I turn to the knowledge and experience of the forum members.

A few days ago I received a second hand Cadet. It arrived very damaged. The grinder vibrates a lot and there is "an irregular electric sparking sound". It was not until yesterday I made a test that I believe shows there is an electrical fault. The Cimbali grinders take some time to spin down and as soon as I switch mine off the vibration disappears. The grinder is calm through all the spin down time. The axle feels firm and the vibrations are still there when I run her without burrs and burr holders.

If this is an electrical problem what could be wrong? I've bypassed the overload protection and the relay without any changes. There are 2 condensers and another "thing" with an open coil that sits in a socket. Two wires goes into the socket and a third direct to the "thing".

mathias wrote:I turn to the knowledge and experience of the forum members.

A few days ago I received a second hand Cadet. It arrived very damaged. The grinder vibrates a lot and there is "an irregular electric sparking sound". It was not until yesterday I made a test that I believe shows there is an electrical fault. The Cimbali grinders take some time to spin down and as soon as I switch mine off the vibration disappears. The grinder is calm through all the spin down time. The axle feels firm and the vibrations are still there when I run her without burrs and burr holders.

If this is an electrical problem what could be wrong? I've bypassed the overload protection and the relay without any changes. There are 2 condensers and another "thing" with an open coil that sits in a socket. Two wires goes into the socket and a third direct to the "thing".

Hi Mathias,

The Cadet, as the Junior grinder, is electrically more complicated than just being a motor and some gears and grinding burrs. Normally the most that any user would ever have to deal with is changing the burrs, and although I have a lot of experience using all these grinders, I have no experience with any maintenance or repair beyond changing burrs. I wish I could help you more on this.

Danny, a regular participant on alt.coffee (but not here) operates an espresso "trailer" in a public area in the UK. He owns TWO Cadets and is very handy with fixing stuff. You might want to post your question over on a.c., directed at Danny (or send him an email through his munged email address; he posts often so just scan the board and you'll find his posts and address). Perhaps he could give you some advice, which unfortunately, I cannot.

ken

hello mathias,

al critzer, cimbali specialist in florida, can likely assist. he maintains a web site here: http://www.alpuccino.com/

best wishes with your grinder,

ideor

ideor wrote:hello mathias,

al critzer, cimbali specialist in florida, can likely assist. he maintains a web site here: http://www.alpuccino.com/

best wishes with your grinder,

ideor

Thanks! email on the way.

A late update.

A couple of days ago I walked over to a friend who also has a Cimbali grinder. The grinder was on a small trolley so the ride was bumpy. Once there it ran as smooth as his grinder

Back home it returned a little towards it previous state with vibrations, though less. No "sparky sounds". Banging the grinder a little on the counter reduced the vibrations a little more but there are still vibrations.

It seems the vibrations I had was strong enough to upset the electrical curcuit of the grinder, causing the "sparky sound".

Another update:

The grinder still vibrates. With all electrical parts taken off from the grinder there is no more sparky sounds so it seems the vibrations upset one or more of the electrical components. I'll try to change the ball bearings later but doubt it will help.

I cut away the "floor" of the chute and re added the bottle I used to replace the doser. With this modification there is almost no more grinds in the chute. After that she has retired to the basement