The Elektra Nino has a a little metal flap (for anyone who can't imagine what these things look like, here are some great pics posted by Nicholas Elektra Nino Grinder ).

I reckon these devices have to do with the way these "doserless" grinders dose, which is currently by time, so that creating a small resistance against the coffee flow helps to achieve more consistent density and therefore allows the grinders to dose more consistently in the just 2 to 3 or so seconds required for a dose on the big conicals.

Well, that's my guess, but I've done nothing to test it.....

Cheers

Mike

IIRC, Underwriters Laboratories requires that, as shipped, appliances prevent you from being able to chop your finger off with them. Companies even make a little "standardized finger" tester to verify this:


I'd always assumed that this was the reason that grinders shipped with those obnoxious shields and guards in the dosers, those little caps in the hoppers, and the hoppers screwed on.

Without some sort of screen or guard in place, you'd be able to cut the tip of your finger off by sticking it up the chute. That said, it may have other benefits as well, and if you can assign some marketing value to your safety guard then more power to you .

I removed the chamber chute screen from my SJ when I replaced the doser with the doserless cone (from Owen at Phaelon Coffee). I haven't felt troubled by static issues, but without the screen the grounds sometimes flew out of the top of the cone (I like to keep the lid off while grinding), and also pile unevenly more on one side of the portafilter basket.

So I soldered a copper wire to a small piece of copper pipe and positioned it about 1.5" in front of the chamber chute. This keeps the grounds from flying around too much, and makes them land evenly in the portafilter basket (they hit the pipe and drop straight down). My choice of copper pipe was based on an assumption that it would help disperse any static, but I have no idea if that's actually the case. I still have easy access to brush out the grind chamber chute (I single dose).

on my mini E, i have the screen removed...

if it starts spraying grounds all over the funnel, i found it's related to the buildup on the lower burr carrier augers (?!? don't know what u call those things that push the coffee around ?!?) -- i can scrape it off quickly with a paper clip tool i made (i rotate burr by hand and clean each through the chute)... then the grounds start being pushed out nicely and fall straight down when exiting the chute.

It seems that there are a few folks who've been able to remove the static screen without much drama. Since the grinders ship with a finger guard I doubt the screen is there to prevent injury. I wonder if all users of Mazzer doserless grinders removed their screens, what percentage would re-install them?

i tried few times to reinstall... every time i removed again, since it causes clumping in my experience.

I have the screen on my doserless SJ, plenty of clumping behind the screen and plenty of static on the interior and aperture of the funnel.....