Mazzer Robur owners: What's your cleaning protocol? - Page 2

[Quadshot (original poster)]

I don't know if it's just old folklore, but dust, bearings and compressed air in combination may not be a good idea. The thinking is the compressed air can blow the dust into the bearings. I'd be inclined to power up the shop vac if I wanted a quick, not so clean.

You raise a good point here... I doubt that the bearings are sealed (but they might be?), so high velocity dust may work its way inside the bearings. Food for thought! Thanks and best wishes to you and yours!

[cannonfodder]

I use a vacuum on the band saw. The trick is to turn on the dust collector before you start cutting, the planer is even worse but the belt sander takes the cake on dust. As to the coffee in bearings, I can't say. You would think the manufacturer would make the jump of logic that coffee dust may get into the body of a coffee grinder and seal the bearings. But then they probably did not think anyone would be blasting them out with an air compressor.

[cafeIKE]

As to the coffee in bearings, I can't say. You would think the manufacturer would make the jump of logic that coffee dust may get into the body of a coffee grinder and seal the bearings. But then they probably did not think anyone would be blasting them out with an air compressor.

Even if the bearings are sealed, they are probably low pressure designs to exclude dust / retain lubrication at atmospheric pressure.

IIRC, part cleaning sandblasting cabinets operate around 50psi. Admittedly, they don't use coffee

[eastpresso]

It was easy to remove because the shaft has a spline, so the bolt's job is to simply hold the bottom burr secure, not prevent it from spinning. I had it off in less than a minute (14mm socket, IIRC). The burr sits flush against the bottom with no room for accumulation beneath it, so you could easily clean around it if you prefer.

Can you confirm that the bolt unscrews clockwise? How did you fix/hold the lower burrs? Since chute and lower burr 'vanes' are at an angle, blocking from the chute side does not work(?), nor does Paul's method for flat burrs to screw down the lower burr assembly. Using force on the (aluminum) vanes seems like a BAD idea.

BTW it's a 13mm bolt on mine.

Suggestions?

[HB]

Sorry for the slow response. I just cleaned the Robur and you're right, the bolt is 13mm. It unscrews counter-clockwise. I stopped the burr carrier from spinning by blocking the vane with a screwdriver; I agree this is generally unwise, but it took very little force to loosen the bolt. If the bolt is stubborn, the only other option that comes to mind is securing the burr itself using a set of well-padded channel locks (?).

[eastpresso]

No problem!

Counter-clockwise?!! Thanks a lot for the confirmation!!!
I was afraid that might be the case because of the spline

As to holding the lower burr set - channel locks sound a bit dangerous, if you slide off that might damage the threading for the upper burr? I was thinking more along the lines of leaving the upper burr set in and sandwich some wood in between to stop the burr from spinning (I am installing new burrs anyway)?

There should be an 'official' (maintenance manual hint-hint ) way to do this ?

Edit: If it's an Italian manual probably using the screwdriver method is the official way

[HB]

I was thinking more along the lines of leaving the upper burr set in...

D'oh! Just tighten the grind adjustment down one-half revolution until the burrs meet, effectively immobilizing the lower burr, then use a socket wrench to loosen the bolt.

[eastpresso]

That's the idea, but metal-on-metal is a no-no (interlocking burrs..). Some wood should do the trick(?), putting pressure on the bearings also seems like a bad idea. 'Touching' should be sufficient. Preferably I don't want to be the first one to try it though

Techs where are you?

[Psyd]

Techs where are you?

HMmm, Wha?!?
Waidaminnit, lemme gedda cuppa...

'Kay. Lessee, use anything softer than the metals involved to stop the rotation, and use less force than you think it should take to break parts off*. As an old Mexican linesman turned television engineer used to tell me, they used to instruct the linesmen to tighten the porcelain insulators, 'half turn before the cracking'.

I use a construction pencil, but any stick of similar dimensions will do.


*Things are usually less robust than I imagine, use your own scale, and if you need to exert an amazing amount of torque to loosen the bolt, you may want to look into some sort of chemical wrench, and cleaning the rest of the parts and bits really well before re-assembly.

[HB]

That's the idea, but metal-on-metal is a no-no (interlocking burrs..).

In that case, move the grind setting one revolution coarser, grind some stale coffee, then move the grind setting one revolution finer (if you can).