Eureka Mignon Single Dose Mod (AKA The Stealth Grinder)

[daviddecristoforo]

Needing a new grinder and after much pondering, I decided on the Eureka. There are so many versions of these grinders that it's almost impossible to figure out which is which. I settled on this one from WLL, the "Facile". My reasons:
A) It's relatively inexpensive compared to most quality espresso grinders currently on the market, most which are ridiculously expensive.
B) I like simple This is simple. An on/off switch and a button.
C) It's the least expensive Eureka that offers their "quiet system).

Today I fitted it with a tilt base and a single dose hopper and bellows.

Overall I'm very pleased with the machine. It is quiet and it grinds quickly. Dialing in is a little fussy but it holds the settings once you get it where you want it.

Cons:
The motor activation button is a bit awkwardly placed and very small so you have to hit the bullseye with the PF. If you want to us a dosing cup, it becomes a two handed operation. A very small nit is the silly happy face logo which, fortunately is just an easily peeled off sticker.

But...
After a few weeks of using the grinder, it bound up one morning. I could feel the motor kicking in but it would not spin. I finally realized that the chute and the grinding chamber under the lower burr were completely clogged with coffee grounds!?! I tried to clear it out with a skewer but there's a bend in the chute and the coffee was packed really tight. I finally ended up pulling the thing apart and removing the upper burr. Then I was able to get the impacted grounds cleared out.

There's a small metal piece with little "fingers" positioned in the exit port of the grinding chamber. They are apparently intended to reduce clumping. I'm thinking that these are the culprit as they partially block the exit port and when I reassembled the machine, I left it out. I'm hoping that this, along with the bellows, will ameliorate the problem.

I used a Rocky for almost twenty years before the motor finally quit. I had to muck it out on several occasions during that time but never did I experience this level of obstruction. The fact that it only took a little under two weeks to completely choke the machine to the point where the motor was totally bound up makes me wonder...

[cafeIKE]

It's a simple job to bypass the PF switch and use the main power or add a toggle switch, a la Niche, to disable the PF switch and start the motor.

[crwper]

For dialing in on the Specialita, I designed/printed this little pointer which has been very helpful:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4941720

Looks like the same adjustment knob on the Facile, so it should work here as well.

[daviddecristoforo (original poster)]

I'm sure there's many ways to modify the momentary contact switch or simply bypass it as suggested. But it would seem that these kinds of alterations should be unnecessary on a well thought out machine.

But I'm more concerned about it getting clogged up with coffee grounds. I used it this morning for the first time with the bellows hopper and it did appear to be pretty effective in flushing out any stray grounds. We'll see how it goes over the long run...

[Coffello]

Hope your mod works...please post on progress

[daviddecristoforo (original poster)]

Update
Since I posted this, I came across a video addressing the cleaning of the Mignon grinders. It seems that the clogging issue is not uncommon with these grinders. I'm thinking that it is due to the very small discharge port combined with the declumping fingers which may do a decent job of breaking up big clumps but also obstruct the flow of ground coffee.

At any rate, removing the fingers and adding the bellows hopper seems to have ameliorated the problem. I can still see traces of coffee grounds in the chamber but they are scant and the chute is remaining clear.