machine off!) - try rotating shaft w. hand to confirm the burrs are touching

now back off a little so the motor can spin and try it out.. guaranteed to choke silvia

You certainly shouldn't have to grind so close to zero with new burrs. Are you sure you have found your true zero? You're not letting those pesky stop screws in the collar fool you? If it's not that I'd try removing the burrs and putting them back in to make sure they're seated nicely and clear of any crap underneath them.
Your serial number starts with 97 which I understand is it's year of manufacture.
Sam

If you tighten the burrs down till you hear the chirping of touching burrs, and you still can't get a fine enough grind, this most likely means that the burrs are out of alignment (i.e. they're not parallel to each other). You might double check that the adjustment collar is not cross-threaded (pretty unlikely, but possible), that the burrs are seated properly, and finally that the bottom burr spins true (take the top burr assembly off, and run the motor, watching the bottom burr assembly as it spins down; you should see little or no wobble here).

You might also try the eccentricity test if everything else checks out.

shadowfax wrote:If you tighten the burrs down till you hear the chirping of touching burrs, and you still can't get a fine enough grind, this most likely means that the burrs are out of alignment ....

I had this same problem with my Major when I first got it. It turns out that there was only one adjustment collar spring (there are four holes, and I've seen pictures of mazzers with four springs, but espressoparts says only three springs needed). This was causing the top burr to be canted with respected to the bottom one, and I got some chirping when one edge started touching.
Putting in the extra springs solved the problem. It might be worth checking to make sure all your springs are there. I found some suitable ones much cheaper at a hardware store.

Jordan

If you're going to go "aftermarket" with the springs I'd recommend you change them all so that each side is pushing up with equal force, or you might still have the burrs be unaligned.

so let us know if
1. you have all of the springs
2. If you were actually turning it down to true 0

godlyone wrote:If you're going to go "aftermarket" with the springs I'd recommend you change them all so that each side is pushing up with equal force, or you might still have the burrs be unaligned.

Agreed