Having recently upgraded equipment, I'm going to say I can now hit the 3.5 range regularly. Even though I have always read how important the grinder is, it's now more apparent than ever

Right. In fiddling around some more, I've come that conclusion also. It would seem that my sweeper arms are already set to maximum

I have just done my first trials with the Cimbali JR I picked up on ebay. So far, I'm loving it, but wanted to adjust the amount of grounds distributed by the doser. It seems I can't get the knob to depress so I can do this. Is there some trick I'm missing here?

It seems my cappuccinos have been closer to what you describe, too