Many people have problems removing ground coffee from the Pharos. I tried to analyse the problem and the design of the Pharos as best I could. I came to the conclusion that there are three causes of the problem:

1. Static charge which causes the ground coffee to cling to the exit funnel.

2. Ground coffee tends to have a substantial coefficient of friction against plastic. If one put some ground coffee on a sheet of flat metal and some on sheet of polymer and then slowly tilt the two together, with most metal and polymers, the coffee will slide off the metal with a much smaller tilt angle than the plastic.

3. The ground coffee accumulates above the stopper during the grinding operation and packs there.

The last part of the problem can be solved by attaching a short grooved rod to the end of the stopper. This can help a lot, especially with some coffees.

A single step could potentially reduce or eliminate the first two problems--coat the exit funnel with a metallic conductive film.

(An alternate would be to fabricate a duplicate of the exit funnel from metal, brass would be simplest, I suspect. Machining a chunk of 10cm round aluminium bar stock to replace the funnel would take a while, but would be still another way to maintain the original design.)

Conductive paint would tend to eliminate the static charge problem, but not the friction of polymer against coffee one. I have seen sheets of aluminium foil with adhesive backing, perhaps using them to cover the inside of the exit funnel would work very well.

If the diameter of the opening of the exit funnel were increased from its present 19mm, it might help too.

I like the original OE concept. It is very mechanically sound, especially if the original plastic bolt spacers be replaced with aluminium ones. I have worked with instruments for years, and learned to avoid irreversible modifications to things if at all possible. It is bad to learn too late that you have thrown the baby out with the bathwater!

RDT (ross droplet technique, ie adding a few drops of water to the beans) works wonders for problem 1.

Problems 2 and 3 are still an issue though. Like many other Pharos owners I resort to shaking and spanking to minimize retention. I have thought about doing the voodoo daddy catch cup mod, but I am leary of such a major design modification.

If someone would make a metal replacement for the funnel like you propose, that would be awesome. Hint hint to the mechanically enabled people out there.

Tell me more about what you mean by the short grooved rod at the end of the stopper, I don't quite follow you.

For the funnel, an easy option is to get embosser's polished copper (from amazon, like $12) and line the ABS funnel. I did that, but never lined it because I used some dow 111 on the funnel. I coated the whole thing, then wiped it down with a paper towel and my friction problems ... slipped away. I suspect I'll use the copper at some point, but not for now.

(I used a copper slide when I gutted the doser on my electric grinder and it works well with no cling.)

I also... tried and failed to make a miniPharos that dropped the coffee straight through into a measuring cup that hooked onto the bottom. I'll include some pictures for your entertainment:

I tried to drop the outer stabilizers and use 3d printed top and bottom plates that let the coffee go straight through:


It worked and could be hyperaligned. The problem was that the tiny threaded rods weren't up to the task over time. So I figured I should create an aluminum tube top and bottom (precut by speedymetals):


I'm not bostonbuzz. Those holes never made it through to the other side and I lost a few drill bits along the way. I threw in the towel in defeat (for now) and reassembled. That was when I slapped on the lube and now using the Pharos is easy enough that I'm in no rush to mod it again!

The Pharos is truly an excellent design and execution!

Here is my simple coffee puller. I use it to replace the original rubber stopper.

I first tried to put a simple piece of metal on the stopper, but it seems to help more with the grooves in it. It prevents having coffee becoming compressed at the top of the stopper, and then when it is pulled out the grooves catch the coffee some and loosen it.

Or remove the plastic ring and cone. Ground the bottom plate with a wire to a grounded source such as the metal chassis of your espresso machine. Grind onto a plastic cutting board, tip and tap the grinder to get the coffee off. No shaking, banging, machining, etc. required. Dosing is as easy as folding up the cutting board and shaking into the portafilter basket.

I find the Pharos is not at all immune to the static problems present on many different kinds and grades of grinders. I still use the old thump and tap method to dislodge left over grounds.

I tend to get most if not almost all of the left over grounds and after doing it for a while I have a feel (don't ask, it just is) for tapping it just the right way. I now find it very fast and easy to do so. I pulled it out today and used it with my La Pavoni Europiccola pre-millenium espresso machine and as usual it never disappoints.

This grinder easily competes with my Versalab in terms of speed, grind quality and convenience, thats right convenience. The Versalab does beat Pharos hands down as far as lack of left over grinds but it also beats every other grinder in that.

I may not live in as much of a dry climate as others (this summer is super humid) so I am not positive if this is the reason for my ease of grind removal from the Pharos.

My Pharos has the double nuts and is equivalent to current unmodded Pharos grinders.

I have been using my stock Pharos for a few weeks now. I am grinding with no plug onto a flexible cutting board then pouring into my basket. I am really liking the grinder, no real retention issues so far. I am WDT-ing before tamping and I think it gives me a more even pour (versus nutating which I think gives me a bit of a "halo").

I am still considering the Voodoodaddy grinds catcher - it looks like an elegant way versus my current clumsy-but-effective method.

Cheers Ben