Help please!
I gave my Mazzer Mini and Expobar Brewtus 2 to a local espresso fix-it place in NYC just to do a clean-up / tune-up as my kitchen was undergoing some work. Well they came back and I've been struggling to make coffee as good as when they went away.

The main problem now I think is that in order to get the grind fine enough, my Mazzer has to be dialed-in to a point where it sounds like the burrs are hitting each other. I spoke with WLL earlier today who said don't worry about the noise, but it concerns me.

I used to turn the dial counter-clockwise until I heard the burrs hit each other so I knew my limit.. and the sweet spot was well before that point. Not any more.

Also, since I owned the machine, the proper area for espresso grind was to the left of the "arrow" on the dial. That spot used to be around 9 and now the burrs grind midway between 1 and 2, to the right of the arrow (which is around zero).

I read about cleaning the mazzer (i just shoudl have done that!). I saw there that folks normally take it apart and put it back together and their sweet spot ends up at the same place on the dial.

So, is there something wrong with my mazzer? Is it possible this "technician" did something wrong?

Thanks.

Sounds like they could have removed the burrs for cleaning and then gotten some debris under one while re-mounting. It would be pretty easy for you to pop them off, completely clean everything, then put it back together...

Good luck,

Jim

Removing the burrs and then mounting them in a different orientation (rotated one screw hole on the mounting plate for example) will have the same effect.

Jim & Randy - Thank you!

I took the burrs out and cleaned everything. I put it back together and still the numbers don't line up the way they did before, but they are closer and more importantly, I can now set the grinder to acceptable fineness way before the burrs hit each other. My coffee is coming out much better now. Some photos attached.

I used the instructions here - it was incredibly easy. Now I OWN my grinder maintenance!
http://www.espressoparts.com/ChangingGrinderBurrs

Randy - I do not understand how mounting the burrs one screw-hole differently would have any impact - they are the same all-the-way-around, right? Maybe even just a tiny difference in where a slice on the top burr matches to a slice on the bottom would change things?

It has happened with Rancilio burrs in Rocky (iirc, one of the mentors here wrote an article documenting this). If you consider that one click on that grinder is about a 0.001" change in distance between the burrs, it would not take much. A grinder that goes to a shop and comes back in the stated condition would also make me suspect that either the burrs were dismounted and reoriented upon installation or some force was used that bent one of the mounts (most likely the lower). Like some hack put a screwdriver in there to hold the lower carrier to remove some hardware. Something obviously happened.

alan278 wrote:Jim & Randy - Thank you!

I took the burrs out and cleaned everything. I put it back together and still the numbers don't line up the way they did before, but they are closer and more importantly, I can now set the grinder to acceptable fineness way before the burrs hit each other. My coffee is coming out much better now.

The other possibility is that the burrs were changed. Does the bill indicate spare parts? Newer burrs (or getting them mixed up with another Mazzer Mini) will not line up the same way previous burrs did.

When I first got it back it had those problems. So he then came back and put new burrs in. Same issue with the new burrs. But maybe it was something in the way he tightened them in or maybe there was some dirt he left in there. Better now but still "mis-aligned" but that is not a big deal. When I next open/clean it I'll try shifting at least one of the burrs to a different alignment of the 3 screws and see what happens.

I'm ok for now, I think. I'll look up that Rocky thing....

When reassembling, you have to be really really careful that the machined surfaces are completely clean. I would even suggest wiping the "seat" with a q-tip with a little alcohol. Even one ground of coffee could mess with it. It also looks like overtightening could deform the cutter (no support under the screws), so best to not make it too tight... and make sure all 3 screws are at the same torque.

Jim