I'm another happy user of the PL53, which I've had for a little over a month. Like many others I noticed a fluctuation in motor speed depending not only on the weight of the beans in the hopper, but also the amount of oil on the beans. My recent reference beans are Dolce and Vita from Vivace, which both have minute traces of surface oil.

I modified a plastic funnel I had in the kitchen to fit snugly into the hopper. The fit worked out perfectly. The hole at the bottom of the funnel is nearly the exact diameter as the top opening of the grind chamber, and the upper diameter of the funnel is a snug fit into the existing hopper, about 1" down from the top of the hopper.

I had high hopes for this mod, but was let down. The funnel improved the consistency of the motor speed a little, but did not completely solve the problem. The motor still 'runs away' once or twice while grinding a shot. Especially with Vivace beans.

I experimented with stirring the beans in the hopper during the grind, and voila, problem solved! I stir with the wood handled teasing needle I use for WDT. I put the tip of the needle very close to the mouth of the grind chamber and stir in small circles, a little smaller than diameter of the grind chamber. Doing so makes the grind (and motor speed) much more consistent.

I have not tried this technique without the funnel in place, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work just as well.



[update]
I've done some additional experimentation and found that stirring during the grind (I've only tried it with the funnel) eliminates the motor speed fluctuation, but the amount of beans in the hopper still has a noticeable affect on the fluffiness of the grind. More beans = less fluffy. Fewer beans = more fluffy. The good news is it is consistent!

Hum, could this 'feature' allow you to fine tune the fluffiness of your grind?

So a few months in, I'm still very happy with this grinder. I've only been adding the beans that I need for each shot and I grind into the PF with a WDT yogurt cup inserted (hold the PF in one hand and press the button with the other). After the beans are done popcorning around I also knock on the spout (same motion as knocking on a door) to get the last of the grounds out.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with this grinder's size, quality, and adjustability. For the occasional Aeropress or French Press cup I still have my travel hand grinder, but I wanted to mention a feature idea that is most likely not feasible at all:

Could there be a way (in future versions) to allow an option to disengage the worm drive and turn the hopper by hand (with the worm gear re-engaged before grinding) so that it would be easy to move from the espresso range to other brewing methods without 100 turns of the knob, or would this take away the stability needed to keep a consistent grind while the motor is running and shaking things around?

This was purely hypothetical. There must be a reason why the stepless grinders that I know of do not have this, and such a feature would probably add to the size of this quite compact machine. To reiterate, I am VERY happy with this grinder as it is EXACTLY what I need. Thanks, 1st-Line!

3mo and still very happy, Rocky just got ebayed.

just spoke with Andrew at 1st-line, these are out of stock for ~2 months.

Anybody know of another source for these?

I've just purchased an entry-level Saeco Aroma machine, and am looking to buy my first burr-type grinder (will be used almost exclusively for espresso). The PL53 sounds like the best combination of price/performance, or?

thanks!
Kurt

Nurburgringer wrote:just spoke with Andrew at 1st-line, these are out of stock for ~2 months.

Anybody know of another source for these?

I've just purchased an entry-level Saeco Aroma machine, and am looking to buy my first burr-type grinder (will be used almost exclusively for espresso). The PL53 sounds like the best combination of price/performance, or?

thanks!
Kurt

Kurt,

Just to make you aware, we are the importer. Unfortunately, no one has them in stock in the USA.

thanks Jim, hopefully you'll let us know here when more are available.

I've got a line on a used PL53, but in the meantime have bought a Starbucks Barista off Ebay to play around with.
cheers
Kurt

Nurburgringer wrote:thanks Jim, hopefully you'll let us know here when more are available.

I've got a line on a used PL53, but in the meantime have bought a Starbucks Barista off Ebay to play around with.
cheers
Kurt

Will post here when more come in. Right now, we are accepting back orders at the current price. Due to Euro exchange rate, there is a high possibility the selling price will increase. Just a heads up!

So it has been a while, do you have any idea when you'll be getting more in?

Also, do I still need to order now to get the current price?

Best ETA right now is July 15. Our container keeps on getting pushed back due to the Vibiemme order being delayed and which is to be a part of the sea container.

Pushed back to August 15-Septemeber 1st for the same reason.