Fiorenzato F4E cannot grind fine enough

[jimmm18]

Hi all

Long time since I have been on this site. Thanks for reading this.

I have a Fiorenzato F4 grinder, about 4-5 years old, that I can no longer get the burrs to touch. When I screw in the top burr holder it bottoms out but the burrs do not touch and the grind is really coarse. Local repair place wants $250 plus parts to come and repair it. So before I spend that money could this just be a case of worn burrs or ??

Any help greatly appreciated.

Jim

[Nunas]

<snip>I have a Fiorenzato F4 grinder, about 4-5 years old, that I can no longer get the burrs to touch. When I screw in the top burr holder it bottoms out but the burrs do not touch and the grind is really coarse. Local repair place wants $250 plus parts to come and repair it. So before I spend that money could this just be a case of worn burrs or ?? <snip>

I think we need more information. Did this happen gradually or suddenly; for example, did you clean it one day and find the problem the next?
Is it for home use or commercial; even though it's 4-5 years old, unless you drink a lot of coffee, or routinely grind really light (hard bean) roasts, the burrs should still be good.
Assuming the mechanism is not dirty, which would impede the carrier from screwing down, and it isn't improperly reassembled, since this is a flat burr grinder, it wouldn't be difficult to shim it. You would use the same techniques as when a flat burr grinder is aligned. There's a tonne of videos on how to do this, using household aluminum foil shims. The difference would be that you'd start by cutting a few "donuts" of foil to raise the burr from the carrier. Then mark it with a dry marker to see if there's any misalignment, and if there is, shim it with some small aluminum pieces. Unless you're not "handy" at all, this is an easy (although a bit tedious) DIY project. There should not be a need to pay hundreds for someone to do this.

[jimmm18 (original poster)]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. Home use ony and I usually only use it once a day.

I guess all of a sudden. It was fine until the other day no grinds were coming out. I cleaned it thinking that was the problem. Clean out all the threads when I ran into the issue and even added some olive oil to the threads. It starts to screw on easily but once it gets close to all the way on it gets really difficult to turn. Has always been that but I could get it all the way so the burrs touched and then I would back it off and set the grind size I wanted. Now I can't do that.

Your diy project is beyond my abilities or willingness.

[Nunas]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. Home use ony and I usually only use it once a day. I guess all of a sudden. It was fine until the other day no grinds were coming out. I cleaned it thinking that was the problem. Clean out all the threads when I ran into the issue and even added some olive oil to the threads. It starts to screw on easily but once it gets close to all the way on it gets really difficult to turn. Has always been that but I could get it all the way so the burrs touched and then I would back it off and set the grind size I wanted. Now I can't do that. Your diy project is beyond my abilities or willingness.

From your description, I think it needs to come apart again to be cleaned more scrupulously. Don't shim it; look for the impediment. Usually, there's fine coffee powder or coffee oil that has made its way into the threads. I have a similar grinder, which I lube with food-grade plumber's grease used on faucets, like this https://www.homedepot.com/p/Oatey-1-oz- ... /203489444 I've never heard of using olive oil; I think it would get a bit sticky after a while and maybe go rancid.

[jimmm18 (original poster)]

I FIXED IT!!!

Thanks all for the suggestions. Turns out it needed to be cleaned more thoroughly ESPECIALLY the place under the springs. I was thinking about it and realized I had to push the top in to the threads to start and went "wait a minute". so I took it apart and sure enough there was harden coffee under the springs! I spent 30 minutes scraping out the coffee and sucking it up with my vacuum cleaner. I also clear out every thread multiple times with a sharp knife. As soon as I put it back together I knew it was fixed. Cinched it down and turned it on and the burrs hit, the motor locked ( for a fraction of a second) and then I backed it off. Waiting for my espresso machine to warm up so I can pull a shot.

I hope this thread helps others. Though I cleaned it pretty thoroughly it never dawn on me that there was dirt under the springs.