Hi everyone,

I have been lurking on the forum for at least 6 months now... I recently bought a "new" 2013 Compak K10 Pro barista (850w) for 500 CAD. I could barely believe it! I quickly forked over the $$$ and ran as fast as I could....
As I got home and started pulling some shots, I was quite disappointed with the K10's performance compared to my obviously sub par modified BCG450XL (I know, this makes no sens whatsoever...)

Sometimes the K10 would do its magic and provide what I consider much better shots than my Breville BCG450XL but once in a while I would get an alarming grinding noise that would make me back off the grind settings out of regular espresso range. This combined with horrible channeling (far more than I was used to with the BCG450) encouraged me to remove the top burr an clean everything out after every couple shots. This helped somewhat but my issues still seemed to be sporadic and intermittent. I could not make sense of it. I read extensively on the forms trying to figure it out and the threads most related to my issues were the following:

Compak K10 = Underextraction, Burr Misalignment, Issues
Compak K10 Burr Alignment
Compak K10 vibration issue

After further testing and disassembly, I realized the screws holding the upper burr mount to the motor housing were loose. After tightening them, the problem got worst! This made me realize that the grinding noise, which I thought originated from the burrs touching was in fact the C clip on the motor shaft rubbing against the lower burr mount. After removing the lower burr mount and beveling the under side of the inner hole with sandpaper, the grinding noise finally disappeared. Since then, the grind adjustment seem much more consistent.

I have a feeling that the extensive break in period and inconsistencies described in the above linked threads may have been caused by the C clip rubbing against the lower burr housing. Perhaps, as described by others, once the C clip/lower burr housing have "matted" by wear, the grinder finally started producing quality grinds. I simply fast tracked this process with sandpaper.

This may no longer be a concern to K10 owners but I thought it might be worthwhile to share my findings with the community.Thx to everyone who contributed to above mentioned posts which helped me trace my "new" K10 issues.

Furthermore, for the unexperienced/unknowing like me, please note that:
K10's seem to be misaligned out of the box. The lower burr mount washer does not center perfectly on the shaft which makes it seem like the lower burr is off center. As reported in many other threads, this is normal. I also have significant play (more than 1mm) in the upper burr carrier (this is before securing the adjustment stopper screw). Mazzers, including the robur reportedly have this same type of play. (according to my reaseach on these forums.)

Anyhow, I still need to season/break in my new "2013" grinder. Burrs have yet to see 5 lbs of beans, but at least the alarming/suspicious grinding noise is no longer present thanks to my little sandpaper job.

After all my woes I am still running burnt/stale Costco beans to season the burrs but nonetheless now consider myself a proud owner of a News/old Compak K10 Pro barista!

I might be 5 years late on this post but hopefully this will be of use to others!

Montrealer

Good to hear you fixed the issue and thanks for sharing the tip.

I'm wondering - is the play in your burr carrier more of a tilt or translation?
On my Mazzer, it's a tilt that lifts one edge up - limited by the screw collar - not ideal but not as dramatic as might seem obvious. If it's at all similar to mine, it may be very difficult to see a pure translation - if not, maybe some teflon tape might help...

The play is pretty much in all directions. I can tilt it up/down, and can also push it from side to side like in this video:

Mazzer Robur alignment mod?

During my troubleshooting, I put a thin layer of teflon tape on all the threads. It got rid of the play but it was too hard to get the collar town to the zero point. I migh try a single turn of tape around the threads next time i unscrew the upper burrs for cleaning.

So it has the two piece design, too? The play in my Robur is between the carrier and collar (rather than loose threads) and a single winding of tape between the two barely fit!

Aecletec,

the play in my k10 is clearly caused by the threads that mate the upper burr mount to the lower burr/grinds chamber.

JohnB,

Thx for your input, i did have my doubts considering the price i paid for the unit but as i kept reading on, this seems to be a common thing for the k10, and even the robur...

Personally i think any play whatsoever is going to affect consistency negatively. If anyone else can chime in to confirm whether or not they have thread play between carrier assemblies on their k10 would be greatly appreciated!

This would help me decide if its worth looking into purchasing new upper and lower burr carriers.

Thx

Montrealer wrote:Personally i think any play whatsoever is going to affect consistency negatively. If anyone else can chime in to confirm whether or not they have thread play between carrier assemblies on their k10 would be greatly appreciated!

This would help me decide if its worth looking into purchasing new upper and lower burr carriers.

Thx

I don't think a new carrier and chamber will fix the issue as the play in threads is by design. Every grinder I have used where the upper burr carrier threads into the burr chamber has some play when there are no beans being ground (never used a Monolith with the threaded split collar).

Since i sanded down/beveled the bottom side of the lower grind chamber things seem alot better and i no longer have to back off my settings because of wierd noises.

Here is a pic of the C clip with a little wear:



Here is the underside of the lower chamber after sanding. Before i sanded it, there was one side of the hole that was worn from the c clip rubbing against it.



If this is the only reason why i got this thing for dirt cheap, it was well wort the trouble!

Thx evryone for your feedback and imput!

Luc

Nice work!