Let what go?

Well, I have now used mine for close to a year. It has been a very good grinder for my needs. It has these pluses in my use:

• Relatively small compared to other grinders of equivalent grind quality, and the grind quality and distribution are extremely good.
• Very low quantity of retained grinds. This is important to me because I often change both coffees and brewing methods throughout the day.
• Anent the above, the burr design gives a good bimodal distribution for espresso, combined with an almost complete lack of fines when adjusted coarser for drip, vac pot, or press pot.
• The portafilter holder works well and makes the ergonomics work for me.
• Easy to change grind levels and repeatably return to previous (stepless) setting. I've never had the grind setting move.

Cons:

• Relatively noisy, since the open upper funnel acts as a megaphone.
• You have to put your hand over the funnel if you don't want a few pieces of bean to spit out the top during grinding.
• I have occasionally had momentary belt slippage when grinding lightly-roasted beans (like Barefoot's Element blend), even after cleaning the belt. This has only happened occasionally, and only for half a second or so.

I would also, as I have said in the past, recommend the M3 only for people who are mechanically adept and are used to dealing with what are essentially prototype manufacturers. It did take around six months to get the grinder, and it wasn't quite right when it arrived. Had I not been able to measure and describe just what was incorrect, I don't think I would have had as successful an experience; the grinder has had no problems since then. Since I have a non-standard (Reneka) portafilter, I also had to take the portafilter holder apart and modify it to fit my equipment. For me, though, it's been a great grinder and I'm glad to have it. (To calibrate this, I've owned and loved old Ducatis too.)

Best,
David

I've had mine for some time. It was damaged in shipping and had a little runout, but they adjusted it and I'm very pleased with it. My Mazzer Mini has been relegated to a cupboard ever since, I'm too spoiled by the M3's complete lack of clumping.

Fullsack wrote:Over time, the brass adjustment section of my M3 has become more and more difficult to turn, now, it won't budge. I'm reluctant to use a penetrating oil because it's not food grade and a pipe wrench with a rubber protector seems a little over the top. Am I the first M3 owner to experience this?

It took an 18" pipe wrench, with rubber insulation, to dislodge the brass cone. If there is a lesson to be learned here, it's don't wait too long to lube the threads, if the adjustment starts to become difficult to turn.

Got a nice follow up call from Laura.

Hello, Have had my grinder for five months, and it seems fine. I've run about 20 lbs thru it and since brand new, it now seems to grind at a somewhat coarser setting. At first, I was concerned that the grinder burrs would touch, as I needed to get that close for the right grind, but now it seems to produce the right grind at a more coarser setting.
I'm not worried, but would this be the burrset getting broken in?

Please explain what the "runout" issues are, and how to check for them?
Was the runout problem showing up immediately in the quality of the grind?
Dennis

denniskeating wrote:Please explain what the "runout" issues are, and how to check for them?
Was the runout problem showing up immediately in the quality of the grind?

It showed up instantly in the sound the grinder made as its moving wiper hit the inside of the lower funnel, so I checked for it right away. I removed the lower funnel and used a dial indicator gauge on the lower burr carrier to see how much it varied as I rotated it with the belt pulley. If I hadn't had that, I would have used a feeler gauge between the fixed wiper and the burr carrier, subtracting the smallest reading from the largest one. Total runout, according to Laura, was supposed to be 0.005", and mine was 0.013", so it went back. As I said, no problems since, and I would be surprised if they haven't improved their shipping packages, since shipping a grinder back and forth eats up any profits pretty quickly. But as I say, it was obvious right away, so if you don't hear terrible noises don't obsess about it.

Best,
David

David, thanks for the info about runout. Have you seen the Taiwan made cogged belt pulleys and cogged drive belt? I guess it is an aftermarket mod. for the american made M3. - Dennis

I have, but it's not so much a problem that I'm tempted to do that. First, I'll try cleaning the small pulley with some acetone (and nitrile gloves, in case anybody's doing this at home) and a Q-tip. If that doesn't work, I'll probably get a new belt; they may need yearly replacement or something. The slip seems to happen for a split second every few days and only with very lightly-roasted beans, so it's almost more a curiosity than anything else, just a slightly startling noise.

Best,
David

denniskeating wrote: Have you seen the Taiwan made cogged belt pulleys and cogged drive belt? I guess it is an aftermarket mod. for the american made M3. - Dennis

Dennis,

where can I get more info on this mod?

According to this post in Getting started with the Versalab M3 grinder, Versalab offers a solution as well as blogger "Dr. Bean" in Taiwan:

jmwang221 wrote:Hello,
Versalab provides a knurled pulley solution to solve the belt-slippage
problem. The contact area, between belt and pulley, becomes smaller
than previous one. I think it cannot eliminate the problem completely.

A Taiwanese makes an awesome pulley-belt kit. It seems good
enough to solve the problem:
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/drbean/9255490